Po Boy Finally Buys A Washer/dryer

Can a gas dryer share the outlet with a washer in a utility room?



What if they are small under counter units in the kitchen?
      

I have a 220v Microwave, and a 220v dryer, that came with a four prong plug cords attached (they were used in newer homes).



The current outlets are three prong outlets and there is absolutely no way to run new wiring.





Just need to change the cords on the microwave and dryer to the old style three prong ones?









Opinions?
      

I'm new to this site.  But would appreciate some troubleshooting.  I just renovated my kitchen, gutted and all, finished in the Fall.  I did not replace wiring to the dryer, nor tamper with it, to my knowledge.  We did have an electrician add a small fuse panel.  We did not add more appliances then before, added some lights, but mostly used the room to separate things out.  Had a mentor do the wiring, many years of experience, very tidy and careful work, though not electrician by trade.  We have a standard 200 amp box as far as i know.  The house is 100 years old, but the wiring isn't.



In October my mother in law heard a very loud bang.  The electric dryer had been running.  She smelled smoke.  At the dryer receptacle was molten plastic sprayed onto the wall, caused by overheating at that point, due to I don't know what.  I thought maybe I had knocked something loose in the receptacle when i was drywalling around it.  I can't remember now if the breaker had tripped.  The receptacle and plug were toast. 



I replaced the receptacle, I replaced the dryer cord, not the breaker.   The dryer worked fine until february, when it stopped heating.  I found a bad thermal fuse and replaced it, the very common two pronged white one. 



The dryer worked fine until early April when it stopped heating again.  I checked all the fuses/thermostats on the back and the heating element, as I had done the first time.  Nothing was bad.  I checked the voltage coming out of the wall, as I had done the first time, only this time I did it correctly and got a reading that told me to check the breaker in the panel, which had not thrown.  When I checked the voltage between the Nuetral Bus and the two terminals on the Dryer's 30 amp breaker I only got a good reading on one of them, telling me that the breaker was bad.  While at the box, i noticed that to the main breaker, from where the conduit comes into the box from outside, the nuetral wires are bare all the way up, no insulation, and at the terminal of the main breaker they appear to have all melted together, even a couple small pieces have melted off of the "bundle." 



Switched the range 50 amp breaker with the dryer, dryer worked fine, nothing was back fed either.  Bought a new 30 amp breaker for the dryer and installed it on Saturday.  Also on Saturday we were given a dryer, about 4 years old, same as ours, so i hooked it up and saved ours for a spare, which I deemed still good since it seemed the breaker was the issue.  New Dryer worked fine from saturday until today.  Now it won't turn on, though it didn't cut out mid load yesterday either.  The breaker did not trip.  I repeat, no tripped breaker.  I just checked the voltage at the wall and it seems to have that same problem where one side of the receptacle gets a reading of 120, and the other a reading of about 5.  The problem must be bigger than the breaker.  I am not an electrician, I am a welder.  I have gone as far as I could on my own.  Thank you.
      

How high does a dryer outlet have to b from the ground?
      

Hello everyone,I have a question about a forklift battery charger i bought. Ok,its an exide forklift battery charger 36 volts. It weighs a ton so i am having to run a 25 foot extension cord to it. My question is,my 220 wall outlet has three holes so i went to lowes and made a 220 extension cord. Now i get to the ac cable coming out of the charger that hooks to the extension cord(plug was cut off),there are 4 wires coming out of the cable green,white,red, and black......the guy at lowes said i could buy a 3 prong plug for it to plug into the female end of the extension cord because one of the 4 wires is probably neutral and i wouldnt have to hook up but the green,white and either the red or black.....is he right? Inside the charger the red,white and black all go to big fuses and green to ground. Also above the fuses it says "factory set to 480 volts ac". I guess my question is,will this charger only work using a 4 prong wall outlet(mine only has 3) and with 4 prong plug hooked to cable coming out of the charger itself or is the guy at lowes right in saying that only the red OR black wire has to be used? Sorry if this is confusing but ive searched and searched online for 3 days and havent found anything. Thanks in advance for any help-Kevin
      

When you install a dedicated circuit, say for a washer or refrigerator, does the NEC require the receptacle to be a simplex rather than a duplex ?



Arky
      

Hello Guru's,



Can I throw a  standard 3 prong 110/120 receptacle on a 15A 2P 220v circuit? I need to run that 15A 2 pole 220 to a switch for central AC air handler service. I'd like to run to a switch with and outlet right next to it for service and still comply with NEC Code. This way, if service tech ever needs to plug a vacuum in or some other device, he'll have a something there. Is this possible or is that too powerful for 220v even though it's 15 Amps? Or should I just run a standard 15A 14/2 circuit.



Thanks



~S
      

My house has 240v outlet from the previous owner for a kiln of some sort. Im putting a tanning bed in its place. The plug on the tanning bed is a L6-30. I checked specs on the tanning bed and it requires a L6-30 recepticle and a 30amp circuit breaker. I went to the local home fixit store and found the correct recepticle and bought a 2-pole Siemens 30a circuit breaker. After shutting off the main breaker and using testing equipment I pulled out the 50a breaker and replaced it with the 30a..no problem. Heres where Im not sure....The L6-30 recepticle that goes in the wall has a X and a Y and a G marking on it. The G is grounding per instructions, w is white or grey, and X,Y,Z are black, red, blue or etc etc.The wires that come out of the house are red, black and a bare aluminum bradied type wire. Looking at the back from the top counterclockwise  I hooked up the red, then black, then the bare nraided to the G (has green screw) Is the black and red correct? And why doesnt it say red, black and gound?  Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks!!!
      

OK, I'm an electrical dummy ...



I have finished basement w/a bathroom. We have an ejector pump off the bathroom that has been plugged into an outlet w/gfi since I've owned the house (10 years). There is also a booster fan for my electric dryer plugged into the outlet (has been the same for 10 years).  The only thing that has ever tripped up that outlet is using a hair buzzer in another outlet within the bathroom (but once you hit the reset its fine).

   

  This morning I realize the ejector pump was not sucking down the water from the drains. I looked at the outlet and realized it needed to be reset. When I reset it, the pump would run for a few seconds and the outlet would trip up again. Tried this a few times. Thought maybe it was an issue w/the outlet altogether. Neighbor suggested maybe it was an issue with the pump. Went thru various scenarios and bottom line is when I plug the pump into other outlets it works totally fine and once I do that and reset the outlet it was on, the booster fan works fine and the outlet does not trip. So, basically this outlet is tripping when the pump is on it but the pump is not tripping other outlets and the outlet works fine as long as the pump is not on it.

   

  What could be causing this? Why would an outlet that housed the two things on it all of a sudden continue to trip when the pump is on it but the pump is fine on its own in another outlet and the outlet is fine on its own w/o the pump?
      

I am siding a cottage/house and came to the outside plug. It is a GFI but I found it kept tripping. I actually changed to GFI because it looked as though it sparked. While changing I noticed the white wire was loose ... so I thought this could be the problem. I replaced the GFI plug and the only thing that was plugged into it was a circular saw. Again, it tripped. My thought atre that it could have been wired wrong or have other items on the run. I believe an outside circuit should be all by itself? The only other reason that comes to mind would be if someone drove a nail or screw into the hot wire. Any suggestions and possible remedies?