I can't believe how protective you are of all the little kids playing behind the dryer. Thank you! On a serious note, I appreciate the video very much. Extremely detailed and full of helpful information that other videos breeze over. I appreciate the talk about what the codes are. Thanks!
Finally, there's a knowledgeable, sane electrical poster on CZcams. No "suicide cords", no lectures on how Code is "too expensive", no "this is really all right". Thank you for that. Re: having the ground on the upper position, it's a good safety thing, too. Dryers move around a little by themselves, plus the cord is heavy so they tend to pull the cord out a little bit after being is use for a while. If the ground is in the upper position and the cord is hanging straight down, there's much less of a lever action putting force outwards on the plug. Also, if for some reason the plug gets dislodged and a small metal item (clothes hanger, etc) falls onto the terminal prongs, it's much more likely to hit the safe ground terminal; if the very worse happens and the metal item hits a "hot" terminal (X or Y), it's almost sure to also hit the ground, resulting in an immediate breaker trip before anyone can get hurt. Yeah, it's a good thing.
Great video! I tend to keep extra parts or attach them in a safe place. The only thing I could even comment on is just getting an extra bonding screw, attaching in to the original position and point the bonding wire down with a label on it. It isn't your problem but if you ever get sell or give away the dryer. Someone may convert it back to a three prong cord and not realize they need to ground the machine.
Great instruction. I'm no electrician but when I pretend to be I usually try to make sure that any bare ground wires don't cross or touch any of the insulated live or power carrying wires. I do this as an additional precaution. Most washer and dryers sets are installed in close proximity to each other and sometimes the washers vibrate excessively when unbalanced so it never hurts to take the additional precaution to remain safe and have peace of mind..
Thank you so much! I had to install a 4 prong cord on my new dryer that had the neutral n the ground together! I did it before I found this video n I did it the same way you did, connected the green to the metal n got rid of the brass connector! Thanks again! Now I know I dit it right! God bless you!
Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Be sure to subscribe to our channel and also hit the bell icon to be alerted of new useful DIY videos each week.
Thanks - excellent and complete teaching, explaining all the little complications that happen in the real world (but are glossed over in many vids). Great job!
THANK YOU for this! This is the only video I could find explaining what the grounding strap is and why I need to remove it. I knew I needed to remove it but also didn't know where to put my new ground wire, you explained that as well. I feel much safer tackling this job now.
Awesome, I'm glad we cleared that up for you. Sometimes people complain I'm too long winded, or waste too much time on the trivial details because people are always in a rush. But it's the trivial details that are the most important.
jeffostroff people are idiots, Jeff, you are not! Haha. I appreciate the details here. In fact I just finished installing my washer and dryer with the new 4 prong cable. Working as intended!
nice video jeff im a electrician since you have a 30 amp breaker number 10 wire u can use number 10 ground wire ground to box n make connection to outlet dont have to run all the way back to panel
Thank you. Unfortunately, I can't EASILY upgrade with just two large black wires that are hot and a kind of silvery woven/coiled neutral. No ground. Your preliminary info helped me make that decision.
Earth And C/N are tied at some point in your home if done correctly. 240 doesnt even need common as its leg to leg, IIRC some dryers pull 120 though so for that it sure helps. Micro switching supplies will probably eliminate this soon they have gotten hella cheap and require few external components plus do ranges like 90-300VAC to 5vdc with no trouble. but i believe the real reason you remove that strap is less to do with your saftey than not creating a giant antena with the N and EG/G
While it is of course true that it is no longer "allowed," I think it would be a great service to your adoring masses to mention WHY it is no longer allowed to to use the neutral as the ground. Rules are one thing. But knowing the reason for those rules is powerful. What amazes me most is how this was once considered "safe" to bond the neutral to the metal of the machine.
If you are on a 120/240 V line, they are NOT out of phase, 120/240 is single phase. 120/208 is 3-phase voltage which is very rare in residential (exception being commercial residential).
Came here to say this. In the US, we have two 120v legs, that are "split" off of a single phase. So two legs that are in the same phase with each other, not 120 degrees out of phase.
Great video! I bought a used dryer that has a for prong cable, but the jump strap is still connected on the dryer. And my old house has a three prong outlet, but i think all the wires are there for a four wire outlet. This video might help me rectify everything.
I had a friend install a couple 3 prong outlets for me and saw they were all installed with the ground prong to be on top like you did. Normally outlets are installed with the ground prong at the bottom. Then I asked an electrician if that is safe and he told me it's not code that the ground prong in an outlet has to be on the bottom but it is an issue of safety that it should be. Something about how a person normally pulls out a plug from top to bottom. If ground prong on an outlet is at the top then the ground prong is pulled out first when a person pulls the plug out of the outlet. This can then make it unsafe since the 2 active prongs/now on the bottom. are last while being pulled out of the outlet if they touch metal, or there's a splash of water, etc. The ground prong has been pulled out first if it's in the top position so that jeopardizes the safety/protection of the active electric prongs being pulled out last from the outlet.
I understand the reasoning behind what the electrician said, but I'm struggling with his justification. I actually walked around my house with a little power strip I wasn't using and plugged it in and pulled it out to see how I naturally pull a plug. Some of my outlets have ground on top, some have it on bottom. I tested it on your typical wall outlets, at standard height. I also tested it on kitchen outlets that are counter height. And the wild card was the outlet in my bathroom which is sideways (ground on the right) and located above my head, about 6'3" high on the wall. The results were interesting. The power strip I was using had the power cable coming off the side of the plug, next to the ground prong, so that when plugged in to the outlet it was flush with the wall, not the kind with the wire sticking out of the back of the plug, like you typically find in ungrounded appliances. I started with the standard "normal" outlets along the wall in my living room, with the ground at the bottom. I tried 3 different locations. All 3 times I noticed that with the ground on the bottom, and the power strip cord aimed at the floor, I always pulled it by the cord when removing it. I reached down, grabbed the cord, and pulled up and out at an angle, meaning I pulled the ground first. However, at no point was able to fully remove the ground before the hot wires. Even at an angle, all 3 prongs pretty much came out at the same time. Then I moved to the wall outlets that were "upside down," and tried 3 of those. This time, I didn't pull it by the cord to unplug it. I reached down and pulled it out fairly straight by grabbing the plug head. I'm sure there was some upward angle as I pulled, cause I was still standing, but it wasn't noticeable. Then I tried the counter outlets, and the one in my bathroom. 2 counter height "normal" outlets, 3 counter height "upside down" ones, and one sideways. I noticed something very interesting about those outlets. Whether the ground was on top, on bottom, or on the side, in all those tests I pulled the plug straight back by the head rather than the cord. The ground prong and the hot prongs all left the outlet at as close to the same time as you could get. I retried the test again using an extension cord, where the cable was attached directly to the back of the plug, sticking out away from the wall rather than close to it. In this test it was instinct for me to pull it by the cord for all the outlets except one of the counter height outlets with the ground on bottom, and the overhead outlet with the ground on the side. In both cases I noticed that if I pulled the plug by the cord, I'd be pulling it "sideways" because of the angle I was at, so I opted to grab it instead. But in all the tests, the plug came out fairly straight, regardless of pulling the cord or pulling it the "right way." So what do I conclude at the end of my super scientific study? Having the ground on the top or the bottom doesn't really matter, but ground on top does have an ever so slight advantage due to the way plugs are removed in some situations. But it's more beneficial for the appliances than it is a safety thing. What does seem to matter more than outlet rotation, is outlet LOCATION. Outlets that sit about elbow height are the most natural to unplug "safely," with outlets below the wait being the least natural.
Might have to do this. the dryer that came with the house is 30yr old and i can't figure out the fix. 3 prong outlet is less than a foot away from circuit breakers. I doubt they have a 4th wire considering how many other hacks we've found.
Rookie. He meant to say the two 120 volt hot legs are 180 degrees out of phase. Not 120 degrees. You are not SHORTING OUT the white to green it is called neutral bonding, or NEUTRAL TO GROUND BONDING. It is a jumper, not a short!
I always test everything out in the store to make sure they fit before I leave. That's the best way to find them and if that story doesn't have it then you gotta go to another home depot.
This Ground and Neutral thing has always scrambled my eggs because aren't they both connected to the same buss bar in the entrance main box~? An old instructor that taught me years ago used to say "ground is ground is ground"~!
Yes they are connected inside the fuse box, and it is confusing, although I suspect the reason why they have separated the ground from the neutral is that current is flowing from the black hot wire, through the appliance, and back through the neutral to the fuse box to complete the circuit. But if you have a sperate ground wire, there is no current flowing in that ground wire, making the ground wire safer to sue to ground the chassis with.
@@jeffostroff Thanks for your explanation and I guess I am doomed to keep thinking "Gnd is Gnd" "Always was and Always is". Thanks for efforts to make us rookies understand=it's appreciated.
You don't get shocked because the electrical tester is made o plastic. If it was made from metal you would get shocked. Also digital voltmeters have metal probes, but the red and plastic handles on them insulates you from the high voltage
Two owners before me followed these instructions but overlooked the fact that the ground wire was only connected to the metal outlet box. Unlike the lucky situation here most conversions require changing a 3 wire cable with a 4 wire cable which is not a DIY job unless you plan on running conduit all around the outside of your walls.
they all r copper wires... lol... and actually the ground is this case is uninsulated copper wire, but sometimes it's green... while the white one was more accurately referred to as the common wire....
