I recently bought a 1960 Frigidaire Custom Imperial dryer. I have it in my garage. My garage does not have a dryer receptacle. Are there any special extension cords for dryers? I would appreciate any suggestions from "the experts".

I won't call myself an expert, but using a high-wattage appliance like a dryer with any kind of extension is not something I would recommend. Play it safe and get a 240 v. line and permanently wired dryer outlet into the garage.
It sounds like a nice dryer - what colour is it? Do you have any pictures to share?

Build your own cable. Most dryers used Nema 10-30p (male) and a 10-30r (female) connectors during that time period. The female end is easy to find, but the male "plug style" connector was very difficult for me to locate.

Use at least 10 gage wiring for the application. I actually pulled a 100 foot 4 conductor 10 gage cable out of the dumpster a few months back ago and used 25 feet of that (the remaining will be for my future Ingersoll T-30 compressor). It works well with my Maytag DE750 dryer and the wiring remained cold even after 3 hours of continuous use on the Permanent Press cycle (hottest cycle).
Here is the link to the male plug style connector. It's completely over built and even made in the USA :>)

~Are there any special extension cords for dryers?


Do you have access to a standard 220v 30a dryer line, or do you want to plug this machine into a standard 110v 20a (appliance) outlet?

Let me warn you that on 110v it will take three hours to dry a normal load, perhaps longer in a cold garage. he heat input will be nearly equivalent to a hair dryer!

Is your dryer cord a 4-prong or a 3-prong deal?

I was able to make an extension cord that a typical dryer cord plgus into (female end), with a standard 120v plug (male end). Due to the wiring, the cord itself delivers 120v to the heater and other components.....

Depending on your responses, will say more later... :-)

If he could build his own cord, couldn't he just as well apply that presumed knowledge and run a permanent and proper line himself?

:-)

Here is the extension cord that I use.

It allows me to plug any dryer into a 110V outlet......

In use

I did the exact same thing as did Gadget Gary and it works like a charm. I got the recepticles (both male and female) and the heavy duty romex cable at my local Lowe's store. You should make sure the connections are solid and you will need some heavy duty pliers and wire strippers.

I actually have a 220 volt 50 amp extention cord. It's on a big reel with wheels and everything. As far as I can determine, the previous homeowner used it to arc weld various and sundry things around the property from a single 50 amp range-type outlet in the main workshop.

However, back to the dryer extension cord. Bad idea, IMHO. Better to have a real dryer outlet (and circuit and breaker) installed in the garage. Electric dyers draw a lot of current and the longer you make their connection, the more voltage drop that will occur, to the point where the wiring may get hot and/or the dryer suffer from low voltage problems.

The 220 to 110 volt conversion adapter would of course be another matter.

Hi Ken.

*WAVES*

Guess who made that extension cord for him?

I used a 220v air-condtioner extension cord that is at least AWG (American Wire Gauge) #12, meaning it can handle 20 amps.
It had both the male and the female end chopped off of rmy purposes.

I believe the dryer draws a few amps less than that when used on 110v.

:-)

Of course a real outlet is best..........

...for my purposes....

It should read.

Yes Ken,


My plug Queen.

oooh child. I ain't touchin' that one....anyway.....
LOL ROFL LMAO!

Methinks we need a pic of this 50a cord reel sir!

The crank side of the roll-around 50 amp 220 volt extension cord reel. You can see that the reel is in two sections. You can see the 50 amp range type plug on the second section.

The 50 amp outlet side. You can also see the outlet box for the other section, which has a 20 amp (I think) 220 volt Hubble twist-lock outlet. Presumably the two sections are electrically connected, so that one can plug in either a 50 amp device, or a 20 amp device, as needed. Obviously user discretion is advised, not to plug in a total of 70 amps at the same time. I have not checked the electrical continuity or operatio of this extention cord apparatus, but I expect like most stuff left behind by this individual, it will work perfectly.

Close-up shot of 50 amp outlet...

:-)

Better shot of 50 amp outlet...

I guess the first shot was better after all... depends on monitor...

They sell them for commercial battery chargers that run on 220V so the units can be wheeled to where they're needed. I would imagine a place like Grainger's would have them, or maybe a supplier that sells those types of commercial charger units.

What's the big freaking deal with 220V anyway?? In England and Australia, even some of their "personal massagers" run on 220V and their cords and outlets look a little bigger than ours but nothing like the old stubby honking hausers that our dryer and stove pigtails use.

