Dryer Electrical Question

I'm no electrician, but I don't think you can substitute a bare grounding conductor for an insulated neutral conductor. I'm sure someone here will chime in on this. Mark

Not a good idea. You"ll void any warranty on the dryer. You will also not be up to code in many places.

Are you asking if it will work, or if it is safe, or if it is legal?

It will work. It is of questionable safety; an uninsulated neutral and no independent ground can make for problems. It is not legal; /3 has been required for about 20 years now. Your extension voids the old one being grandfathered in.

No, the third wire (white) on a dryer circuit has to be insulated. The

Bob

I should have said "the 4th wire, if there is one, (green) can be bare". You only have 3 wires, so it they must all be insulated.

Bob

zxcvbob wrote:

Not exactly, a three wire type SE cable on an existing installation is legal, but a 10-2 type NM with bare ground was never legal

You got me there. I forgot about the exception for SE cable (and that's how my dryer was wired when I first moved in, before I redid it.)

Bob

no.

Usually what happens is they take the white wire to the 3d pin on the receptacle and connect the bare to the box or backstrap of a bakelite receptacle. If that is true you can always go to the 4 wire plug with a simple receptacle change.

It is correct that, with the exception of SE, you have always been required to use an insulated "neutral;" that also gets used as the equipment ground. That 3 wire plug went away in the 1996 code cycle. As Phil Simmonds said in the ROP, "the war is over", referring to this exception that started in WWII to save copper.

In this case, I don't believe he has a fourth wire (bare)