@@nc3826 buddy put the crack pipe down, not sure what the wild hair up your a**s is about, but really dont care, kick rocks! btw "peace" "peace" "peace" "peace""peace" "peace""peace" "peace"😂😂😂😂
Correction: The red and black wires are 180 degrees out of phase to get 240 volts. If they were 120 degrees out of phase the resulting voltage would be 208 volts.
I only have 3 wires in wall, black/red/white. Can I install a jumper from the neutral to the ground on the 4 wire outlet and avoid running a new ground wire?
My dryer outlet has 2 wires and no ground and there both black I am trying to install a new outlet and watching your video, do I need to have a ground installed? I had a dryer plugged into the outlet for 4 years and it worked fine. Helplp
i was an electrical inspector when 4 wire receptacles & pigtails became code. i thought "it's long overdue" unfortunately people moving into a new house with an old dryer and/or range chanced the 4 wire receptacle to the 3 wire "crowfoot" configuration. the thrift stores had plenty of 4 pole pigtails & receptacles as a result. unfortunately the 4 pole configuration didn't go over as well as expected. i suppose in time this will change when 3 pole products are eventually gone.
@@jeffostroff i've wondered over the years why the appliance mfgrs. didn't use 240 volt drum & timer motors, thus eliminating the need for a neutral. 240 volt stove burners wouldn't be too much of a stretch.
It doesn't make a lot of sense given your neutral bus and ground (earth connection) are tied together at the electrical panel. Yes the neutral competes the circuit back to the source but at the panel they are at the same potential. You do get better load balancing with a neutral but 3 prong dryers worked for decades.
I'm confused about the first part of the video How could the 3 prong have been running without a ground?? 3 wire 220 is a ground with 2 hot legs. Seems you would need to run a neutral and wire that in the breaker box
That's the way they did it back then and remember there was a ground already in there, and in your electrical panel the ground and the neutral are connected together, but nowadays they want completely separate neutral from the safety ground after 1996 I believe it is. The likely reason for this is they pretty much want current to stay on the neutral line, and they don't want the ground wire to be a current carrying conductor, unless there is a short circuit and then it just directs the current to ground.
Wanted to get your thoughts on this. I know you usually never want to do this, but they sell a 10-30 to 14-30 adapter so that you can plug a 4 prong into a 3 prong outlet. And on the 4 prong side they actually have the ground wire coming out and running as a separate wire. They say you would then plug the ground wire into a nearby standard outlet ground slot (NEMA 5-15, using the ground slot only). It seems like a pretty hokey way of upgrading to a 4 prong but I guess technically this works. You are basically borrowing the ground wire slot from a standard outlet because there was no ground wire available to the dryer outlet to make it a true 4 prong outlet. Do you see anything wrong with this as a way to not have to run another ground back to the main panel for the dryer outlet? Setting aside the fact that it's gonna look really odd with the single green wire going into the nearby standard outlet.
Just bought a new dryer and hooked everything up good and it wouldn’t dry a code kept coming up that the ground had a problem so I opened up the plug and I have no red in the x plug or at all
Excellent video. New dryer came with a four prong plug. I have a 3-prong outlet (house built mid-80’s). I opened the box and have three wires: a white, a black and a bare copper wire. No red. Do I need to call an electrician?
My 3-wire neutral is a bare copper wire that runs through metal conduit back to the box. Do I still need to run another bare copper ground back to the box to upgrade to a 4-wire? Or can I just ground the new outlet to the metal box?
What you need is an insulated white neutral wire going back to the electrical panel, but also we need to see if your panel is wire with neutral or ground or what. How old is your house?
@@jeffostroff built in 1918, but I'm sure it was rewired at some point since the old knob and tube is gone. My dryer outlet is literally two feet from the breaker box with wall-mounted metal conduit, so it should be easy to rerun the wires. Just seems strange to run a separate neutral and ground wire just so they can be connected to the same bus bar two feet away. Why not just connect them at the outlet?
Informative video, thanks for the posting. I am trying to do some electrical planning.. I have a jointer on the way that I prepped the 220 outlet in a 3 wire configuration as per the manual. In the panel I set up 240 by running a single hot wire from each 20 amp breaker, along with the ground froml to the outlet. I am eyeballing this 240 bandsaw that I plan to buy within the next couple months so while looking in the manual, I noticed the bandsaw power cord has 4 wires.. What would be the easiest way to configure both equipment plugs/outlet so that when I would want to switch, all I would have to do is unplug one and plug in the other in the same outlet.. I dont really understand how (and if its ok) to configure the 3 wire outlet I currently have to include a white wire.. I know the ground and white have similar yet different purposes but I am not electrical savvy enough to know what to do in the particular instance. It seems like you have a pretty good idea and so I wanted to ask you if you might have some insight you could share with me. I would truly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Jay Ross What I would do is check with the manufacturer and see if they will allow you to change the power cord to a 4 prong cord and if they do allow that it would solve your problem. Washer's and dryers allow that all the time you have a choice when you buy your washer and dryer if you want to buy a 3 prong cord or a 4 prong cord
Thanks for the reply. I will give them a call, but Im not sure how that would work since the wiring diagram for the jointer doesnt account for an additional connection. The tools often time come without a plug but with a power cord, so you can wire a plug to your configuration. What would I do if they do say that is possible, in my panel I still have only 3 wires- one ground, two hot (each single wire going to one 20 amp breaker connected with a breaker bar). How would you wire in that additional neutral?
Hey Jeff! I am trying to switch from 3 to a 4 outlet and the 3 plug has a copper ground a white and a black wire but no red wire. Will i need both hot wires when making this upgrade? Thanks
Excellent question, not sure, but I am thinking that the white wire you have there might be the other 120 volt hot lead. This would make the most sense, as many older homes had 120 v, 120v, and ground as their 3 wires. Can you get a volt meter and measure the AC voltage of both the white wire to copper ground, and also from the black wire to copper ground? I bet you'll see 120 volts on both the white and black. If this is the case, I would recommend installing a brand new 4 conductor cable from the fuse panel to the outlet. There they would attach the copper wire to the ground bus bar in the panel, and then they can pick up the white wire from the neutral bus bar in the panel, then they simply connect to both the red and the black wires to 120 spots in the panel fro the dryer wiring.
jeffostroff thanks for your video. I understand your reply to Matthew but I have a question. In the main panel (not a subpanel), the neutral and ground are connected in the same bar. So, this new 4 wire connects as follows in the main panel: White and ground together, black and red in their own 120Volt leg. The connection in the dryer does not change, we still need to remove the ground strap from the dryer. Is that right?
@@carlosgarciaphoto Yes, the white and green wires are connected together in the main panel bus bar. At first glance even I at one time questioned why do they want the white to be separate from the green inside the dryer outlet box, if they are connected together in the main panel anyway? I think the answer lies in the separation of the wires itself. As long as we separate the white and the green wire, the white wire will always carry the return current back to the box where it terminates on the bus bar, tied to the green wire. BUT, back in the outlet box, the green wire normally never carries any current unless there is a fault somewhere and 120v hot wires short to the chassis. See the difference? They never want the safety ground wire to carry current under normal operation. Only the white wire should carry any current. this keeps things in a predictable state.
Nice Video. So I might have to do something like this. Unsure, as the house has not been moved in to yet, but it has a 3 prong outlet. Dryer is 4 prong. Assuming there is no ground wire, there is no issue with changing the dryer to a 3 prong, correct? However the best practice is to always convert the outlet to 4 prong if possible?
right you can change the dryer card back to 3, but then you have to add the metal shunt back in place at those terminals in the back, and short the white neutral to the green chassis wire. I bet if you open up the outlet box you'll see a ground wire in there. If you do, your problem is solved and all you need to do is buy the 4 conductor outlet receptacle.
That depends on which way you wire it as long as the black and the red wires go where they are supposed to and the white wire goes to the chassie in the case of the old 3 wire system, you should be OK.. But don't put either the black wire or the red wire where the white wire should go or you will energize the chassie and people can get electriculated.
My outlet only has a white, black and bare ground wire. I tried using a jumper to jump the black to the other hot side on the four hole outlet and it tripped the breaker when I tried to turn it on. What do you do when you don’t have the red wire?
Successfully switched mine from the 3 prong to the 4. What would have happened if you left the ground strap with the green wire? I left mine in before I seen your video then immediately removed it.
The only thing you did was essentially put a four prong plug on but still bonded the ground/neutral which eliminated the added safety of separating them. It's exactly the same as using a 3 prong setup
What about the opposite, I have a generator with a four prong 125/240v 20a plug, I have a welder with a three prong 240v dryer plug that I need to plug I to it... I cannot find an adapter... I do have both end plugs I need and three and four conductor 10g wire... Can I make a little jumper in the plug to connect both 120v sides to the "single hot 240v" needed?
