[muphtrician]

I have a washer/dryer unit that uses a single NEMA 10-30R cord:

After upgrading the outlet (30a) I used a multimeter to test the power, it was only ~130-150, it is connected correctly. I checked the breaker, it only has 2x 20a breaker for this outlet, and the wire is only 12g ..

My main question is this.. The washer works (I assume it only uses 120v 15a?).. But the dryer won't even turn on. Is it safe to use the washer and NOT the dryer until I rewire the house or move somewhere else with accommodating outlet? Or does this raise safety concerns? What is the worst that would happen, tripped breaker? Or fire? Thanks for you help.

Also, if someone knows.. Is there an easier way to get my dryer working than rewiring the whole house? Alternate energy outlet (solar)? Power converter? Power inverter?.. Anything??

 

[muphtrician]

Nobody?

 

[bobelectric]

No takers. You are off to a bad start using 12/2 to feed a 30 amp 240 volt receptacle.

 

[muphtrician]

So it may trip the breaker?

 

[muphtrician]

Seems to be working just fine.. Thanks for nothing I guess

 

[jbfan]

Seems to be working just fine.. Thanks for nothing I guess

Did you do anything?
Did it just start working?

 

[sgip2000]

130-150v is high for a single leg. Did you measure the voltage from the left and right slots or top to bottom? If wired correctly, it should still produce 240v, it will just max out at 20A.

 

[Dave632]

I have a washer/dryer unit that uses a single NEMA 10-30R cord:

After upgrading the outlet (30a) I used a multimeter to test the power, it was only ~130-150, it is connected correctly. I checked the breaker, it only has 2x 20a breaker for this outlet, and the wire is only 12g ..

My main question is this.. The washer works (I assume it only uses 120v 15a?).. But the dryer won't even turn on. Is it safe to use the washer and NOT the dryer until I rewire the house or move somewhere else with accommodating outlet? Or does this raise safety concerns? What is the worst that would happen, tripped breaker? Or fire? Thanks for you help.

Also, if someone knows.. Is there an easier way to get my dryer working than rewiring the whole house? Alternate energy outlet (solar)? Power converter? Power inverter?.. Anything??

Nobody?

So it may trip the breaker?

Seems to be working just fine.. Thanks for nothing I guess

muph,

You seem to be under the impression that this forum is an on-call consult the electrician site. Your followup to your original post was only 23 minutes after the OP. Your, rather grumpy, last post was exactly an hour and a half after your OP.

Many of the forum readers are actual, working, electricians or other professionals. They respond to postings on their own time, if they have any. It's not unusual for a post to go hours or even days before someone who feels qualified to respond does so.

In other words... Patience, Grasshopper.

 

[muphtrician]

Did you do anything?
Did it just start working?

Thanks for your response.. The washer section works (I'm assuming it only uses 120v 15a) but the dryer section does not (Know for fact it's 240v 30a).. Just wanted to make sure the only risk of running the washer is tripping the circuit and not a fire hazard. They both operate off a single NEMA 10-30R cord so I wasn't sure..

The outlet only supports up 20a and reads at ~140-150 with a multimeter, I already know to get the dryer working I'd need to switch the breaker to 30a and rewire with 10g (unless someone knows another fix).

Just wanna make sure the washer portion won't catch my house on fire more or less.. I'll deal with the dryer later

muph,

You seem to be under the impression that this forum is an on-call consult the electrician site. Your followup to your original post was only 23 minutes after the OP. Your, rather grumpy, last post was exactly an hour and a half after your OP.

In other words... Patience, Grasshopper.

You're right... Sorry, just have no clean clothes an the washer/dryer I just bought isn't going as planned. Just stressed sorry, I really do appreciate the help though!

130-150v is high for a single leg. Did you measure the voltage from the left and right slots or top to bottom? If wired correctly, it should still produce 240v, it will just max out at 20A.

