The older 3p 3 wire dryer circuits are still legal and safe to use so theres no need to rewire your dryer branch circuit to install a new dryer that came equipped with a 4 wire appliance whip wire. You may find yourself with either a 3 wire or 4 wire electric dryer or a 3 wire or 4 wire outlet.
3 Wire Cords On Modern 4 Wire Appliances Jade Learning
3 wire dryer plug diagram. The 3 wire configuration is generally found at older homes. An electric dryer on the other hand heats the air with electric heating elements and runs on 240 volt current which requires a much different outlet receptacle and a special heavy duty appliance cord with a unique plug. If you love your old dryer but you think safety demands that you install a four wire receptacle dont fret. House wiring circuits and circuit breakers electrical wiring protection using circuit breakers. If you have an older electric dryer with a three prong 220 volt plug you have 2 options. Clothes dryers can be wired with cords that have three prongs as well as with four prong cords depending on the age of the wiring installationthree prong cordsand 3 slot outletswere once the norm but since 2008 article 55016a2 of the national electrical code nec has stipulated that connections for electric clothes dryers must be made with a 4 conductor cord and 3 pole 4 wire.
As you can see there is now an added dedicated neutral. The installation guide for the dryer will have wiring instructions for both 3 and 4 wire configurations. 3 prong dryer cords contain two hot wires along with a third wire that contained both the ground and neutral wire. You can still use your dryer. The ground is now a dedicated wire also. Although the old 3 prong outlets were effective at providing power to dryers they had one major flaw.
So we attempted to get some good 3 prong plug wiring diagram picture for you. More about wiring a dryer outlet. But if you notice both the neutral and the ground wires both connect to the same ground bar inside the panel box. The ground and neutral wires were grouped together creating the potential for shock. A gas dryer plugs into an ordinary 120 volt electrical outlet and it has a cord fitted with an ordinary appliance plug. The same is true if you buy a new dryer and need to plug it in to an old three wire receptacle.
Do not connect the ground wire to the grounded neutral conductor as this could lead to current flowing through the body of the dryer and potentially through you. Most electric dryers can be wired to work with either a 3 wire or 4 wire circuit. Check the manufacturers documentation for proper wiring but i would say the first image is likely correct. You can change the cord or even easier you can use a three prong to four prong plug adapter. Convert cubicle power whip to 3 prong outlet electrical diy inside 3 prong plug wiring diagram image size 800 x 402 px and to view image details please click the image. Yellow wire white the 4 prong dryer outlet wiring diagram above is ran with a 103 with ground cable.
Actually we also have been noticed that 3 prong plug wiring diagram is being one of the most popular topic right now. Its much easier and much less expensive to replace the 4 wire whip with a 3 wire whip. Lets look a how the electric dryer is wired and what to do if your cord does not match the plug.
Gallery of 3 Wire Dryer Plug Diagram
