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Wiring a Dryer and Power Cord

<< Electrical Wiring for Wall Mounted Heat Pumps Dryer Wiring >>
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Summary: See an electric dryer installation with a typical 220 Volt electric power cord wiring system. You may find yourself with either a 3-wire or 4-wire electric dryer, or a 3-wire or 4-wire outlet. Lets look a how the electric dryer is wired and what to do if your cord does not match the plug.

Wiring an Electric Dryer with a Three Prong 220 Volt Plug

If you have an older electric dryer with a three prong 220 volt plug you have 2 Options:

An electric dryer can be wired to work with either a 3-wire or 4-wire circuit. All new installations require the 4-wire circuit which has a separate insulated neutral wire and the separate ground wire along with the 2-hot wires.

In this case where the home is newer than the old electric dryer here's what you would have to do:


Option 1:
You need to purchase a 4-Wire Dryer Cord. Remove the 3-Wire Dryer Cord and install the replacement 4-Wire Dryer Cord.
Next where the wires are connected to the electric dryer you will need to remove the Bonding Jumper which goes between the frame Grounded Screw and the Neutral Terminal as shown in the 3-WIRE HOOK UP wiring diagram below. If this jumper does not exist then you will need to attach the Ground Wire from the 4-Wire Cord to the metal frame of the electric dryer.		 Option2:
Purchase a 3-Wire Outlet. Turn the circuit off and replace the 4-wire outlet with the 3-Wire Outlet and do not connect the Neutral wire to the outlet.

OLDER HOMES AND ELECTRIC DRYERS NEWER HOMES AND ELECTRIC DRYERS
3-wire-dryer-cord 4-wire-dryer-cord
3-wire-dryer-outlet
NEMA 10-30R 30AMP-125/250VOLT
4-wire-dryer-outlet
NEMA 14-30 30AMP-125/250VOLT

This system can be configured depending on what your wiring situation is.
For example you could be faced with the following situations:
converting an old 3-wire outlet
to a new electric dryer		 converting a new 4-wire outlet
to an old electric dryer
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