How to Wire an Electric Dryer

Modern appliances come with separate ground and neutral wires. Generally, this setup is safer, because the current-carrying neutral is not connected to the dryer case. However, it is useless if the wall receptacle does not have a separate ground slot. In that case, you'll have to do the very simple procedure of converting a 4-wire dryer to a 3-wire setup.
Steps
1. Identify the type of plug that you will need by looking at the "slot pattern" of the receptacle on the wall. You'll need to buy a new power cord/plug from an appliance or hardware store (~$12-$15).
2. The new cord (at the dryer end) will have 3 wires only, no ground wire. The center wire of this cable is the neutral wire and the outer wires are hot live wires. The hot wires connect to the outer 2 connections the power terminal block of the dryer, does not matter which is which as long as one hot is connected to each of the outer terminal connectors. (each outer wire is 110-120 volts which, when added, gives you the 220-240 volts.)
3. The center wire (neutral wire) of the cable goes to the center connector. Since in this case the neutral serves as a neutral and a ground connection, a jumper band (ground strap) is also connected to the center terminal and to the frame of the dryer. A green wire could also be used to connect the center connector to the frame of the dryer.
4. If the dryer cord does have colored wires, white is the neutral wire to the center connector, the red and black wires are the hot live wires which connect to the 2 outer connections of the dryer terminal block, don't forget the ground strap or green wire jumper from the center connector to the dryer frame.
Tips
1. A good resource is this site: http://www.selfhelpandmore.com/switchout...
2. Tighten the wire clips really well, but don't break them off!
Warnings
1. Always make sure any electrical appliance is UNPLUGGED before working on it!
2. These instructions only apply to a centre-tapped 120/240V supply as found in the US and Canada; do NOT use them in other configurations. In particular, using neutral as ground will prevent ELCBs (earth leakage circuit breakers) or RCDs (residual current devices) from operating and hence present an electrocution hazard.