Thanks, yes I did. The right side is the only side showing power, when I touch <right - ground> or <right - left> it shows ~140-150.. <left - ground> shows 0. Perhaps the breaker is faulty? Even so, without switching it to a 30a and upgrading the wire too I don't think it would help. In the wall there were 3 wires, Black/White/Copper (ground) I connected the copper (ground) to the L socket and the White/Black to the other 2.

 

[jbfan]

What kind of receptacle was there before you upgraded?
Take a picture of the breaker panel and breaker in question.
Is this a rental?

 

[muphtrician]

What kind of receptacle was there before you upgraded?
Take a picture of the breaker panel and breaker in question.
Is this a rental?

There was a standard home outlet 120v, yes it is a rental... So I'm not trying to do something I can't easily reverse when I move out. Here is the breaker in question:

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/tqn4k
(image wouldn't post, link will show it though)

It is the one second from the left on the bottom (9-10) 2x 20a switches.

There are 2 on top you can see that have no breaker but are wired with 10g wires and are 30a ready, I just have no idea what so ever where they lead to.

Thanks for your input.

 

[jbfan]

You need to disconnet your washer and call the landlord.
That is not a 2 pole breaker, but a tandem breaker.
You have a very unsafe setup now.
Doing electrical work in a rental is illegal in most areas.

 

[sgip2000]

You need to disconnet your washer and call the landlord.
That is not a 2 pole breaker, but a tandem breaker.
You have a very unsafe setup now.
Doing electrical work in a rental is illegal in most areas.

I agree.

 

[jbfan]

Guess they did not like my answer!

 

[muphtrician]

You need to disconnet your washer and call the landlord.
That is not a 2 pole breaker, but a tandem breaker.
You have a very unsafe setup now.
Doing electrical work in a rental is illegal in most areas.

Ok that's what I was trying to find out. Gonna disconnect it and put back the original outlet. Can you explain why this is unsafe? Thanks.

Also... Why am I calling the landlord now?

 

[sgip2000]

Ok that's what I was trying to find out. Gonna disconnect it and put back the original outlet. Can you explain why this is unsafe? Thanks.

Also... Why am I calling the landlord now?

It's unsafe because it's not wired properly.

Call your landlord so he/she can get a proper outlet installed.

This will need new wiring as it will require 10-3 wire and not the 12-2 that is there now.

 

[muphtrician]

It's unsafe because it's not wired properly.

Call your landlord so he/she can get a proper outlet installed.

This will need new wiring as it will require 10-3 wire and not the 12-2 that is there now.

Well it had a regular outlet on it, they probably would just tell me no if I put in a repair request. They mentioned it had washer hook up when I moved here just didn't think too much into the dryer situation at the time.

Or are you saying it's wired wrong even for a standard outlet? The 2 switches are separate and not connected (if that is the difference between 2 pole and tandem), they can turn on/off separately.

Thanks.

 

[sgip2000]

Well it had a regular outlet on it, they probably would just tell me no if I put in a repair request. They mentioned it had washer hook up when I moved here just didn't think too much into the dryer situation at the time.

Or are you saying it's wired wrong even for a standard outlet? The 2 switches are separate and not connected (if that is the difference between 2 pole and tandem), they can turn on/off separately.

Thanks.

A regular outlet is fine, but for the dryer outlet, it needs to have a 3rd wire for the heating element.

If you leave the dryer outlet there, it will not be wired correctly as it will not be grounded.

Also, if the apartment has a washer hookup, it should have a dryer hookup as well. Is it possibly a gas connection?

 

[Rochsolid]

Ya you need to call the landlord and get a qualified electrician in there to fix it up right. Typically you would run a 10/3 cable to your dryer receptacle, would read 120v from line to neutral (either red or black to white) and 240 v live to line (red to black) and you will need a 2 pole 30 amp breaker not a tandem like you have now.

 

[muphtrician]

Cool thanks guys, I'm gonna call the landlord and see what I can do about this.

If you leave the dryer outlet there, it will not be wired correctly as it will not be grounded.

There is a solid copper wire, I'm assuming that is the ground. Just only 1 hot wire it seems.