I just looked on Home Depot's web site, is this an adapter you were trying to get? I hope this link works: click.orders.homedepot.com/?qs=aff930c2a2fa114fe49fec1604a0d6cdd5f9b31b2d7043b7c9727e7b8c2be6ca8e6d8349eafb21c2eecad1995c4e3b09908acb191f622c9c19431a4771b65512
Female needs to look like www.homedepot.com/p/Eaton-50-Amp-Heavy-Duty-Grade-Flush-Mount-Power-Receptacle-with-3-Wire-Grounding-Black-1254-BOX/203492410?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CG%7CBase%7CD27E%7C27-2_WIRING_DEVICES%7CNA%7CPLA%7c71700000034239053%7c58700003946878363%7c92700031954447751&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5s3cBRCAARIsAB8ZjU0T8x187aTtC01DOElGKNI_PGGDRtJr5CMCf0WVvRaqqw7-8SMs3sQaAqAWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=COn2gbn0rN0CFXYFrQYdL2EGfA
Male end needs to look like this www.walmart.com/ip/TSV-L14-30P-Locking-Generator-US-4-Prong-Male-Plug-30A-125-250V/160525693?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=2961&adid=22222222228146555887&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=256590953955&wl4=pla-487083549837&wl5=1014415&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=113509951&wl11=online&wl12=160525693&wl13=&veh=sem
Problem is one is four conductor 110/110/neg/gnd... Other is three conductor 220/neg/gnd... My question is can I put both 110's together to make 220 or does it not work like that?
That is what I would do. My friend bought a 1946 house a couple of years ago, upgraded to a modern panel, made life a lot easier, now he has 3 prong electrical outlets everywhere, and 4 prong outlet for dryer.
I just moved and changed my 3 prong outlet to a 4 prong in order to fit my dryer. When I turned on the breaker for my dryer, it was tripped (lit red). When I turn the breaker off and and back on, it’s still tripped. Any idea what the issue may be?
It's funny the world is made up of jokers like you who've never used any of these tools that you're trashing they work and they work quite well I've never seen a failure with it I always test it on a known outlet 1st and it works. And if you're that scared you can always whip out the digital multi meter which I carry in my bag as well
Yes it is better than nothing at all but it is preferred to have each circuit running its own ground wire. It could be that your dryer if you have conduit throughout the house, might be grounded to the metal conduit which was big back in the day. But I would check your fuse panel and see do you have a ground wire coming from the dryer breaker. If you do then you really need to search to find out what happened to that ground wire and why it's not in the box, or if they grounded it to the pipe conduit, then maybe all you need is to screw in a ground wire pigtail into the back of the box.
The outlet says white and green on the connectors , you dont have a green plug, it would've been nice if you had shows exactly what you plugged up to what
You could remove the panel over the breaker box and see where the wires come in so for example if it's for a clothes dryer just find the clothes dryer breaker and see where the wires are leading to it how they come into the box and see if they're all connected up the ground wire should go right to the ground bar the white wire should go to the other bar with the white wires and by the way both of those two bars are connected together. The black wire and the big red wire should each go to dear respective breaker connections
Yes, National Electric Code requires all metal junction boxes to be bonded to the ground wire. I seldom find this to be the case in a lot of foreclosure properties I have taken over, so the builders are doing a lame job here in FL, and the inspectors are even lamer at checking them.
@@jeffostroff thanks for the reply. Im.also on south FL. My ground wire that bonds the box is cut short. If I was to buy some extra length copper wire, is it possible to extend the ground and extra couple of inches so I can reach rhe new plug? Again thank you for the reply.
A couple of times we ran all new 6-3 cable from the electrical panel to the range outlet. Typically on 3-wire systems they use red, black and white. Makes me suspicious if you really have 240 there or 120 volts. What year was your house built, and what AC voltage are you measuring across the black and white wires?
A few times over the last few years, we either re-ran wire for stove, but never had to with a dryer. If your house has the safety ground, you can run one from the electrical panel, which we have had to do before. OR....If your dryer outlet box is metal and you have metal conduit, find out if they grounded your metal conduit in the house. If they did, you can just tape a pigtail ground wire to the screw hole on the dryer outlet metal box. That would be your 4th wire now.
I HAVE A QUESTION IN MY SHOP I HAVE A DOUBLE CIRCUIT BREAKER THAT HAS ONE SWITCH SAYS 20 ON THE BREAKER SWITCH SQUARE D TYPE. MY 220 SHOP PLUG THAT I RUN A DRYWALL HEATER OFF IS THE ONLY THING POWERED BY THIS BREAKER. THE HEATER HAS THREE WIRES. THE INSIDE OF MY 220 SOCKET HAS A RED A BLACK AND COPPER. I WOULD LIKE TO PUT A 4 WIRE SOCKET IN TO RUN A HOUSE HOLD STOVE FOR POWDER COATING. CAN I HOOK UP JUST THE RED BLACK AND COPPER AND BE GOOD? . I HAVE NO WHITE NEUTRAL WIRE IN THE BOX. THE WIRING IS SAY TEN YEARS OLD INSTALLED BY A PROFESSIONAL AND WAS INSPECTED SO IM SURE ITS TO CODE.
Hi Steve, if your circuit breaker says 20A on it, that won't be enough to handle a stove which should typically be 50A. Not only that, the wiring for 20 amps is insufficient, because for a stove you need 6-3 wiring which means 6 gauge, and 3 conductors. You don't have a white common wire either which is strange for work that was done 10 years ago by a professional. With my projects I usually try to upgrade the stove to 4 wire. Usually we have been lucky and already have the white common wire but several times we have had to run the ground wire to make the 4th conductor.
I think most houses still have 3 prong so they actually sell you the appliance, and you buy the power cable separate, and if you need 4-wire, you remove the shunt metal strip that shorts common to ground on the back of the machine first.
@@jeffostroff Now with the NEC 2020, 210.8(A), the dryer receptacle now has to be on GFCI where a breaker would be installed. Clear and concise video Jeff.
Two questions, One I placed the green ground wire in the original place without the little shiny piece. Also the dryer I bought after changing the prong to 4 from 3 won’t turn on. I didn’t have it tested with the 3 prong because there wasn’t an outlet. How can I test to see if there is anything else failing my dryer
Ryan, On your first question, I'm not sure what you meant by the little shiny piece, please clarify, and what you meant by original place. On your second question, you should get the voltalert sensor that I link to in the description of this video: Fluke FLK2AC Voltage Detector: amzn.to/2THggao You must use a tool like that to make sure you have voltage going to both your hot wires, which should be the left and right holes in the outlet receptacle. There should be no voltage on the white wire or the ground wire. Even better if you can get a digital multi meter, set it to volts AC, and measure the actual voltage of the 2 hot wires, to make sure you get 120 on each wire. Also, check where the dryer cable is attached to the terminal block inside the back of the dryer. Is the black wire screwed onto a terminal screw with the black wire inside the dryer? Same with red wire? White wire to white and green wire to green? Did you remove the metal strip/shunt from the green to the white wire on the terminal block like the dryer instructions tell you to do? Make sure your dryer circuit breaker is on in the fuse panel.
Hi Jeff, I wanted to make sure I am doing my wiring right. On the new 4-wire; since I am connecting the new green wire to ground where the green/yellow was, Do I connect the green/yellow wire behind the white neutral?
Was the red wire the 'x' or the 'y'? Also, I may not be too savvy in this department, so I do not know if this makes any sense. Could you (not having a ground in the wall) still switch to 4-outlet and leave the ground strap on the dryer?
So the wire coming out of the wall is cloth covered. There is a red, white, black, and a ground wire as well. So pretty cut and dry? Switch to new outlet and switch to 4 prong plug?
Hey could you help me figure this out with my dryer outlet. So it's a three wire outlet(white, black, copper) and the plug is a four prong plug. What/where should I connect everything?
Your case seems a bit different than normal. We would expect that your 3 port outlet would have "red, black, & copper", not "white, black, copper" like you have. Normally the red and black are the 120 volt line voltage, and the ground wire is connected to system ground. So because of this confusion with wire colors, you need to check your fuse panel and see where they connected that white wire to, is it power, or is it a white neutral wire? We need to make sure that the white wire is indeed a line voltage and not the white common wire. You need a digital voltmeter or, you need to see where that white wire comes into your fuse panel and make sure that white wire goes directly the side of the dryer's circuit breaker screw built onto the breaker switch. The black wire should do likewise, and the bare copper ground wire should go to a ground bus bar with other bare copper wires. You cannot use that 4-prong newer plug without updating the dryer outlet on the wall to 4-prong, AND you have to have a 4th wire run, (neutral) to that location which would connect to the white neutral bus bar inside your fuse panel (not to be confused with the other white wire we talked about earlier). See the confusion here? I don't like the coloring of the wires your builder chose. You have too many unknowns here, and should have a licensed electrician doing this. My preference would be if possible, to run all new 4-conductor power cord from the fuse panel to the dryer outlet, with 4 correct colored wires: Black, Red, White, Bare copper. Then you wire it to the back of your dryer according to the install manual, and you'll then remove the copper metal piece that shorts the green wire to the white wire inside the dryer after you are done converting the outlet. That is explained in your dryer's installation instructions with diagrams.
