I don't have enough electricity going into my condo to supply a 220 volt dryer, and can't add a gas line. Are their electric dryers that accept a lower-wattage heating element, so I can get an electric dryer that runs on 15 amps, without going to a compact electric dryer.
Post# 148249 , Reply# 1 8/13/2006 at 19:33 (6,464 days old) by tomturbomatic(Beltsville, MD)
You want 15 amps on 115 volts, not 15 amps on 220, right? I don't know if there is a place in your area that sells old dryers, but Westinghouse/White Westinghouse/Gibson/Frigidaire/Kelvinator made a stacking front-load washer and dryer set called Space Mates. Some models of the electric dryer, which is a good sized dryer, have a low heat setting which operates only the 115 volt heating element for heat. It will safely work on a 115 or 120 volt 15 amp single outlet circuit. You cannot use the auto dry settings on the low heat setting, but the timer does go up to 120 minutes, I believe. If you find the dryer, it will have the 220 volt pigtail on it. You will have to remove that and put a very heavy gauge 115 volt cord on it, like would be used for large 115 volt air conditioners, 10 or 12 gauge wire. Instead of attaching the three wires in a one on each terminal in the block pattern, you will either have to go by the wiring diagram for 115 volt operation, if you can find it, or do some experimentation. One side of the line (the hot side)goes to either the left or right terminal and the other wire (the neutral line) goes in the middle. Then either find a hole on the back of the dryer cabinet or on a piece of metal that is attached to the cabinet or drill one and attach the ground wire to the cabinet with a sheet metal screw. You might have to strip the wire down a bit to free up the green grounding wire. Plug the dryer in, set the heat selector for low heat and the timer for the timed drying cycle, close the door and push Start. If it does not, unplug it and move the wire that is on one end of the terminal block to the other one. Other than this, if you find a standard size Kenmore or Whirlpool dryer, you can order a 115 volt heating element that they make for the compact dryers and replace the 220 volt heater with the 115 heater and then change that cord. You won't gain much by using a larger dryer except that it will hold more and dry the load with less wrinkling. Do you have a balcony where you could discretely place a dryer and plug it in? It could speed up your drying during the warm months of the year to utilize the outdoor heat for drying and the great outdoors for venting the humid, linty air that comes out. If you have to do this inside, spring for some rigid metal pipe or one of the almost flat periscoping pieces of dryer vent duct work, depending on where the dryer is placed, and tie a pillow case onto the opening of the pipe or duct so that the air inflates the case when the dryer is on. A pillow case will catch an amazing amount of fine lint that you would otherwise have to remove from your condo by dusting and/or vacuuming, yet it will not place too much restriction on the dryer's air flow. Best of luck.
I'm sorry to tell you this, but I've never seen any such thing. And believe me, I've looked. Your choices in full size are pretty much a 220 electric dryer, a 110 dryer with gas as the fuel source for the burner, or a compact dryer using 110 volts, and probably containing no more than 1800 watts for the burner.
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