Dryer wiring ??
 

I have a basic wiring question but my search has not helped.
I needed to disconnect my dryer recepticle to redo some paneling

The back of my dryer has a three wire cord going into the connections behind the access panel. There is a green ground wire connected to the chassis of the dryer via screw. The ground does not seem to be connected to the three wires from the plug in any way.

In the wall is a three prong plug. 2 slashes, one L shaped and one small triangular hole in center. Plug is marked NEMA 10-30 if that helps. Here is my question: there are red and black wires going to the slash shaped openings and the white goes to the L shaped. The bare ground wire is just floating inside the box! Should this be connected to the smalll triangle shaped opening in the center of the recepticle? There is a screw behind the triangle but nothing connected.

So I have four wires into the recepticle inc. ground but only three on the dryer plug that goes from recepticle to dryer

The receptacle that you have is not the correct one for the 4 wire setup, nor is the dryer cord. The triangle shaped hole is not for connecting a wire to. I believe you need a nema 14-30 to replace the nema 10-30 receptacle as well as a four wire dryer cord. Also you should verify that the four wires at the receptacle are connected all the way back to the panel.

If you have a cable with 4 conductors, blk/red/white and green or bare, you can switch to the safer 4 wire receptacle and cord.

This is very simple. Typically you need to remove a bond strap or wire in the dryer near the wiring connections.

You have a 4 wire supply (branch circuit from the panel). You then have a nema 10-30R receptacle. This is the wrong receptacle. You need a nema 14-30R receptacle that allows connection to two hots (red and black) a neutral (white) and a bare ground. Then you need a 4 wire dryer power cord (nema 14-30P).

You need to double check the dryer wiring compartment to make sure the metal bonding strap or bonding wire from the neutral terminal to the dryer metal chassis has been removed from the frame or from the neutral terminal. If it is still installed/connected to the frame and neutral terminal then the dryer has been configured for a 3 wire branch circuit ... you have a 4 wire branch circuit. So this would be wrong.

Here is a drawing of what you need to do