Moved to new house. How do I change power cord from 3 prongs to 4 ?
They wire in the same except the green wire will go to a ground screw which should be right in the same area with a green color to it. If no ground screw, hook the green together with the white (center) wire. Hope this helps!
Posted on Jan 28, 2009
I trust the original poster resolved his/her problem. For others, I have an overview. The 4 prong plug/outlet is the preferred connection compared to three prong, but if you have a three prong setup and it is working well, there is no pressing reason the change it. But when you encounter a dryer outlet that has a different number of prongs, here is what you can do. Take a close look at the new outlet (better yet take a picture on your shimmy new cell phone with the camera built in.) Head off to your hardware store and go to the electrical department. You can buy new cords fro your dryer. For this case, we will assume that the new house has a 4 prong outlet, the dryer you brought with you has a 3 prong plug.
Buy the 4 prong cord that matches what your outlet looks like and head home and get cozy with the back of your dryer with the connected power cord dangling down to the floor. Fine where the cord enters the dryer and remove the screws that holds a plate over the cord. Look carefully at the 3 wires that are connected and note the color of those wires and where they are connected. (Take another picture with that snazzy cell phone camera.)
Compare the new power cord with the 'current' one (no pun intended) The major difference is that the forth wire on the new cord is a green wire (Ground)
Remove the three wires from the dryer and replace each wire with the same color wire. If there is a 4th terminal that was not being used, connect the green wire to it. If there is no 4th terminal screw, connect the green wire from the new cord to a screw near by as you close up the plate you removed. It is important that the green wire does _not_ just float around beneath the plate where the new cord connects.
Connect the new cord into the 4 prong outlet and dry your clothes as you see fit. As you push the dryer back in to the way, triple check that the vent tube remains firmly connected to the dryer vent connector.
Good Luck!
Rule: When in doubt, hire an electrician.
Background: The difference between 3 and 4 prong outlets/cords is that there really should be a difference between the neutral and the earth ground when wiring for 240 volt (208 volt in some situations.)
Posted on Apr 03, 2009
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Now what order does the black and red wire go if the green and white are in the center?
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