Maybe for New Years I'll relate the story of my neighbor who lived in her Mother's old house(with faulty wiring) and what happened everytime she hooked up her "personal massager".

Anyway, got to go. Dorothy's about to get back to her house, but there's a tornado coming and I can't wait to see what happens.

Sudsmaster-that looks like a real heavy duty "Feild Cordset" you have there-reminds me what was used on broadcast feild jobs to bring power to the job for running the remote broadcast gear.

Baja,

The plug size has more to do with amperage than with voltage. Most American 220 volt outlets are for 30 amp dryers or 50 amp ranges. As I recall, most European 220 volt outlets are for about 10 amps or less. A European 220 volt 10 amp circuit can supply as much power as an American 110 volt 20 amp circuit, but require about 1/2 the amount of copper in the wiring.

Hi Rich,

In post 255512 how big are the pins. That socket is the same design we have in AU and without any perspective that photo makes it look the same size.

Could you please measure the pins that go into that socket? HxWxL

Brisnat,

It's a standard North American 50 amp range outlet. Pins are much bigger than a 220 volt 10 amp outlet, if that's your question.

Each pin on the plug measures about 1/2" wide, about .1 inch thick, and about 1.25 inch long. The neutral pin is slightly longer than the two hot pins.

Hope that helps. Since the pins are arranged in a triangular pattern, I can't give you easy dimensions on their layout.

The plug/outlet in question is a NEMA 10-50 standard design. Here's a drawing of Hubble's version of the plug. It should give you an idea of the overall size of the thing.

As best as I can determine, the pins or straight blades on an Australian 3 pin plug are 1/4 wide by .040" thick - less than half the size of the 220V-50A NEMA 10-50 on my field extenstion reel.

Here's a shot of a standard Australian outlet (from Wikipedia)

Yes, you can make an extention cord, and a properly made cord will work fine. (You mariners and campers can think of it as shore power.) There will be no difference in performance between a properly made ext. cord and a hard wired circuit. Bump up one wire gauge if you are going a long distance at maximum current, e.g.,> 100ft or so, for best results. 10Ga. is adequate for shorter runs at 30A; use #6 for 50A.

I use several large extension cords for heavy loads in my shop, both single and three phase, including one that carrys 90-->120A for a large arc welder, no problem. Oh, and before you flame me, I am a professional EE/ME, meaning I design these sorts of things for my livelyhood.

~Maybe for New Years I'll relate the story of my neighbor who lived in her Mother's old house(with faulty wiring) and what happened everytime she hooked up her "personal massager".

The mother or the daughter? *LOL*

...and if you don't feel like posting for public consumption please feel to email the story to me!


I had once heard a story from a lesbionic friend who had a friend.. anyhow the poor dear tripped over the (flex) cord as she stood up and her knees went weak. She broke her arm! Apparently with the right equipment already on-hand, half the fingers being out-of-commission for a few weeks was not a huge loss!

We have found a couple of yellow construction grade 220 volt extension cords at thrift stores. They were 10 gauge, but very flexible with a nice round plastic exterior. Another one I found I put on my 1954 Frigidaire range which in my old house was on the opposite wall from the 230 volt outlets. It must be close to 20 feet long. For regular 220 volt extension cords, we can buy 9 foot long dryer cords and it's a simple matter to cut off the terminals, strip a little insulation and secure the wire in an outlet box. 30 amp and 50 amp outlets are the same behind the plastic openings for the blades of the male plug, so we cut a small notch in the straight slot for the ground blade in a 50 amp receptacle which enables us to use it for 30 amp dryer pigtails with the L-shaped ground blade. It's easy to find the 230 volt male ends for making cords from cable at HD, Lowes or electrical supply places. Most of the plugs contain both the L-shaped ground as well as the straight one.

That Filtrator operating in a cold garage might dry pretty quickly with the cold air flowing over the Filtrator cartridge. The dryers can evaporate water far faster than they can usually condense it so this might be very interesting; well worth taking notes and keeping track of times for heavy cotton loads. We have often wondered what it would do to a Filtrator's performance if you put a refrigeration coil next to the cartridge to really cool the air before it hits the tubes. One other thing, the Filtrator only uses (2) 2200 watt heating elements so its electrical draw will be less than a standard air flow dryer providing another cushion for the capacity of the long cord.