Newest Threads

**mattmauriello** · 04-06-2011, 03:41 PM

sorry, i have to mention this...
does your dryer outlet have 3 or 4 terminals? If its only 3 terminals, then the one that is not hot is ground, NOT neutral. if yours has 4, then you're gravy.

If its a 3 wire outlet, the you REALLY should not try to use one side for 120V. find a normal 120V outlet nearby and use that. it should draw about 11.5 A, which should be OK on most hosehold circuits. (15A seems to be pretty common im my experience). you can still use the dryer outlet for the 240V element without an issue though.

**Walker** · 04-06-2011, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattmauriello

sorry, i have to mention this...
does your dryer outlet have 3 or 4 terminals? If its only 3 terminals, then the one that is not hot is ground, NOT neutral.

The NEMA 10 style of plug and receptacle (common on dryers) is defined as a 240V non-grounding system. That third wire is neutral, and the appliance is effectively grounded through that neutral. That wire will carry current during normal operation if the dryer has 120V items on it (like lamps or buzzers or whatever).

NEMA 10 is kind of a weird one that has exceptions for dryers and stuff in the NEC. The NEMA 14 style (hot/hot/neutral/ground) will probably eventually replace the NEMA 10, but there is still a lot of NEMA 10 out there and it's considered OK.

**mattmauriello** · 04-06-2011, 04:36 PM

Walker,
Sorry if my post was wrong, that was just was i was told, and made enough sense to me.

Would it be appropriate to mention that you should at least check the 3rd wire for its gauge? I would be afraid that if it was a 3-wire cable pulled for the dryer, that the 3rd wire might be a smaller gauge (which i have seen in a few runs, since it was intended for grounding only) and may not be safe for the current draw needed for the element.

Again, sorry for the 'chicken-little' post previously if it was inaccurate.

**Walker** · 04-06-2011, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattmauriello

Walker,
Sorry if my post was wrong, that was just was i was told, and made enough sense to me.

No worries. I had it wrong for a long time, too, and assumed that the third wire was ground. I don't even know what prompted me to look more closely at it a few weeks ago, but that's when I learned that it was neutral and not ground.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattmauriello

Would it be appropriate to mention that you should at least check the 3rd wire for its gauge? I would be afraid that if it was a 3-wire cable pulled for the dryer, that the 3rd wire might be a smaller gauge (which i have seen in a few runs, since it was intended for grounding only) and may not be safe for the current draw needed for the element.

Again, sorry for the 'chicken-little' post previously if it was inaccurate.

Yes, it's probably a good idea to check the wire, but the third wire is not mant as ground only. It carries current for the 120V items and should be a properly shielded wire. It *might* be smaller gauge, but it seems like it would be more of a PITA for a contractor to run 2 heavy wires and then separately run one thin wire for the neutral.

but you never know....

**mattmauriello** · 04-06-2011, 04:49 PM

that all makes sense. The only reason I mentioned the gauge was because I've seen jacked 3 wire where the 3rd un-insulated ground wire was definitely a smaller gauge (found it at home depot, so it can't be terribly uncommon).

but just as every knows in this forum, when it comes to electricity, better safe than sorry. thats the only reason I mentioned it.

**Walker** · 04-06-2011, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattmauriello

that all makes sense. The only reason I mentioned the gauge was because I've seen jacked 3 wire where the 3rd un-insulated ground wire was definitely a smaller gauge (found it at home depot, so it can't be terribly uncommon).

but just as every knows in this forum, when it comes to electricity, better safe than sorry. thats the only reason I mentioned it.

Yeah.... it's common to use a smaller (and often unshielded bare copper) wire for a connection to a receptacle that is a ground connection. Ground wires should never carry current under normal circumstances.