@@jeffostroff Thank you for the response! So what's been happening is the dryer breaker would constantly trip about half way into a cycle and more recently just started tripping on its own. I'm scared there could be a short somewhere but as you mentioned it's not exactly the right configuration to begin with so I want to try everything possible beforehand. I only found out it was a three wire outlet when I purchased a new replacement outlet thinking it would resolve the issue. So on the breaker side it's a 30amp double pole and the hot/neutral are connected to it with the copper grounded on the busbar
@@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx8627 OK so tripping on its own, the most likely culprit is the breaker switch itself in the fuse panel. they are usually cheap, maybe $10? If you are up to it, you can change it yourself, otherwise have a licensed electrician do it. May have to cut main power outside first. It could also be bad wiring, although unlikely, or your dryer is getting old and having problems causing the motor to work too hard and drawing current. Electricians with an amp meter can clamp around your dryer cord and tell you how many amps your dryer is pulling. At 27-28 amps, it will trip a 30 amps breaker switch. How old is the dryer, and has the dryer itself had any problems?
@@jeffostroff so have same issue and saw another video with someone replacing a 3 wire (black, white and ground. He was putting in the same outlet. He said in homes built in early 80s and before that is how a 220 was wired. So I bought an older home and trying to change the dryer. Bought the new correct plug but old outlet wired with 1 power line (black) a neutral (white) and a ground. Searching all over for how to connect. There looks like there used to be 220 connections with only 1 hot but what it was connecting to only had a spot for 1 hot. So with 2 hits connections what do i do? Looks like call an electrician
You should check with Miller for confirmation, but on the welders, you usually have the 2 hot wires and one neutral, which is equivalent to the older 3 prong dryer outlet receptacles. Some guys will just wire them to connect the 2 hot wires of the welder to the 2 hot wires on the dryer outlet, then connect the neutral on the welder to the neutral "L-shaped" hole on the dryer outlet. Then they do not use the 4th wire on the dryer outlet, which is earth ground, still connects to the neutral in breaker panel bus bar anyway.
Jeffostroff must 240 volt welders don't require a neutral just 2 hots and the grounding conductor. If you come out of a sub panel neutrals and ground are separate. And by not using the grounding conductor could cause problems. Always check the equipment on what's required. Never leave the grounding conductor unused.
Does you no good to change the outlet unless you change the service panel in the home. The new service panels in home have a dedicated ground and a dedicated neutral
Most of the outlets we have replaced the house already has a panel with dedicated ground and dedicated neutral, and they are connected other inside the electrical panel. but most of our properties were built in the 1980s, the electrical panel is ready for it, but since it was pre-1996, none of them ever have 4 wire outlets. These types of properties make it easy for us to convert. Sometimes we just run a new ground from the electrical box to the dryer outlet, but mostly it's already in the box.
Run a ground green wire to a grounding rod conviente located outside . Easier than running a new green wire all the way back to the breaker box. Will that work?
No you cannot do that! The reason why is if the hot wire shorts to the ground Then you have the problem that the fuse might not blow inside the panel like it should because there is no real circuit you're just feeding it out to the ground and you could still get shocked. This is why they want the ground to return back to the panel to that grounding bar so that it would complete the circuit that way the fuse will trip if there's ever a short.
What if the outlet box I am converting to 4 prong does not have a ground wire in it? My Samsung cord is 4 wire, but the outlet box is from 1993 so there is no ground wire even in the receptacle. There is a green screw on the back of the dryer but that doesn’t reach far enough to be used as the ground wire in the back of the new outlet.
If your electrical wiring passes tot he box via electrical conduit, it might be grounded already. If not, you have to run a new cable from the fuse panel to the outlet box, one that has a ground
Hi I just changed the 3 prong outlet and the wires were red, white, black, and a copper one. The copper one is short then the colored ones. I got it some what screw in tightly plugged it in turn the breakers back on and turn on the power for dryer no luck at all. The breakers for the dryers is also 40 watt instead 30. Any suggestions?
Check to see at the outlet, if the wires have voltage on them. I highly suggest you get the Fluke FLK2AC/90-1000V Pocket-Sized Voltage Detector, VoltAlert 90 to 1000 V AC, that is what I use in the video: amzn.to/2THggao Double check that your wires are all the way into their correct connector holes on the outlet, so that the exposed wire is touching the metal lead inside the connector. Also, make sure the 4 wires are connected correctly according to their intended location on the outlet. The copper ground should go to the horseshoe shaped hole, while the white neutral wire should connect to the L-shaped hole. The black and red wires go to the other 2 connector holes, usually called X and Y, but does not matter which of the X & Y that the red and black wires connect to, they both carry 120 volts each and the appliance is looking for the aggregate total of 240 volts from the red and black wires. Lastly, check if your circuit breaker might be to blame, maybe it is bad, or needs to be pushed in further to the breaker panel bus bar. Also check where the red and black wires attach to their respective breakers on breaker panel, make sure they are screwed into their respective breaker, make sure those set screws are nice and tight, to ensure a proper electrical connection.
Great video! I have a 3 prong outlet and want to change to a 4 prong, but the wall outlet only has 3 wires, there is no ground wire, can I add a ground wire to the metal box attaching it with a screw, would that work for my electric dryer? Or DEFENETLY must run the ground wire from the main electrical box?
Karla you must run a ground wire back to the panel, that's what we've had to do a few times, it's not that hard but if you have never done this, you should let an electrician do it for you. What you are suggesting would not provide a ground at all, becuase this circuit requires it's own ground.
✅ Tools/Parts in this dryer electrical outlet video:
Fluke FLK2AC Voltage Detector: amzn.to/2THggao
Leviton 278 30-Amp, 4-Wire Dryer Outlet amzn.to/2GOMjle
G.E. Wire 30-amp Dryer Cord: amzn.to/2VnV8Wn
Thomas IIXE nice time II call you
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I can't believe how protective you are of all the little kids playing behind the dryer. Thank you! On a serious note, I appreciate the video very much. Extremely detailed and full of helpful information that other videos breeze over. I appreciate the talk about what the codes are.
Thanks!
You are so welcome Sam, and thanks for watching
Finally, there's a knowledgeable, sane electrical poster on CZcams. No "suicide cords", no lectures on how Code is "too expensive", no "this is really all right". Thank you for that.
Re: having the ground on the upper position, it's a good safety thing, too. Dryers move around a little by themselves, plus the cord is heavy so they tend to pull the cord out a little bit after being is use for a while. If the ground is in the upper position and the cord is hanging straight down, there's much less of a lever action putting force outwards on the plug. Also, if for some reason the plug gets dislodged and a small metal item (clothes hanger, etc) falls onto the terminal prongs, it's much more likely to hit the safe ground terminal; if the very worse happens and the metal item hits a "hot" terminal (X or Y), it's almost sure to also hit the ground, resulting in an immediate breaker trip before anyone can get hurt.
Yeah, it's a good thing.
That is a great idea! Thanks!
Great video! I tend to keep extra parts or attach them in a safe place. The only thing I could even comment on is just getting an extra bonding screw, attaching in to the original position and point the bonding wire down with a label on it. It isn't your problem but if you ever get sell or give away the dryer. Someone may convert it back to a three prong cord and not realize they need to ground the machine.
Great instruction. I'm no electrician but when I pretend to be I usually try to make sure that any bare ground wires don't cross or touch any of the insulated live or power carrying wires. I do this as an additional precaution. Most washer and dryers sets are installed in close proximity to each other and sometimes the washers vibrate excessively when unbalanced so it never hurts to take the additional precaution to remain safe and have peace of mind..
Indeed and that is why you are still alive today
Just changed mine today appreciate the vid man clear and straight forward 💯🔥
Thank you so much! I had to install a 4 prong cord on my new dryer that had the neutral n the ground together! I did it before I found this video n I did it the same way you did, connected the green to the metal n got rid of the brass connector! Thanks again! Now I know I dit it right! God bless you!
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!
You added a lot more info than I initially thought of. Thanks for posting!!!
Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Be sure to subscribe to our channel and also hit the bell icon to be alerted of new useful DIY videos each week.
Thanks - excellent and complete teaching, explaining all the little complications that happen in the real world (but are glossed over in many vids). Great job!
Glad you liked it thanks for watching!
THANK YOU for this! This is the only video I could find explaining what the grounding strap is and why I need to remove it. I knew I needed to remove it but also didn't know where to put my new ground wire, you explained that as well. I feel much safer tackling this job now.
Awesome, I'm glad we cleared that up for you. Sometimes people complain I'm too long winded, or waste too much time on the trivial details because people are always in a rush. But it's the trivial details that are the most important.
jeffostroff people are idiots, Jeff, you are not! Haha. I appreciate the details here. In fact I just finished installing my washer and dryer with the new 4 prong cable. Working as intended!
nice video jeff im a electrician since you have a 30 amp breaker number 10 wire u can use number 10 ground wire ground to box n make connection to outlet dont have to run all the way back to panel
We used the existing ground wire that the builder originally ran to the box, but they never wired it up. We simply completed the process.
Hi paname1965, very interesting note. Would you mind and let me know which code from the NEC applies to your comment, please?
Thank you, Ron Swanson!
LOL that's sir Ron Swanson
Thank you. Unfortunately, I can't EASILY upgrade with just two large black wires that are hot and a kind of silvery woven/coiled neutral. No ground. Your preliminary info helped me make that decision.
James, check to see if you have metal conduit, maybe that is your ground. Also, I have had to run separate ground wires back to the panel before.
Thank you sir! Very much appreciated - worked like a charm.
