Hi,
We recently boug a new townhouse in Los Angeles. We were given an electric dryer but realize we have a gas hook-up. I have heard it is possible to use an electric dryer with a gas hook-up, but is this inefficient? How does one go about doing this?
Thanks for your help!
Monique
Well you could buy a natural gas generator and then plug the dryer into the generator.
That would be pretty inefficient.
What are you asking; converting an electric dryer to NG?!
You would have to put a 240v line in for the dryer. Unless you can do it yourself (which seems unlikely) it would be cheaper to buy a gas dryer.
Since you asked how to do it rather than whether it was advisable....You could probably rewire it so only the fan and drum motor were being operated off 110v. You would not have any heat, although if the dryer was in the garage and it was the middle of Summer, the heat in the garage wouldn't be all that much lower than a dryer's normal low heat. It would be easier to run a gas dryer without gas. As someone else advised, I would trade it off for a used gas dryer. Someone out there must be in the reverse of your situation.
Tom G.
Almost all dryer hookups have a dryer outlet for an electric dryer. In an all-electric house, there will be no gas supply pipe. My house has both because we have natural gas as well as electricity. I cannot imagine a townhouse without a 220-volt outlet for the dryer. It will either have 3-holes or 4-holes in the outlet. If your electric dryer has a 3-prong plug and the townhouse has a 4-hole outlet, it's simple enough to swap out the cord on the dryer for a 4-prong plug. The same is true if it's mismatched the other way around.
Look for a round, s>Hi,
If there was an outlet there, don't you think she would just use it? (well, I would like to think no one is that stupid...) My old house didn't have 240v at the dryer; presumably because it would be foolish to use electricity if gas was available.
Tom Kendrick wrote: If your electric
you shold not convert a 4 prong outlet to a 3 prong, it can be unsafe.....
gas dryers are the standard in some parts of the country, its very regional. gas dryers typically save big bucks on operating expense in comparison to electric
Not so in Los Angeles. Gas ranges and dryers are the norm there. Most
1500 square foot houses built in the 50s have 30 or 50 amp 240 volt service with only 120 volt loads.
What the OP is asking is if he can convert a 240 dryer to 110. Yes, you can. There are three wires at the terminal block where a 240 pigtail connects. The neutral white wire remains neutral, but one of the red or black (the one that completes the element circuit, not the one that goes to the motor) needs to connect with neutral. Then connect a 110 pigtail to the remaining hot and neutral wires. In effect, you will be completing the element circuit to N instead of L2.
Of course, what this means is that you are going to do some cutting and splicing, and when you move to another place that has 240, you will need to either repair what you did, or call someone to do it for you.
And remember: a 240 dryer running on 110 will dry slower because the element is running at half the watts. Figure an 2 hours for an average load.
It may be easier to just buy a gas dryer. I arranged for one for a friend the other day, on sale at Lowes, for about $265.
ahh drying time on 120 will be way longer than 2 hours since the blower speed is designed for the higher temp of 240 volts.
3 or 4 hours at least its not worth the effortHomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.