Electric dryer outlet converter

[pillow.of.clouds]

Hi. i recently moved, and the dryer hookup in the basement of the new place is a "regular" outlet. My dryer has the three heavy gauge copper wires and a three pronged plug with large and skewed prongs (By now it's really clear that i have no clue about these things!). The landlord refuses to install the same sort of outlet that this plug requires & i can't afford to buy a new dryer. Is there a transformer or converter that i could use to make this work? i don't use the dryer very often, but with three children it's a necessity. Thank you in advance for your help-

[Speedy Jim]

Does the landlord's outlet look like the one on the left? If so, there is NO converter to adapt your dryer.

The landlord's space may have had provision for a gas dryer, not the heavy load required by your electric dryer.

Jim

[Bud--]

The "regular" outlet is 120 volt, 20 amp (or maybe 15 amp). The dryer plug is 240 volt, 30 amp. You need larger wire for 30 amps - you can't convert. Is the electrical panel nearby? Is gas available for a dryer? Trade your dryer for a used gas dryer?

-- bud--

[sym]

not legally it cant be converted will your cord reach the panel? if so you could buy a tombstone style recpt.a 3/4 inchby say 2 inch long threaded nipple, a 240v 30 a breaker of the brand panel , and 4 feet

10-3 romex.providing the breaker panel isnt recessed back into the drywall. probabaly less than $50 for material. and should take only a few minutes for an electrician to hook up. the further away of course the more wire,materials and labor become involved. and a panel in a finished room .... well lets say id be looking to make the switch to gas.

[AE Todd]

If you have a 4-prong 240 volt outlet but a 3-prong 240 volt cord on your dryer, then you can put a 4-prong cord onto your dryer and it will work with the existing outlet.

If you have a 120 volt outlet (such as what your washing machine would plug into), then you can't exacly change the outlet for use by your

240 volt dryer; an electician would need to run a new line from the breaker and build a complete new circuit and outlet for your dryer. However, off the record, you can adapt a 240 volt dryer with a 120 volt power cord to plug into a 120 volt outlet, if you know how to hook up the new cord to your dryer correctly. But just so you know, your dryer will dry your clothes reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly slow.

[Sandarlene]

replying to AE Todd, Sandarlene wrote: I hooked my 240 dryer up with a 12o plug but the heater for the dryer would not work. Did I hook it up wrong? It ran okay otherwise.

[trader_4]

Well, he did say it would work very slowly, didn't he? With no heat, it's going to work very slowly. In other words, such attempts, which I'm surprised would work at all, are futile. You can't run a typical 240V dryer off a 120V circuit.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Maybe he should turn the plug upside down? Maybe the electricity is flowing to the wrong side and get plugged up and stuck.

[makolber]

You can't run a typical 240V dryer off a 120V

so actually if you incorrectly connect a 240 dryer to 120, it might turn but have NO heat

but if you knew what you were doing and hooked it up correctly it would spin AND heat but at 1/4 the power...

that might still be usable in a pinch

m

[trader_4]

You're right, and you probably would get a little bit more than 1/4 the heat because the resistance heating element would be running at a lower temperature and would have a lower resistance. Like you say, might be usable in an emergency and if you knew what you were doing. Another factor is a lot of dryers today have electronic controls and exactly how that stuff is wired, ie does it still use 120V for the control portion or does it use 240V, IDK. Some even have fancy ECM motors now I think.

[gfretwell]

The timer and motor will work on 120v L/N and if he rewired the dryer, moving one side of the heat over to the neutral it would be warm but not hot. (600-700w vs the 2400-2800w typical). If he just tied both line sides together the heating element is zero watts.

[Tekkie®]

Ed Pawlowski posted for all of us...

Electric constipation?