At Home In The Woods

[JB4310]

The original dryer cord did not have a strain relief. A shortcut like this could burn down a house.

So could the use of plastic flex hose for venting!

Not to be critical, and not sure if there's any code against it, but even though it was used for years it's not safe and should not be used according to....

Dryer Venting

I'm a contractor and am in many homes, I rarely see plastic dryer venting anymore. That's why I'm surprised to see it in your new construction.

I found out when I had an appliance repairman refuse to work on our dryer unless we replaced the plastic with metal.

Hope this helps, though I didn't read all your thread here, so maybe this has already been addressed.

JB.

 

[simonds]

Shouldn't your green wire with the tape be bonded to the ground terminal? This wire may go to the timer unit and or the motor, which is 110 volt and needs a ground. The 220 volt is for the heating element.
Just my opinion
Clayton

 

[Obed]

If the nuetral and ground are bonded elsewhere in the house besides the outside panel, you will have half the return current returning to the panel on the ground wire since the ground and neutral will be parallel paths back to the panel. Code does not allow any current on the ground except in a fault condition. Hopefully that made sense. I haven't had any coffee yet.:laughing:

Cyril,
That does make sense. If you don't not want current running between the house and the outside panel on the ground wire then you can't have any ground wires in the house touching the neutral wire.

Obed

 

[dcyrilc]

Cyril,
That does make sense. If you don't not want current running between the house and the outside panel on the ground wire then you can't have any ground wires in the house touching the neutral wire.

Obed

That would be correct. Someone asked about the factory ground (green) wire in the dryer.
My specialty is traffic signals not residentual wiring, but I would have expected that it would have been connected to the neutral on the three wire plug and connected to the Chassie ground in the four wire configuration. I could be wrong though. Maybe someone who does this for a living could give some better advice?

 

[brandoro]

Shouldn't your green wire with the tape be bonded to the ground terminal? This wire may go to the timer unit and or the motor, which is 110 volt and needs a ground. The 220 volt is for the heating element.
Just my opinion
Clayton

Both of those devices should be connected to the neutral wire, 120 volts is from either hot wire (red/black) to the neutral (white). The ground is for grounding of the chassis for the safety of the operator so he or she does not become a path to ground.
It would be good to check where the disconnected wire goes to, just in case. If it is bonded to the neutral somewhere inside the dryer then it should stay taped off.
I am a journeyman electrician, Canadian Interprovincial ticket but I don't believe there are many differences in how clothes dryers should be connected between Canada and the USA.

 

[Obed]

If the nuetral and ground are bonded elsewhere in the house besides the outside panel, you will have half the return current returning to the panel on the ground wire since the ground and neutral will be parallel paths back to the panel. Code does not allow any current on the ground except in a fault condition.

Shouldn't your green wire with the tape be bonded to the ground terminal? This wire may go to the timer unit and or the motor, which is 110 volt and needs a ground. The 220 volt is for the heating element.
Just my opinion
Clayton

Clayton,

The electrical inspector made a point to tell me to make sure that the ground wires in the electrical panels inside the house are not bonded to the neutral wire in the house. Cyril has an explanation for that point.

Originally the green wire shown in the picture above was bonded to the dryer chassis. Using a multimeter, I found that that green wire was also bonded to the white neutral wire that runs into the dryer. In order to unbind the dryer's neutral from ground, I had to tape off that green wire. If I did not disconnect that green wire and thus the neutral from the chassis, then the 4 wire plug would act exactly like the 3 wire plug and would provide no benefit.

The end result is the dryer's neutral is now not bound to the ground system in the house as desired. This wiring also keeps the neutral wires in the inside electrical panels from being bound to any grounds in the house. The only place neutral is bound to the ground system is at our outside electrical panels.

Clayton, I connected the green ground wire from the 4 wire cable to the dryer's chassis. I would expect that the motor in the dryer is most likely physically bolted to the dryer's chassis and thus is grounded to the ground wire I attached to the chassis. I suspect that the timer is also grounded to the chassis but would have to take the dryer apart to verify that.

Obed, I'm going to go off on a small tangent here and look into this dryer plug thing. When using a 4 wire plug is it a requirement to tape off the ground as you have here? I installed one a while back and don't remember what I did with the chassis ground. I think I put it with the ground from the plug.

Jay, I don't know whether or not the green wire in your dryer is bound to the neutral in the dryer. If they are, then I would have done it differently than you did but you might want a licensed electrician's opinion. If the green wire is bound to the neutral, then your 4 wire cord is acting like a 3 wire cord and is like the majority of the houses in this country.

Obed

 

[2manyrocks]

And the saga continues. Forget Shakespeare, here comes the story of Obed and his house.

 

[Obed]

We are in the same boat you are!
I'm only 100 miles away or so.
With that said we have about 11 inches on the ground as of last night but I've not been out today.

Last night I parked my car at the bottom of our street and walked through the woods to get home. I went to work this morning and had to walk back through the woods to reach my car. It's a 10 minute walk and kind of pretty. I didn't know when I moved here that as a side benefit I would get to take morning and evening strolls through the woods!

 

[Obed]

Both of those devices should be connected to the neutral wire, 120 volts is from either hot wire (red/black) to the neutral (white). The ground is for grounding of the chassis for the safety of the operator so he or she does not become a path to ground.
It would be good to check where the disconnected wire goes to, just in case. If it is bonded to the neutral somewhere inside the dryer then it should stay taped off.
I am a journeyman electrician, Canadian Interprovincial ticket but I don't believe there are many differences in how clothes dryers should be connected between Canada and the USA.

Rod,
Thanks for the confirmation.
Obed

 

[dcyrilc]

Originally the green wire shown in the picture above was bonded to the dryer chassis. Using a multimeter, I found that that green wire was also bonded to the white neutral wire that runs into the dryer. In order to unbind the dryer's neutral from ground, I had to tape off that green wire. If I did not disconnect that green wire and thus the neutral from the chassis, then the 4 wire plug would act exactly like the 3 wire plug and would provide no benefit.

Obed

Based on your meter readings, I would have to say that you have it connected correctly.