electric clothes dryer

I had a service guy tell me that sometimes electr. boards fail inside the dryer due to electrical spikes. I wondered if this was BS because this is a 220 appliance and I didn't think they are as sensitive to such things. If it is true, can you buy a surge protector just for the clothes dryer? Thoughts on this...

Reply to
Doug
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Did the board in your dryer fail, or is this a hypothetical question? If it did fail, I'd be more suspect of lead-free soldering than a voltage spike. Circuit boards are not directly line-powered. I think the dangers of spikes, in general, have been overstated by 3-4 orders of magnitude. But I don't think a 220 volt unit is any less vulnerable than a 120 volt unit.

Reply to
Smitty Two

Spikes come in on the power lines and don't care about the voltage, so it's certainly possible that one can damage a 220 volt appliance just like a 120 volt model. Yes, you can buy 220 volt surge protectors -- do a Google search. Another choice is to wire a surge protector in at the main breaker and protect the whole house.

Tomsic

Reply to
Tomsic

  • I believe this to be true. It seems as though microprocessor controlled appliances fail earlier than their mechanically controlled predecessors.

Steps you can take to help reduce the risk of this is making sure that your grounding electrode system is in good condition. Check your ground clamps at the water pipe and ground rods (If visible) for corrosion and tightness. Here's a photo example from my site of a clean connection:

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Make sure your water pipes are bonded to each other:
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Have a bonding jumper across the water meter:
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You should also install a surge suppressor in the main electrical panel.

The grounding and bonding will help protect against lightning strikes and the surge suppressor will help protect against spikes as a result of other equipment, particularly those that are motor driven.

Reply to
John Grabowski

Hi, Sorry to say that your idea is baseless and funny. Board has protection circuit built-in but when powerful surge(spike) comes down, anythng can get damaged no matter what protection you have. I often see board failures caused by heat due to under-rated cheap component or cold solder joint(s). Repairing is not easy because they use ASIC in many cases which is difficult to obtain.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

That's the best and most cost effective solution. And of course voltage spikes can damage a 240V dryer with electronics just like a 120V microwave. Lightning hitting the utilities could sends a 3000V spike down the lines. 3000V going into something designed for 240V is just about as bad as it going into a 120V appliance.

Reply to
trader4

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Diligent bonding and connections to water pipes is good, but it's not a substitute for a proper ground, e.g., one or more copper rods driven six feet or more into the earth. A water-pipe bond is just to prevent the piping systems in the house from remaining live with voltage if they come in contact with a live wire.

Reply to
HeyBub

True.

A surge protector for a high-current appliance (like an electric clothes dryer) is not something that I think would be cost effective as it would be for something like a TV, stereo or computer.

A better solution would be to trip the breaker supplying power to your dryer (or unplug the dryer if conveinent) when you're not using it - or at least when you know a thunderstorm is approaching.

I live in a some-what lightning-prone area, and I unplug many electronic devices in my home (and trip a few breakers) when I know a thunderstorm is coming.

Reply to
Home Guy

Of course not, because as usual, you're clueless. It has nothing to do with the current the device draws. It has everything to do with high-current appliances like dryers and ovens today having ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS in them. But it's OK. I won't think all Canadians are stooopid just because you are.

How about you're not home when the thunderstorm is approaching? Or sleeping? Or it's a surge from something other than a thunderstorm?

Try unplugging your computer and leaving it unplugged.

Reply to
trader4

Older appliances tended to use slightly more costly analog controls, however they tnded to last forever..

newer appliances use glitzy electronic board controls, that cost less to build but fail easily, and can be a hassle to replace.....

I have a whirpool dishwasher that got 5 control boards in its first year of life... the service tech who replaced them said it wasnt me it was a poor design board......

its sad what has happened to manufacturing:(

Reply to
bob haller

connection:

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other:

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meter:

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I agree a service panel protector is a real good idea.

If you have a strong surge from lightning on the power service it likely lifts both hot wires above ground. Since the neutral is bonded to ground and the earthing system at the service I would guess that surges line-to-line are smaller than line-to-neutral or ground, but they easily could damage 240V equipment.

If you have no service panel protector and you have a strong surge, at about 6,000V there is arc-over from the service panel busbars to the enclosure. After the arc is established the voltage is hundreds of volts. Since the enclosure is connected the the earthing system that dumps most of the surge energy to earth. Surge protection at the equipment is likely to have more problem with a 3000V surge than one that is much stronger.

Reply to
bud--

Depending on the year of your home construction, you may also wish to consider disconnecting the phone lines to your computers.

Reply to
Robert Macy

In our rural area, a lightning storm maybe up to two miles away, surge/ sag the AC mains so much that it affects the telephone line too. Our 'digital' phones think there's an incoming call and you get a standard, single ring.

Reply to
Robert Macy

I live in the lightning capital of the world (Florida) and I never unplug anything. The answer is the panel protector John spoke of along with additional protection for some selected equipment, typically things with more than one input like TVs and computers. You also want to be sure all of those other services (cable phone etc) have surge protection and that it shares the same ground electrode system as the service. The better your grounding electrode is, the better all of this works.

Reply to
gfretwell

Any decent protector will shunt spikes line to neutral and line to line. (3 or more MOVs) In the dryer, they usually connect the motor and the controller board line to neutral. I bet this happened when the dryer was off and the only thing connected was the circuit board.

Reply to
gfretwell

Repair guy said that most newer dryers were hot wired to timer not control knob like this older one was. He did say that when it was off, the power was still going to the control knob so if I understand you correctly, you sound correct.

Reply to
Doug

I've installed hard wired surge arresters on the AC units of customers in rural areas to prevent blown capacitors and damage to circuit boards. The move away from relay logic to solid state then microprocessor controls has made the equipment much more vulnerable to power spikes and surges. O_o

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

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*I took for granted that the OP had a copper pipe water service from the street. You are correct that if he didn't, two eight foot ground rods would provide the necessary lightning protection.

John G

Reply to
John Grabowski

I suggest that no amount of copper pipe is a proper substitute for ground rods.

What's the reference to lightening protection about?

Reply to
HeyBub

Um, they should be about the same price. The usual load on a surge protector is irrelevant to its job of preventing surges.

For example, here are 31 220v surge protectors, all but 5 under $30.

Your average lightning bolt comes in at about 30,000 amps. That's for negative lightning. Positive lightning is about one magnitude greater (300,000 amps).

Reply to
HeyBub

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