Earth And C/N are tied at some point in your home if done correctly. 240 doesnt even need common as its leg to leg, IIRC some dryers pull 120 though so for that it sure helps. Micro switching supplies will probably eliminate this soon they have gotten hella cheap and require few external components plus do ranges like 90-300VAC to 5vdc with no trouble. but i believe the real reason you remove that strap is less to do with your saftey than not creating a giant antena with the N and EG/G
Yes on most electrical panels the common and the ground are tied together on a bus bar inside the electrical panel.
well done. thanks. good video.
Thanks glad you liked with the video
I just swap over one wire at a time so I don't get them mixed up. Great video, thanks for posting it!
I'm glad you found our video useful good job on getting it done.
My outlet has a black and white wire and the ground i feel that a wire is missing 😕
Nah, it's just that your panel is outdated.
While it is of course true that it is no longer "allowed," I think it would be a great service to your adoring masses to mention WHY it is no longer allowed to to use the neutral as the ground. Rules are one thing. But knowing the reason for those rules is powerful. What amazes me most is how this was once considered "safe" to bond the neutral to the metal of the machine.
Shock or fire pick your poison
@@bk9852 Wiring correctly protects from both, yes?
Shock to the dryer and fire
I couldn't agree more
Thanks for the Video it helped me to change from 3 to 4 wall plug
No problem 👍 Thanks for watching Eddie!
Excellent presentation, thank you
Glad it was helpful!
“Sanity check”... lol... I like that.
In my case, insanity check!
[+
If you are on a 120/240 V line, they are NOT out of phase, 120/240 is single phase. 120/208 is 3-phase voltage which is very rare in residential (exception being commercial residential).
Came here to say this. In the US, we have two 120v legs, that are "split" off of a single phase. So two legs that are in the same phase with each other, not 120 degrees out of phase.
Great video! I bought a used dryer that has a for prong cable, but the jump strap is still connected on the dryer. And my old house has a three prong outlet, but i think all the wires are there for a four wire outlet. This video might help me rectify everything.
I had a friend install a couple 3 prong outlets for me and saw they were all installed with the ground prong to be on top like you did. Normally outlets are installed with the ground prong at the bottom. Then I asked an electrician if that is safe and he told me it's not code that the ground prong in an outlet has to be on the bottom but it is an issue of safety that it should be. Something about how a person normally pulls out a plug from top to bottom. If ground prong on an outlet is at the top then the ground prong is pulled out first when a person pulls the plug out of the outlet. This can then make it unsafe since the 2 active prongs/now on the bottom. are last while being pulled out of the outlet if they touch metal, or there's a splash of water, etc. The ground prong has been pulled out first if it's in the top position so that jeopardizes the safety/protection of the active electric prongs being pulled out last from the outlet.
I understand the reasoning behind what the electrician said, but I'm struggling with his justification.
I actually walked around my house with a little power strip I wasn't using and plugged it in and pulled it out to see how I naturally pull a plug. Some of my outlets have ground on top, some have it on bottom. I tested it on your typical wall outlets, at standard height. I also tested it on kitchen outlets that are counter height. And the wild card was the outlet in my bathroom which is sideways (ground on the right) and located above my head, about 6'3" high on the wall.
The results were interesting.
The power strip I was using had the power cable coming off the side of the plug, next to the ground prong, so that when plugged in to the outlet it was flush with the wall, not the kind with the wire sticking out of the back of the plug, like you typically find in ungrounded appliances.
I started with the standard "normal" outlets along the wall in my living room, with the ground at the bottom. I tried 3 different locations. All 3 times I noticed that with the ground on the bottom, and the power strip cord aimed at the floor, I always pulled it by the cord when removing it. I reached down, grabbed the cord, and pulled up and out at an angle, meaning I pulled the ground first. However, at no point was able to fully remove the ground before the hot wires. Even at an angle, all 3 prongs pretty much came out at the same time.
Then I moved to the wall outlets that were "upside down," and tried 3 of those. This time, I didn't pull it by the cord to unplug it. I reached down and pulled it out fairly straight by grabbing the plug head. I'm sure there was some upward angle as I pulled, cause I was still standing, but it wasn't noticeable.
Then I tried the counter outlets, and the one in my bathroom. 2 counter height "normal" outlets, 3 counter height "upside down" ones, and one sideways. I noticed something very interesting about those outlets.
Whether the ground was on top, on bottom, or on the side, in all those tests I pulled the plug straight back by the head rather than the cord. The ground prong and the hot prongs all left the outlet at as close to the same time as you could get.
I retried the test again using an extension cord, where the cable was attached directly to the back of the plug, sticking out away from the wall rather than close to it. In this test it was instinct for me to pull it by the cord for all the outlets except one of the counter height outlets with the ground on bottom, and the overhead outlet with the ground on the side. In both cases I noticed that if I pulled the plug by the cord, I'd be pulling it "sideways" because of the angle I was at, so I opted to grab it instead. But in all the tests, the plug came out fairly straight, regardless of pulling the cord or pulling it the "right way."
So what do I conclude at the end of my super scientific study? Having the ground on the top or the bottom doesn't really matter, but ground on top does have an ever so slight advantage due to the way plugs are removed in some situations. But it's more beneficial for the appliances than it is a safety thing.
What does seem to matter more than outlet rotation, is outlet LOCATION. Outlets that sit about elbow height are the most natural to unplug "safely," with outlets below the wait being the least natural.
Thanks!
Thanks for the $2 $super thanks Michael!
Might have to do this. the dryer that came with the house is 30yr old and i can't figure out the fix. 3 prong outlet is less than a foot away from circuit breakers. I doubt they have a 4th wire considering how many other hacks we've found.
Rookie. He meant to say the two 120 volt hot legs are 180 degrees out of phase. Not 120 degrees.
You are not SHORTING OUT the white to green it is called neutral bonding, or NEUTRAL TO GROUND BONDING. It is a jumper, not a short!
Electrical safety codes have been upgraded
Yes that is why we use the 4 wire outlet in this video
@@jeffostroff Same goes for that washer & it's a good thing they've added a ground wire for every house.
Thank you very much for you good explanation. This is a very good video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I can't find the cover plate that you used. I ordered one that looked the same but the opening was too large. It's a 813c.
I always test everything out in the store to make sure they fit before I leave. That's the best way to find them and if that story doesn't have it then you gotta go to another home depot.
Great video, Thx for the help.
Excellent. Thanks
😁👍Excellent Detailed Video... Thank You!!!
Glad it was helpful!
This Ground and Neutral thing has always scrambled my eggs because aren't they both connected to the same buss bar in the entrance main box~? An old instructor that taught me years ago used to say "ground is ground is ground"~!
Yes they are connected inside the fuse box, and it is confusing, although I suspect the reason why they have separated the ground from the neutral is that current is flowing from the black hot wire, through the appliance, and back through the neutral to the fuse box to complete the circuit. But if you have a sperate ground wire, there is no current flowing in that ground wire, making the ground wire safer to sue to ground the chassis with.
@@jeffostroff Thanks for your explanation and I guess I am doomed to keep thinking "Gnd is Gnd" "Always was and Always is". Thanks for efforts to make us rookies understand=it's appreciated.
Thank you so much! This was so helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
Jeff, Why does one not get shocked when inserting the electrical tester directly into an outlet.
You don't get shocked because the electrical tester is made o plastic. If it was made from metal you would get shocked. Also digital voltmeters have metal probes, but the red and plastic handles on them insulates you from the high voltage
Two owners before me followed these instructions but overlooked the fact that the ground wire was only connected to the metal outlet box. Unlike the lucky situation here most conversions require changing a 3 wire cable with a 4 wire cable which is not a DIY job unless you plan on running conduit all around the outside of your walls.
We have run the extra wire a few times. Sometimes we have to go up tot he attic and over.
"the ground" is actually the copper wire, the white is neutral.
they all r copper wires... lol...
and actually the ground is this case is uninsulated copper wire, but sometimes it's green... while the white one was more accurately referred to as the common wire....
@@nc3826 exposed copper wire in the box is the ground, white neutral, black hot,
2 blacks 120v a peace, for a 240 circuit.
and the white wire is still more accurately called the "common" not the neutral... but call it "peace" if it makes your feel better...
@@nc3826 buddy put the crack pipe down, not sure what the wild hair up your a**s is about, but really dont care, kick rocks! btw "peace" "peace" "peace" "peace""peace" "peace""peace" "peace"😂😂😂😂
@@ytrbro1041 good luck getting a "piece".... instead of ranting about your crack pipe and other BS your hallucinating about 😂😂😂😂
The white ground wire, did you switch it to the neutral bar at the panel?
Correction: The red and black wires are 180 degrees out of phase to get 240 volts. If they were 120 degrees out of phase the resulting voltage would be 208 volts.
You are correct
Which would be the case on a three phase system ie the 120° phase differential, which you don't have on residential wiring.
Good video and explained well👍
Thank you 🙂
I only have 3 wires in wall, black/red/white. Can I install a jumper from the neutral to the ground on the 4 wire outlet and avoid running a new ground wire?
Joe Altorfer No not legally. That is the whole purpose of changing the receptacle.
