Dryer question?

Question

I replaced a 3 prong electrical cord on my dryer recently. I lost one of the bolts inside the dryer and used a wing nut as a replacement. Now he heating element doesn't work and i noticed that the back panel reads "use only copper nuts to attach electrical cord". is my heating element out because i used a metal wing nut? If i replace it with a copper nut will it start to work again?

Answer 1

I would try the copper nut first, it is a lot cheaper than a heating element or new dryer. Nothing more than a few cents to lose at this. Where inside did the nut or bolt fall?

Answer 2

Did you post this question more than once?

You should get a replacement nut for the one you lost to prevent a thing called galvanic reaction. This will cause the connection to corrode and may cause a fire.

Did you replace the dryer cord because the element was not heating. If you did, the problem could be the connection to the element, the element is defective, the thermo cutout has opened and not reset (has to be replaced if this is the case), the cycle timer may be defective (contact that starts the heater may be defective - if so, have to replace the whole timer).

If the Element was working before you replaced the dryer cord, one or more of the above still may be true; but check that you have connected the new dryer cord correctly.

There are usually 2 brass or copper coloured terminals, 1 silver coloured terminal on the terminal block.

Connection schedule for the dryer cord whch should have 1 black wire, 1 red wire, 1 white wire and 1 green wire.

The cord should be rated at 30 amps and be marked as a dryer cord.

The black wire is connected to one of the brass or copper coloured terminals.

The red wire is connected to other of the brass or copper coloured terminal.

The white wire is connected to one of the silver coloured terminal.

The green wire is connected to the frame of the dryer (there should be a screw marked grd, ground, earth, and or coloured green

Answer 3

its possible that with the jaring around of the machine in putting a new cord on, the heating element broke.

Without looking at your machine, it may be possible that the copper nut/bolt is caught between the heating element and the heat deflector causing a short, not allowing the element to heat up.

I believe they say to use Copper because of the conductive properties are way better than anything else like a standard wingnut or bolt. Other than that, it should still work.

I think you have a problem with the heating element being burnt out or shorted.

I've replaced my heating element on my dryer and it's not too difficult. You should be able to find the right one on E-Bay for a decent price.

Answer 4

If you shorted something with that bigger wing nut, you may have blown a fuse or tripped a breaker. I don't see shy it would have damaged your heating element unless your dryer was not properly protected. Check for tripped breakers, reset buttons, or fuses. Replace the wing nut with the proper wiring connector and try turn it on again.

Answer 5

I doubt the nut has anything to do with it. It sounds like you wired it wrong. Be sure you have the two hots on the copper terminals and the ground should be nickel or green. It sounds like you wired it to where it's only getting 110v instead of 220v. Be sure you put the right wires in their proper place.