We went to home depot yesterday because the pluggin for our dryer in this new home if different than what was on our dryer. Our dryer is 3 prongs and the wall outlet was 4. The assistant there told us the best thing to do was to change out the power cord on the dryer to a 4 prong. He said the red and black were hot, green go to green and just wrap the white in electrical tape and allow it to hang. We did all of that and guess what our dryer doesn't work still.
The cord we got is the same amps as our dryer, which is 30 amps. What are we to do now? I need my dryer.
2006-10-28 06:26:11 · 5 answers · asked by egg_sammash 5 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
The rep at Home Depot is an IDIOT and you could have died!!!!
On the back of the dryer where the cord connects, the white (neutral) should be the center terminal and MUST be connected. The 2 outside terminals are red & black (hot) respectively and the green (ground) MUST be connected to the FRAME of the dryer. Any other way will put the user at risk of electrocution.
2006-10-28 10:33:35 · answer #1 · answered by cindyhemp72 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Seems like reasonable advice from Home Depot. If your dryer used only three terminals before it may not need the fourth wire. If the motor operates at 240V and it does not have an internal light bulb this could be the case.
If the motor and light bulb operate at 120V, they are likely using the ground wire as a return line to the panel. This is not a good way to have things connected, but to correct now is a major hassle. (Newer dryers will use the white neutral wire for the motor and light bulb.) Do not connect the new white wire anywhere. Leave it capped or taped and do not allow it to touch the frame of the dryer. Connecting the neutral to ground within the dryer will create an even worse safety issue.
Assuming you rewired properly and the dryer was working beforehand, are you certain the outlet is working properly? Can you measure voltages on the outlet? Have you checked that the circuit breaker or fuses are ok?
2006-10-28 06:31:17 · answer #2 · answered by Warren914 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
This is the main reason why you don't get advice from someone at home depot.
I put money on it that your heater in your dryer would work but not the motor or the timer.
The white is the neutral, this enables you to have 120V for your motor and timer and controls.
Your heater is 240V, and you would get this from the black and red.
Go back to home depot and tell them this guy is a retard and shouldn't be giveing out electrical advice unless he knows what he is doing.
2006-10-28 12:20:39 · answer #3 · answered by Darren 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Ya sure do need the white. Chances are that the motors in the dryer are 120 and thus require the neutral.
2006-10-29 00:06:09 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Your white wire is probably the ground and is definitley needed.
Also did you change just the plug or the whole wire right from the dryer?
2006-10-28 06:39:49 · answer #5 · answered by richy 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