My dryer outlet has 2 wires and no ground and there both black I am trying to install a new outlet and watching your video, do I need to have a ground installed? I had a dryer plugged into the outlet for 4 years and it worked fine. Helplp
If your Electrical panel has grounds in them, I would run a new ground wire to the dryer port from there, along with the white neutral
i was an electrical inspector when 4 wire receptacles & pigtails became code. i thought "it's long overdue" unfortunately people moving into a new house with an old dryer and/or range chanced the 4 wire receptacle to the 3 wire "crowfoot" configuration. the thrift stores had plenty of 4 pole pigtails & receptacles as a result. unfortunately the 4 pole configuration didn't go over as well as expected. i suppose in time this will change when 3 pole products are eventually gone.
this will take another 30 years for the current gen of 3-wire appliances to die off
@@jeffostroff i've wondered over the years why the appliance mfgrs. didn't use 240 volt drum & timer motors, thus eliminating the need for a neutral. 240 volt stove burners wouldn't be too much of a stretch.
Can you just run a separate new ground wire from the service panel to the receptable instead of a whole new cable.
Yes, we have done that before as well, just bought a reel of green insulated stranded ground wire,
What gauge wire?
Thank you for your answers.
It doesn't make a lot of sense given your neutral bus and ground (earth connection) are tied together at the electrical panel. Yes the neutral competes the circuit back to the source but at the panel they are at the same potential. You do get better load balancing with a neutral but 3 prong dryers worked for decades.
I'm confused about the first part of the video How could the 3 prong have been running without a ground?? 3 wire 220 is a ground with 2 hot legs. Seems you would need to run a neutral and wire that in the breaker box
That's the way they did it back then and remember there was a ground already in there, and in your electrical panel the ground and the neutral are connected together, but nowadays they want completely separate neutral from the safety ground after 1996 I believe it is. The likely reason for this is they pretty much want current to stay on the neutral line, and they don't want the ground wire to be a current carrying conductor, unless there is a short circuit and then it just directs the current to ground.
Wanted to get your thoughts on this. I know you usually never want to do this, but they sell a 10-30 to 14-30 adapter so that you can plug a 4 prong into a 3 prong outlet. And on the 4 prong side they actually have the ground wire coming out and running as a separate wire. They say you would then plug the ground wire into a nearby standard outlet ground slot (NEMA 5-15, using the ground slot only). It seems like a pretty hokey way of upgrading to a 4 prong but I guess technically this works. You are basically borrowing the ground wire slot from a standard outlet because there was no ground wire available to the dryer outlet to make it a true 4 prong outlet. Do you see anything wrong with this as a way to not have to run another ground back to the main panel for the dryer outlet? Setting aside the fact that it's gonna look really odd with the single green wire going into the nearby standard outlet.
👍🏻thanks bro, appreciate
No problem 👍
Just bought a new dryer and hooked everything up good and it wouldn’t dry a code kept coming up that the ground had a problem so I opened up the plug and I have no red in the x plug or at all
You should have at least 3 wires, a black wire, a red wire, and white wire.
Excellent video. New dryer came with a four prong plug. I have a 3-prong outlet (house built mid-80’s). I opened the box and have three wires: a white, a black and a bare copper wire. No red. Do I need to call an electrician?
My 3-wire neutral is a bare copper wire that runs through metal conduit back to the box. Do I still need to run another bare copper ground back to the box to upgrade to a 4-wire? Or can I just ground the new outlet to the metal box?
What you need is an insulated white neutral wire going back to the electrical panel, but also we need to see if your panel is wire with neutral or ground or what. How old is your house?
@@jeffostroff built in 1918, but I'm sure it was rewired at some point since the old knob and tube is gone. My dryer outlet is literally two feet from the breaker box with wall-mounted metal conduit, so it should be easy to rerun the wires. Just seems strange to run a separate neutral and ground wire just so they can be connected to the same bus bar two feet away. Why not just connect them at the outlet?
Informative video, thanks for the posting. I am trying to do some electrical planning.. I have a jointer on the way that I prepped the 220 outlet in a 3 wire configuration as per the manual. In the panel I set up 240 by running a single hot wire from each 20 amp breaker, along with the ground froml to the outlet. I am eyeballing this 240 bandsaw that I plan to buy within the next couple months so while looking in the manual, I noticed the bandsaw power cord has 4 wires.. What would be the easiest way to configure both equipment plugs/outlet so that when I would want to switch, all I would have to do is unplug one and plug in the other in the same outlet.. I dont really understand how (and if its ok) to configure the 3 wire outlet I currently have to include a white wire.. I know the ground and white have similar yet different purposes but I am not electrical savvy enough to know what to do in the particular instance. It seems like you have a pretty good idea and so I wanted to ask you if you might have some insight you could share with me. I would truly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Jay Ross What I would do is check with the manufacturer and see if they will allow you to change the power cord to a 4 prong cord and if they do allow that it would solve your problem. Washer's and dryers allow that all the time you have a choice when you buy your washer and dryer if you want to buy a 3 prong cord or a 4 prong cord
Thanks for the reply. I will give them a call, but Im not sure how that would work since the wiring diagram for the jointer doesnt account for an additional connection. The tools often time come without a plug but with a power cord, so you can wire a plug to your configuration. What would I do if they do say that is possible, in my panel I still have only 3 wires- one ground, two hot (each single wire going to one 20 amp breaker connected with a breaker bar). How would you wire in that additional neutral?
Can i barrow a ground wire by splicing it off another circuit?
Great video. Well done. 1/4" nut driver is so much easier if possible.
Yes I love that.nut driver set
Good video.
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!
The ground wire in the box looks to be a #12, I thought it had to be the same size or larger than the conductors?
They are allowed to be smaller because they don't normally carry current
Oh I’m sorry.! I didn’t listen to well. You explained I would have to run a ground from my panel to the dryer plug box.
few times I have had t climb into attics to run ground wires, and even cut holes in drywall to feed it up the wall past fireblocks
Hey Jeff! I am trying to switch from 3 to a 4 outlet and the 3 plug has a copper ground a white and a black wire but no red wire. Will i need both hot wires when making this upgrade? Thanks
Excellent question, not sure, but I am thinking that the white wire you have there might be the other 120 volt hot lead. This would make the most sense, as many older homes had 120 v, 120v, and ground as their 3 wires. Can you get a volt meter and measure the AC voltage of both the white wire to copper ground, and also from the black wire to copper ground? I bet you'll see 120 volts on both the white and black. If this is the case, I would recommend installing a brand new 4 conductor cable from the fuse panel to the outlet. There they would attach the copper wire to the ground bus bar in the panel, and then they can pick up the white wire from the neutral bus bar in the panel, then they simply connect to both the red and the black wires to 120 spots in the panel fro the dryer wiring.
jeffostroff thanks for your video. I understand your reply to Matthew but I have a question. In the main panel (not a subpanel), the neutral and ground are connected in the same bar. So, this new 4 wire connects as follows in the main panel: White and ground together, black and red in their own 120Volt leg. The connection in the dryer does not change, we still need to remove the ground strap from the dryer. Is that right?
@@carlosgarciaphoto Yes, the white and green wires are connected together in the main panel bus bar. At first glance even I at one time questioned why do they want the white to be separate from the green inside the dryer outlet box, if they are connected together in the main panel anyway? I think the answer lies in the separation of the wires itself. As long as we separate the white and the green wire, the white wire will always carry the return current back to the box where it terminates on the bus bar, tied to the green wire. BUT, back in the outlet box, the green wire normally never carries any current unless there is a fault somewhere and 120v hot wires short to the chassis. See the difference? They never want the safety ground wire to carry current under normal operation. Only the white wire should carry any current. this keeps things in a predictable state.
i want that installed screwdriver set... where did you get it... BTW Great Video and Very Informative! Thanks!
Nice Video. So I might have to do something like this. Unsure, as the house has not been moved in to yet, but it has a 3 prong outlet. Dryer is 4 prong. Assuming there is no ground wire, there is no issue with changing the dryer to a 3 prong, correct? However the best practice is to always convert the outlet to 4 prong if possible?
right you can change the dryer card back to 3, but then you have to add the metal shunt back in place at those terminals in the back, and short the white neutral to the green chassis wire. I bet if you open up the outlet box you'll see a ground wire in there. If you do, your problem is solved and all you need to do is buy the 4 conductor outlet receptacle.
@@jeffostroff Great. I'll definitely check. Thank You!
What happens to dryer if not wired right
That depends on which way you wire it as long as the black and the red wires go where they are supposed to and the white wire goes to the chassie in the case of the old 3 wire system, you should be OK.. But don't put either the black wire or the red wire where the white wire should go or you will energize the chassie and people can get electriculated.
My outlet only has a white, black and bare ground wire. I tried using a jumper to jump the black to the other hot side on the four hole outlet and it tripped the breaker when I tried to turn it on. What do you do when you don’t have the red wire?
Successfully switched mine from the 3 prong to the 4. What would have happened if you left the ground strap with the green wire? I left mine in before I seen your video then immediately removed it.
The only thing you did was essentially put a four prong plug on but still bonded the ground/neutral which eliminated the added safety of separating them. It's exactly the same as using a 3 prong setup
GLOVES..LOL
Gloves are our friends
What about the opposite, I have a generator with a four prong 125/240v 20a plug, I have a welder with a three prong 240v dryer plug that I need to plug I to it... I cannot find an adapter... I do have both end plugs I need and three and four conductor 10g wire... Can I make a little jumper in the plug to connect both 120v sides to the "single hot 240v" needed?
