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| Music's over turn out the lights  |
I am renting my grandparent's old house from my mom and needed some advice on the dryer plug on the wall. The dryer isn't working great and I have an older Speed Queen I got out of one of my rentals and figured I would try it out. The wall outlet is a 10-50P and the dryer is a 10-30R from just a google search. My question is, can I just buy a converter like THIS ? David W. Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud. -Sophocles | ||
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Ammoholic |
Sure you could, but why spend $70 when the replacement outlet is <$15? Also if you have a 50a outlet, then it's likely on a 50a breaker which needs to be a thirty for dryer. Also you are mixing up R and P. P - part on dryer, R is part on wall. Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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| Member |
It would be much cheaper and a better to simply change the outlet to the 10-30R outlet, they're $5.79 at lowe's because any modern dryer will be compatible. Might want to change the breaker to a 30 amp also, but the wiring should be rated for 50 amps if it's connected to a 50amp breaker/plug so I don't feel it's necessary to change the breaker. Just save the old outlet just in case you want to switch back. Or the other option to make the connection to buy the 10-50P range cord with the molded plug already on it and change it at the back of the dryer. It's 3 5/16" ish sized bolts and takes 10 minutes or less. The cords are less than $20 at HD or Lowe's (you might be able to take the old cord off of their old dryer but it's probably 100 years old and wouldn't recommend it). Either way is much cheaper than the adapter if you know how to do minor electricity. Outlet $5.79 https://www.lowes.com/pd/Utili...t-Industrial/3775475 Lowe's has the cord for $22.98 https://www.lowes.com/pd/Utili...e-Power-Cord/1018183 | |||
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| Member |
There is usually one "best" way. The dryer needs a 30A outlet and a 30A breaker/fuses. It's a system designed to not burn your house down. | |||
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אַרְיֵה |
Yeah, but it will turn all your clothes inside out. הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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| Member |
How is this post relevant to anything in this post??? | |||
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| אַרְיֵה |
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...0601935/m/2850097554 הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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| Staring back from the abyss  |
Or, "Lighten up Francis...it's a joke". ________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton. | |||
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Security Sage |
The breaker should be 30-amp, period. A 50-amp breaker could be dangerous. RB Cancer fighter (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma) since 2009, now fighting Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. | |||
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| Ammoholic |
Pussy. If it works who cares? I don't care that a dryer cord is only rated for 30a, or that the dryer is UL tested/listed for 30a, and I especially don't care that the manufacturer requires 30a. Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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| Member |
The range cord I posted the link to is rated for 50 amps. I'm not an electrician and you are skins, so I will refer to your judgement. But at the same token, you told the OP he could use the $70 adapter which is the exact same thing I told him (plugging a 30 amp dryer, with 30amp dryer cord into a 50 amp circuit). But, what I've always been under the impression of, is that a breaker is to be rated at whatever the wiring to the outlet is size for. In the OP's case I'm assuming the wire is rated for 50 amps if done to code to the OP's 50 amp plug. That being said, if you plug a space heater into a 120volt 20amp outlet, there is nothing saying you have to switch the breaker on a normal household outlet to match the load of whatever you are plugging into it. We both know there are lots of modern codes that old houses simply didn't have codes for that are grandfathered in. Like many older homes do not have a dedicated 15 amp circuit for the refrigerator which is now modern code and all modern houses need to be built with. NOW, this is where I'm sketchy, is there a code stating a dryer circuit must be a 30amp circuit? As obviously, the OPs parents house was built with a 50 amp circuit going to his dryer. If the dryer manufacturer or code requires a 30 amp circuit then one should put a 30 amp circuit breaker. | |||
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| Ammoholic |
50 amp cord and plug on 30a circuit = OK 30 amp anything on a 50a circuit = If he wanted to use the adapter, he'd still need to change the breaker. As for the space heater it has to do with manufactures instructions and UL testing/listing. The space heater will say to use it on either a 15 or 20a outlet. Same thing with a microwave it will state it requires a 15a or 20a outlet, grounded plug or not, and if a dedicated circuit is required. Same for a wall oven, A/C unit, or a dishwasher. Same applies to the dryer, if he were to read the instructions it would state that it's to be used on either a 240v or a 208/240v circuit, if it requires a four wire circuit, and breaker size (which will be 30a). So there is no code requirement for dryer breaker size. It needs to be sized on the lowest rated components in the circuit and per instructions/listing. Did not see that it was range cord you linked. In all reality the danger to leaving the breaker at a 50a and using a range cord is below minimal. It is a round about code violation and I would never recommend to a customer to do it. **** For OP. You should change the breaker and the outlet to match the dryer. Ideally it would be best to use four wire plug and cord, but you likely don't have a neutral wire ran to dryer if it's an older house. Buy 30A breaker and matching female receptacle to whatever is on the dryer, plug dryer in and you will be fine. You could also remove cord from non working dryer and move it to the working one and change the breaker to 30a. FYI no heat in dryer can be lost of one leg of 240v to dryer, so if it acts weird with the other dryer you know you have electrical problem. Test if you have the means to, you may have a bad breaker or outlet. Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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| Music's over turn out the lights |
Thank you guys for all the answers, I am glad I posted and saved myself some money  David W. Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud. -Sophocles | |||
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