On a 3 prong dryer socket (nema 10-30), which one is the ground/hot/neutral?
Question:We're putting in a 3 pronged wall socket, and we have no idea which prong is which. The electrical connections are already in the wall, we just need to wire up the socket. Which one is which? It would be bad if we screwed up our dryer before we even started it.
Also, we don't want to get an electrician to install it for us.
Thanks!
Answers:
Nobody has a perfect answer, some are absolutely wrong and some are close. It is very important to get the wiring correct, so listen to this.
First, what kind of wire is in your walls? If it is 3 wires without ground (black, red, white for example), you should use the 3 prong outlet (10-30 like you said). This outlet has 2 hots and a neutral--there is no ground! If you have a bare wire and no white wire, it is still probably a neutral (there are cases where the neutral can be bare). The 3-prong connection was outlawed with the 1996 NEC, so if your wire was put in before then it is still correct by code. If you just installed this wiring, it is against code.
If your wiring is 4 conductors, both white and bare (or white and green), plus red and black, you should use the 14-30 4-prong outlet. Bottom line--the number of wires in the wall should match the number of prongs on the outlet. Do not leave a wire unconnected or a prong unconnected by using the wrong outlet.
As for which is which, like all other receptacles, the hots have a darker screw (for your black and red wires), the neutral has a silver screw (for your white wire) and the ground has a green screw (for your bare or green wire).
Once you have the correct outlet, then pick a dryer cord to match. If you move a dryer to a different house, you should change the dryer cord, not the outlet. Also very important, do this cord connection correctly!! This is screwed up alot, for example appliance installers doing it wrong. If you have a 3-wire cord, the frame of the dryer MUST be connected to the neutral (white), and if you have a 4-wire cord, the frame of the dryer MUST NOT be connected to the neutral, but MUST be connected to the ground (green) wire. New dryers today still ship with the strap connecting the frame to the neutral, which is ready for 3-wire cords. This strap must be removed for a 4-wire cord. Doing either of these wrong is a safety issue.
If you do not understand any of this, you should get an electrician. There is a reason they exist.
the L or U SHAPE IS GROUND ishould say upside down L shape
Sorry this is so long, but if you bear with me I can explain it well. You do not have a neutral when you have a double pole breaker. When you plug a breaker in your panel and it is double pole, you plug it into both sides of your buss.a single pole only takes up one side. 110 volts are on just one side, but when you plug into the other side, you use what would be your neutral wire to hook up the other hot leg, and the two 110's make you 220.When you look at the plug, the prong shaped like the L is the ground. All that can tell you most of the time is that it is 30 amps. Stove plugs look similar but have a straight blade ground and those are 50 amps. You probably have a pigtail or your cord on the back of your stove.just hook up the green to the ground screw and put the black and white on the other legs or the receptacle.
I do believe the electrical code calls for the four prong to be installed anymore, so I'd check on that first.
Black is generally the Hot
White is generally the Neutral
and Green is generally the ground.
First, you don't have "ground/hot/neutral" on a 10-30. It's hot/hot/neutral. The "L" shaped prong is the neutral (white), the other two are hot (red and black).
However - as of the 1996 NEC, the 10-30 has been replaced with a 14-30. The old 10-30 didn't have a true ground, and instead grounded the appliance chassis to the neutral conductor. The problem with this was that the timer motor and lights in a dryer require 120v, so the neutral is supplying current as well as acting as an equipment ground.
If you pulled a building permit for the work, the building inspector won't sign off on the 10-30 receptacle. If you're doing this WITHOUT A PERMIT and you ever have a house fire, there's a real good chance that the insurance inspector will blame your non-permitted, non-code wiring as a contributory factor, cancel your policy, and reject the claim.
Do the job right, replace your existing appliance cord with a 14-30 cord, install the approved 14-30 receptacle, and get a permit. I don't mean to be a hardass, but for the cost of a new cord and a building permit, why give your insurance company an excuse to refuse covering a claim if there's ever a fire (knock on wood).
i will make this real simple for you . Here we go 1st make sure the breaker that feeds power to the outlet boxes is turned off. hook up the ground wire to the center connection and then the other two wires one to one side the other to the other side, turn the breaker on if it doesn't trip you are OK,( if it does trip recheck your connections) turn it off again plug in your dryer turn the breaker on and away you go.
the 2 large slants are the hot's or phase's if the dryer is 240 volts the remaining 'hole' is the neutral or ground
Hot/Neutral/Hot
On a 3-wire the ground jumper must be left attached to the frame of the dryer. On 4-wires the jumper is removed, the neutral goes to the center lug, the ground goes to the frame.
On old 3-wire circuits the ground is used as the neutral.
No longer allowed. New circuits must have separate neutral and ground. Neutrals are GROUNDED they are not GROUNDS.
Neutrals carry current.
With the breaker off and the circuit tested, had to say that. Look at the physical size of your wires, the two hot wires are normally larger than the ground. The ground wire goes to the half round loop in the socket.
dang it the elbow is the ground the other two are hot
for a dang 30 amp dryer
hot neutral hot, in that order center one is nuetral...
the top one is neutral or white,the two side ones are hot black is 110 volts,red is 110 volts which equal 220 volts on a meter. and electric dryer has some components that run on 220 volts and some on 110 volts,whoever said that it does not have a neutral is wrong,use a meter.
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