I just looked on Home Depot's web site, is this an adapter you were trying to get?
I hope this link works: click.orders.homedepot.com/?qs=aff930c2a2fa114fe49fec1604a0d6cdd5f9b31b2d7043b7c9727e7b8c2be6ca8e6d8349eafb21c2eecad1995c4e3b09908acb191f622c9c19431a4771b65512
jeffostroff nope, I need a three prong dryer female to four prong 125/250v 20A twist lock male...
Female needs to look like
www.homedepot.com/p/Eaton-50-Amp-Heavy-Duty-Grade-Flush-Mount-Power-Receptacle-with-3-Wire-Grounding-Black-1254-BOX/203492410?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CG%7CBase%7CD27E%7C27-2_WIRING_DEVICES%7CNA%7CPLA%7c71700000034239053%7c58700003946878363%7c92700031954447751&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5s3cBRCAARIsAB8ZjU0T8x187aTtC01DOElGKNI_PGGDRtJr5CMCf0WVvRaqqw7-8SMs3sQaAqAWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=COn2gbn0rN0CFXYFrQYdL2EGfA
Male end needs to look like this
www.walmart.com/ip/TSV-L14-30P-Locking-Generator-US-4-Prong-Male-Plug-30A-125-250V/160525693?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=2961&adid=22222222228146555887&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=256590953955&wl4=pla-487083549837&wl5=1014415&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=113509951&wl11=online&wl12=160525693&wl13=&veh=sem
Problem is one is four conductor 110/110/neg/gnd... Other is three conductor 220/neg/gnd... My question is can I put both 110's together to make 220 or does it not work like that?
Old house built in 54 with glass screw fuses.....
Would it be safer just to upgrade to breaker panel with upgraded dryer wire to 4 prong outlet?
That is what I would do. My friend bought a 1946 house a couple of years ago, upgraded to a modern panel, made life a lot easier, now he has 3 prong electrical outlets everywhere, and 4 prong outlet for dryer.
@@jeffostroff 10/4 , this old house .... Is exactly this old house haha, headaches
Thank you
I just moved and changed my 3 prong outlet to a 4 prong in order to fit my dryer. When I turned on the breaker for my dryer, it was tripped (lit red). When I turn the breaker off and and back on, it’s still tripped. Any idea what the issue may be?
“Volt alert” aka “widow maker”
It's funny the world is made up of jokers like you who've never used any of these tools that you're trashing they work and they work quite well I've never seen a failure with it I always test it on a known outlet 1st and it works. And if you're that scared you can always whip out the digital multi meter which I carry in my bag as well
@@jeffostroff I carry one of these everyday douche. It’s just another name that a lot of people use. Get over yourself.
Can i get the ground wire from the washer 110 outlet next to the dryer outlet if i don't have a ground like you have?
Yes it is better than nothing at all but it is preferred to have each circuit running its own ground wire. It could be that your dryer if you have conduit throughout the house, might be grounded to the metal conduit which was big back in the day. But I would check your fuse panel and see do you have a ground wire coming from the dryer breaker. If you do then you really need to search to find out what happened to that ground wire and why it's not in the box, or if they grounded it to the pipe conduit, then maybe all you need is to screw in a ground wire pigtail into the back of the box.
@@jeffostroff thank you
How do you test a ground wire for good or bad working, and also if it comes from the panel?
You don't really. They have advanced equipment that can put a signal on a wire at the panel and see if it receives that signal at the outlet box.
The outlet says white and green on the connectors , you dont have a green plug, it would've been nice if you had shows exactly what you plugged up to what
Next video we will do this
If I have all 4 wires, could I assume they are all connected at the breaker? I dont know if I asked that correctly.
You could remove the panel over the breaker box and see where the wires come in so for example if it's for a clothes dryer just find the clothes dryer breaker and see where the wires are leading to it how they come into the box and see if they're all connected up the ground wire should go right to the ground bar the white wire should go to the other bar with the white wires and by the way both of those two bars are connected together. The black wire and the big red wire should each go to dear respective breaker connections
Does the ground need to remain bonded at the metal box when you connect it to the new outlet?
Yes, National Electric Code requires all metal junction boxes to be bonded to the ground wire. I seldom find this to be the case in a lot of foreclosure properties I have taken over, so the builders are doing a lame job here in FL, and the inspectors are even lamer at checking them.
@@jeffostroff thanks for the reply. Im.also on south FL.
My ground wire that bonds the box is cut short. If I was to buy some extra length copper wire, is it possible to extend the ground and extra couple of inches so I can reach rhe new plug?
Again thank you for the reply.
DUH
I only have the ground the black and the white, but not the red,can anyone please tell me what to do in this case?
Just wondering how you will have a neutral without a wire
You will have to run a separate neutral if you want one. We've had to run grounds before, not a big deal.
What would you have to do if the ground wire had not been already run as you show in he video!
I have 3 cables
White, black and ground (bare cable)
And I don't have the neutral cable
What can I do?
A couple of times we ran all new 6-3 cable from the electrical panel to the range outlet. Typically on 3-wire systems they use red, black and white. Makes me suspicious if you really have 240 there or 120 volts. What year was your house built, and what AC voltage are you measuring across the black and white wires?
Looking for this but with no ground in my old 3 wire plug!!! 😢
Sometimes we run a separate ground wire from the electrical panel, across the attic and kitchen ceiling and down the wall to get that 4th wire.
My 3 hole outlet only has 2 electrical wires and a ground, there's no third wire. Is there an easy solution for that?
A few times over the last few years, we either re-ran wire for stove, but never had to with a dryer. If your house has the safety ground, you can run one from the electrical panel, which we have had to do before. OR....If your dryer outlet box is metal and you have metal conduit, find out if they grounded your metal conduit in the house. If they did, you can just tape a pigtail ground wire to the screw hole on the dryer outlet metal box. That would be your 4th wire now.
Sorry, you have to buy a new house.
So you have red, black, white. All you need is to have a ground wire.
I have a black wire a white wire and a bare copper wire. How do I figure this out?
Not to much to figure. Black is power white is neutral, bare is ground
I HAVE A QUESTION IN MY SHOP I HAVE A DOUBLE CIRCUIT BREAKER THAT HAS ONE SWITCH SAYS 20 ON THE BREAKER SWITCH SQUARE D TYPE. MY 220 SHOP PLUG THAT I RUN A DRYWALL HEATER OFF IS THE ONLY THING POWERED BY THIS BREAKER. THE HEATER HAS THREE WIRES. THE INSIDE OF MY 220 SOCKET HAS A RED A BLACK AND COPPER. I WOULD LIKE TO PUT A 4 WIRE SOCKET IN TO RUN A HOUSE HOLD STOVE FOR POWDER COATING. CAN I HOOK UP JUST THE RED BLACK AND COPPER AND BE GOOD? . I HAVE NO WHITE NEUTRAL WIRE IN THE BOX. THE WIRING IS SAY TEN YEARS OLD INSTALLED BY A PROFESSIONAL AND WAS INSPECTED SO IM SURE ITS TO CODE.
Hi Steve, if your circuit breaker says 20A on it, that won't be enough to handle a stove which should typically be 50A. Not only that, the wiring for 20 amps is insufficient, because for a stove you need 6-3 wiring which means 6 gauge, and 3 conductors. You don't have a white common wire either which is strange for work that was done 10 years ago by a professional. With my projects I usually try to upgrade the stove to 4 wire. Usually we have been lucky and already have the white common wire but several times we have had to run the ground wire to make the 4th conductor.
Thanks for the reply. I will pickup new wire and start fresh at the panel.
Why do they still sell the appliances with the three prong?
I think most houses still have 3 prong so they actually sell you the appliance, and you buy the power cable separate, and if you need 4-wire, you remove the shunt metal strip that shorts common to ground on the back of the machine first.
Do have to switch out the breaker too?
As long as the breaker is the correct amperage and is in good shape it can stay
@@jeffostroff Now with the NEC 2020, 210.8(A), the dryer receptacle now has to be on GFCI where a breaker would be installed. Clear and concise video Jeff.
Two questions,
One I placed the green ground wire in the original place without the little shiny piece. Also the dryer I bought after changing the prong to 4 from 3 won’t turn on. I didn’t have it tested with the 3 prong because there wasn’t an outlet.
How can I test to see if there is anything else failing my dryer
Ryan, On your first question, I'm not sure what you meant by the little shiny piece, please clarify, and what you meant by original place. On your second question, you should get the voltalert sensor that I link to in the description of this video: Fluke FLK2AC Voltage Detector: amzn.to/2THggao
You must use a tool like that to make sure you have voltage going to both your hot wires, which should be the left and right holes in the outlet receptacle. There should be no voltage on the white wire or the ground wire. Even better if you can get a digital multi meter, set it to volts AC, and measure the actual voltage of the 2 hot wires, to make sure you get 120 on each wire. Also, check where the dryer cable is attached to the terminal block inside the back of the dryer. Is the black wire screwed onto a terminal screw with the black wire inside the dryer? Same with red wire? White wire to white and green wire to green? Did you remove the metal strip/shunt from the green to the white wire on the terminal block like the dryer instructions tell you to do? Make sure your dryer circuit breaker is on in the fuse panel.
