My new house has a large drier plug with 4 wires{black,red,g...

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Answer by oak
Submitted on 8/27/2004
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buy a replacement cord for your dryer that has 4 wires. open the back of your drier up, and disconnect the old 3-wire cord. the 3 wires for the old cord should connect at a set of poles to 3 different posts. the one on the left is usually for the black wire, the one on the right is for the red wire, the middle post usually has both a grounding strap and the white wire attached. you should disconnect the grounding strap, and only connect the white wire of your new plug to that post. The forth wire on your new plug is for the ground and should be attached to the body of the machine at a point where it will make a good ground connection. the new 4 wire plugs do not use the negative post for a ground anymore and have a seperate ground. They're safer and may be required for new construction in many areas to meet code.

Answer by delectrician
Submitted on 6/29/2005
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The National Electrical Code (2002), now adopted by virtually all cities in the U.S., requires the use of 4-wire circuits for dryer connections. While a homeowner could purchase an electrical outlet for a 3-wire dryer cord/plug (These are still readily available.) and replace the 4-wire outlet with it, the better solution is to purchase a 4-wire cord/plug and replace the original dryer cord/plug. For most dryers this is a fairly simple procedure, most often accomplished by loosening or removing the cord clamp, then removing a small plate or panel that covers the dryer's electrical junction box. This junction box houses the dryer cord connections. The 3-wire cord comprises two "hot" wires that connect to the two flat prongs of the plug and the "neutral" wire that connects to the right-angled prong of the plug. The 4-wire cord adds a "ground" wire that connects to the rounded prong on the 4-wire plug. When removing the 3-wire cord it's a good idea to draw a diagram of the connection points for the "hot" lines and the "neutral" line, although these are usually marked in some way (often BLACK or BLK or B and RED or R for the "hot" wires, and WHITE or WHT or W -- sometimes NEUTRAL or NEU -- for the "neutral" wire). After removing the 3-wire cord/plug: 1) Thread the 4-wire cord replacement through the cord clamp. 2) Attach the two "hot" wires to the appropriate connectors (Don't worry about any color scheme -- either "hot" wire can be attached to either "hot" connector.). 3) Attach the "neutral" wire to its terminal. 4) If there is a connector or screw that is clearly marked as being for the "ground" wire (GROUND or GRND or GRD or GRN) attach the "ground" wire to that connector or point of attachment. Grounding screws are often green in color and often screw directly into the junction box or an attachment point on a metal part of the dryer itself. There may also be a green wire or a bare copper wire or flat copper band that attaches at the "ground" connector or screw. If no specific "ground" connector is found, the "ground" wire may be attached to the "neutral" connector with the "neutral" wire. 5) Tighten the cord clamp. 6) Replace the junction box cover. 7) Plug the dryer cord/plug into the 4-wire outlet and dry some clothes.

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Question by RAY
Submitted on 6/4/2004
Related FAQ: Electrical Wiring FAQ (Part 1 of 2)
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My new house has a large drier plug with 4 wires{black,red,green,white}. The drier i have has 3 wires{black,red,blue}.What wire goes where? U.S. house.

Answer by rob
Submitted on 6/11/2004
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buy a plug with three holes

Answer by cory
Submitted on 1/28/2006
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i would convert the dryer to 4 wire, all the new codes will require 4 wire outlet so you might as well convert the dryer over to 4 wire,, if i recall correctly it's just an extra ground wire,, the black and red are hot wires for your 220,, the white is neutral,, the green is ground,, just by the new cord and and follow the directions

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