I have a question on the 220V dryer outlet I have.
The outlet is a three prong outlet. The middle top one is straight slot, the other two at the bottom are angled. My older dryer plug matches that.
My new dryer also has a 3 prone plug, but the top prone is a little "L shaped" prong. Is this unusual does it mean I need a new outlet or some adaptor?
Thanks in advance,
MC
Miami, when you get all the work done on your house, I hope you have an open house for all on ahr newsgroup. I'll bring potato salad :o)
Just flatten out that "L" on an anvil with a hammer or vise. Plug manufacturers are always trying to frig with the public.
The difference is the amp rating. Look here to see the difference
check this out
and your new plug is a NEMA 14-30P?
that's perfectly normal, you have two options:
1) replace the cord on your new dryer with your old cord (if still serviceable) or a new 3-wire cord. Bond the case of your dryer to neutral (there should be instructions in the manual that came with it to do this.)2) run a new wire from your breaker box to your dryer receptacle, instead of using 10/2 you will have to use 10/3. Replace receptacle with a new NEMA 14-30R. Do NOT bond case to neutral.
used to be that 120/240V appliances did not require a separate chassis ground, they could be bonded to neutral. Code changed a few years back and now do require a separate ground wire.
nate
Yea, what a dumb idea to have receptacle configurations that disallow wrong connections.
Your current equipment is wrong. The "L" shaped prong means it is 30 Amp.
My range plug is three straight blades, but they are all oriented "north-south". The three straight blades on my dryer plug is not all in the same direction. The top middle one is oriented "north-south" but the other two are angled.
The new plug has the same two bottom blades, just the top middle one is "L" shaped.
MC
I am serving magaritas and tequilas and everyone must wear hawaiian shirts.
... It's not whether it's range or dryer, it's the amp-rating of the plug that's the difference.
The straight-blade is 50A, the one w/ the L is 30A.
Assuming the new implies new manufactured not just new to you and so the
30A plug is OEM and the existing wall circuit is wired properly for 30A or greater, then you can correctly do either--change the outlet or change the plug.The requirement is that the plug be rated for at least the amperage of the appliance/load and the circuit must, of course, be capable of that load. 50A would have been a little unusual for a normal dryer hookup but using the higher-rated plug is ok.
If the old dryer plug is of the detachable kind rather than molded in, you could just swap it to the new dryer; if they're both molded probably just as well to change out the wall plug to match the new dryer.
--
"MiamiCuse" wrote
20 or 50 Amp?I believe that is 30 Amp? Thats why the connectors are different. To keep you safe.
I know in my case, any 'heavy 220 type gear' gets on only the proper circuits. I had an electrician change out a few things not long ago and put in GFCI's in the kitchen and screened porch.
Think of it this way, if the gear is meant to run at one amperage and you feed it higher or lower, you could be creating a fire hazard.
"Ed Pawlowski" wrote
Ah! Should have read ahead. Yes, 30 amp. If it's a 20amp circuit, with a
30amp adapter of some sort, I think the hazard would mostly be the machine may not run as well but there might be other hazards I am not aware of. If it's a 50 and you out a 30 device, I think thats supposed to be dangerous.I'm sure one of the more electrically inclined will know! Afterall, I'm known for that not being my 'high spot' in repairs ;-)
And a sombrero?
TDD
dpb wrote: ...
I intended to add "ok" in the sense the plug is conservative for the circuit if it were actually 30A wiring; it's probably a Code violation as it would allow an appliance of over the circuit rating to be plugged in w/o somebody knowing.
So, on retrospect when I actually write the above, I'd recommend the new
30A plug rather than the swap out and munging up a preformed plug (assuming it came w/ it molded).--
I'm not sure what they installed on your new range, but your old dryer plug and outlet with three straight blades, two at angles and one straight, is a standard three wire 50 amp range configuration. The same configuration with the right angle center connection is a standard three wire 30 amp dryer plug
>
Thanks.
My older dryer no longer works, and it has the molded outlet plug. I have a new dryer laying around in the new (being remodeled house) so I figure I will move that here but the plug does not work.
I did not check to see if the outlet is working, in other words, it may be broken so that's why the old dryer does not start. I am trying to figure out how I can determine if that outlet has current. The only thing that plugs into it is my dryer and it won't start. I am not sure which circuit it is (some of mine are not labeled).
I have a multimeter that can check voltage on a regular outlet (120v) but I plugged that into the dryer outlet and get nothing.but I am not sure the pins are sticking all the way in correctly.
So I think I need to determine if my dryer outlet is working or not, and I don't know how to do that with the older dryer not working and the new dryer not pluggable. If I can test that then I can check with breaker and that would tell me the amp for that circuit. I think it's 30amp.
It sounds like you may not have 240 volt at the outlet. Use your tester between the ground/neutral and each of the hot legs. You should get 120 volts. If you don't get 120 volts from each hot leg to ground, you won't get any reading when you test between the two hot legs. This would likely be the reason that the existing dryer isn't working
MiamiCuse wrote: ...
...
As RBM says, assuming this multimeter is an actual meter, there's no fundamental difference between checking an outlet regardless of the voltage--set the meter on the proper AC Volt scale and probe between the two hots (the angled) and between each of them and the ground--there should be 120 to ground and 240 between. If your not sure you're reaching the plug contacts w/ the test leads, plug the old dryer in leaving just a smidge of the blades exposed and probe there. Be careful to not drop lead across and short, etc., etc., ... :) Or, pull the rear cover and test at the point where the pigtail is attached is pretty simple.
This new info raises the question of "was it working" and when did it quit working and what were symptoms, etc.?
As for finding out which circuit, I'd start by going to the breaker box and look at each 240V breaker to see if any happened to be tripped--if it was working but now isn't, possibly tripped a breaker (say if a heater element happened to short).
Obviously there will be a range and perhaps water heater, etc., you should be able to find them by trial and error and isolate which one must be the dryer circuit.
--
MC, dpb makes an important point, the probes on my Fluke tester won't quite reach the contacts of range and dryer outlets, so don't rely on them. Test as he describes
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