Hi Jeff, I wanted to make sure I am doing my wiring right. On the new 4-wire; since I am connecting the new green wire to ground where the green/yellow was, Do I connect the green/yellow wire behind the white neutral?
No they should be 4 distinct wire connections.
@@jeffostroff Thank you so much!
Was the red wire the 'x' or the 'y'?
Also, I may not be too savvy in this department, so I do not know if this makes any sense.
Could you (not having a ground in the wall) still switch to 4-outlet and leave the ground strap on the dryer?
X and y are interchangeable. I'm more curious which ports the ground leads go into. Why didn't he show it? Does it matter?
So the wire coming out of the wall is cloth covered. There is a red, white, black, and a ground wire as well. So pretty cut and dry? Switch to new outlet and switch to 4 prong plug?
That is some old wire! If you can upgrade the wiring to add the neutral I would do that as well.
@@jeffostroff that’s what I said haha. White is neutral
Correct? Because white is there. Along with black, red, and the bare ground.
Hey could you help me figure this out with my dryer outlet. So it's a three wire outlet(white, black, copper) and the plug is a four prong plug. What/where should I connect everything?
Your case seems a bit different than normal. We would expect that your 3 port outlet would have "red, black, & copper", not "white, black, copper" like you have. Normally the red and black are the 120 volt line voltage, and the ground wire is connected to system ground. So because of this confusion with wire colors, you need to check your fuse panel and see where they connected that white wire to, is it power, or is it a white neutral wire? We need to make sure that the white wire is indeed a line voltage and not the white common wire. You need a digital voltmeter or, you need to see where that white wire comes into your fuse panel and make sure that white wire goes directly the side of the dryer's circuit breaker screw built onto the breaker switch. The black wire should do likewise, and the bare copper ground wire should go to a ground bus bar with other bare copper wires. You cannot use that 4-prong newer plug without updating the dryer outlet on the wall to 4-prong, AND you have to have a 4th wire run, (neutral) to that location which would connect to the white neutral bus bar inside your fuse panel (not to be confused with the other white wire we talked about earlier). See the confusion here? I don't like the coloring of the wires your builder chose. You have too many unknowns here, and should have a licensed electrician doing this. My preference would be if possible, to run all new 4-conductor power cord from the fuse panel to the dryer outlet, with 4 correct colored wires: Black, Red, White, Bare copper. Then you wire it to the back of your dryer according to the install manual, and you'll then remove the copper metal piece that shorts the green wire to the white wire inside the dryer after you are done converting the outlet. That is explained in your dryer's installation instructions with diagrams.
@@jeffostroff Thank you for the response! So what's been happening is the dryer breaker would constantly trip about half way into a cycle and more recently just started tripping on its own. I'm scared there could be a short somewhere but as you mentioned it's not exactly the right configuration to begin with so I want to try everything possible beforehand. I only found out it was a three wire outlet when I purchased a new replacement outlet thinking it would resolve the issue. So on the breaker side it's a 30amp double pole and the hot/neutral are connected to it with the copper grounded on the busbar
@@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx8627 OK so tripping on its own, the most likely culprit is the breaker switch itself in the fuse panel. they are usually cheap, maybe $10? If you are up to it, you can change it yourself, otherwise have a licensed electrician do it. May have to cut main power outside first. It could also be bad wiring, although unlikely, or your dryer is getting old and having problems causing the motor to work too hard and drawing current. Electricians with an amp meter can clamp around your dryer cord and tell you how many amps your dryer is pulling. At 27-28 amps, it will trip a 30 amps breaker switch. How old is the dryer, and has the dryer itself had any problems?
@@jeffostroff so have same issue and saw another video with someone replacing a 3 wire (black, white and ground. He was putting in the same outlet. He said in homes built in early 80s and before that is how a 220 was wired. So I bought an older home and trying to change the dryer. Bought the new correct plug but old outlet wired with 1 power line (black) a neutral (white) and a ground. Searching all over for how to connect. There looks like there used to be 220 connections with only 1 hot but what it was connecting to only had a spot for 1 hot. So with 2 hits connections what do i do? Looks like call an electrician
So question can you just change the wire instead of the wall socket ?
No to convert to 4 wire you need a 4 hole socket
How would I wire my three wire Miller mig welder to a 4 wire receptacle like that one? Hmm anybody know?
You should check with Miller for confirmation, but on the welders, you usually have the 2 hot wires and one neutral, which is equivalent to the older 3 prong dryer outlet receptacles. Some guys will just wire them to connect the 2 hot wires of the welder to the 2 hot wires on the dryer outlet, then connect the neutral on the welder to the neutral "L-shaped" hole on the dryer outlet. Then they do not use the 4th wire on the dryer outlet, which is earth ground, still connects to the neutral in breaker panel bus bar anyway.
Instant subscriber with that help, Thank you! Double thumbs up,
Thanks for the video. I really appreciate it and you did a perfect job explaining everything.
@@carlp3602 Awesome, I'm glad you liked our video converting 3 wire to 4 wire!
Jeffostroff must 240 volt welders don't require a neutral just 2 hots and the grounding conductor. If you come out of a sub panel neutrals and ground are separate. And by not using the grounding conductor could cause problems. Always check the equipment on what's required. Never leave the grounding conductor unused.
Does you no good to change the outlet unless you change the service panel in the home. The new service panels in home have a dedicated ground and a dedicated neutral
Most of the outlets we have replaced the house already has a panel with dedicated ground and dedicated neutral, and they are connected other inside the electrical panel. but most of our properties were built in the 1980s, the electrical panel is ready for it, but since it was pre-1996, none of them ever have 4 wire outlets. These types of properties make it easy for us to convert. Sometimes we just run a new ground from the electrical box to the dryer outlet, but mostly it's already in the box.
Thank You very much your video is so helpful
You are welcome!
Run a ground green wire to a grounding rod conviente located outside . Easier than running a new green wire all the way back to the breaker box. Will that work?
No you cannot do that! The reason why is if the hot wire shorts to the ground Then you have the problem that the fuse might not blow inside the panel like it should because there is no real circuit you're just feeding it out to the ground and you could still get shocked. This is why they want the ground to return back to the panel to that grounding bar so that it would complete the circuit that way the fuse will trip if there's ever a short.
At 4:19 you said that red and black are 120 degrees out-of-phase. Actually the red and black wires are 180 degrees out-of-phase.
Is a 14-30p cord safe to use on a 14-30r outlet?
You can use it, just make sure the cord is 30 amp rated, and that you have a 30 amp breaker on the dryer circuit.
What if the outlet box I am converting to 4 prong does not have a ground wire in it? My Samsung cord is 4 wire, but the outlet box is from 1993 so there is no ground wire even in the receptacle. There is a green screw on the back of the dryer but that doesn’t reach far enough to be used as the ground wire in the back of the new outlet.
If your electrical wiring passes tot he box via electrical conduit, it might be grounded already. If not, you have to run a new cable from the fuse panel to the outlet box, one that has a ground
Please how to convert 3wirr to 4wire dryer electrical
Hi I just changed the 3 prong outlet and the wires were red, white, black, and a copper one. The copper one is short then the colored ones. I got it some what screw in tightly plugged it in turn the breakers back on and turn on the power for dryer no luck at all. The breakers for the dryers is also 40 watt instead 30. Any suggestions?
Check to see at the outlet, if the wires have voltage on them. I highly suggest you get the Fluke FLK2AC/90-1000V Pocket-Sized Voltage Detector, VoltAlert 90 to 1000 V AC, that is what I use in the video: amzn.to/2THggao Double check that your wires are all the way into their correct connector holes on the outlet, so that the exposed wire is touching the metal lead inside the connector. Also, make sure the 4 wires are connected correctly according to their intended location on the outlet. The copper ground should go to the horseshoe shaped hole, while the white neutral wire should connect to the L-shaped hole. The black and red wires go to the other 2 connector holes, usually called X and Y, but does not matter which of the X & Y that the red and black wires connect to, they both carry 120 volts each and the appliance is looking for the aggregate total of 240 volts from the red and black wires. Lastly, check if your circuit breaker might be to blame, maybe it is bad, or needs to be pushed in further to the breaker panel bus bar. Also check where the red and black wires attach to their respective breakers on breaker panel, make sure they are screwed into their respective breaker, make sure those set screws are nice and tight, to ensure a proper electrical connection.
Thank you Jeff I appreciate you taking your time reaching back Ima have to try it tomorrow after I get home from work.
Great video!
I have a 3 prong outlet and want to change to a 4 prong, but the wall outlet only has 3 wires, there is no ground wire, can I add a ground wire to the metal box attaching it with a screw, would that work for my electric dryer? Or DEFENETLY must run the ground wire from the main electrical box?
Karla you must run a ground wire back to the panel, that's what we've had to do a few times, it's not that hard but if you have never done this, you should let an electrician do it for you. What you are suggesting would not provide a ground at all, becuase this circuit requires it's own ground.
@@jeffostroff thanks í will looks on that
How about the convter thing from Amazon?
which one?
@@jeffostroff from 4 prong to 3 prong adapter. I have 4 prong machine but on my wall there is only 3 prong dryer outlet.
@@goneviral8814 I doubt those are legal
I have a question