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Thread Number: 95607
/ Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
elec kinda scares me... what should i do |
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| Post# 1202522 3/31/2024 at 11:15 by christfr (st louis mo) | ||
last week while doing laundry i kinda smelled something kind of burning in the wash room but could not find it. knew it wasnt the washer and the dryer was running but the cabinet felt cool to the touch and was running fine. so today i started the dryer and about 10 min in i really smelled something. felt the dryer and the cabinet was cool and running fine. then i looked at the plug. so my question is .. is this just a bad plug or cord or just a bad socket or is the machine drawing to many amps and has a short or something.
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| Post# 1202523 , Reply# 1 3/31/2024 at 11:17 by christfr (st louis mo) | ||
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im gonna open the machine and see if i see anything funny or burnt in there
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Post# 1202524 , Reply# 2 3/31/2024 at 11:42 by chetlaham  (United States) |
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 There are devices out there that prevent this, but to this day the technology remains obscure and is essentially suppressed.
Anyway, it could be the plug or the socket itself. Impossible to tell for sure but you will need to replace both the cord and the receptacle including cutting and stripping back fresh copper in the device box.
I doubt the appliance is drawing to much current considering 1) the asymmetrical heating (normally an overload will overheat at least two prongs/contacts/conductors in a circuit 2) Breakers typically trip well before plastic gets melty.
For peace of mind you can always take a reading with an amp clamp. Also verify the dryer is on a 30 amp breaker and wired at minimum with #10 copper or #8 aluminum.
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| Post# 1202525 , Reply# 3 3/31/2024 at 12:06 by christfr (st louis mo) | ||
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thanks for the info. i had the back cover off by the timer all looks and feels good in there. took the front off was a little dusty but all the wires look and feel great no burn marks or discoloration on anything in there. the only odd thing was when i yanked the plug out of the wall it was kinda only half way plugged in. dont have a clue why .
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Post# 1202526 , Reply# 4 3/31/2024 at 12:26 by chetlaham (United States) |
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| Post# 1202527 , Reply# 5 3/31/2024 at 13:08 by christfr (st louis mo) | ||
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| Post# 1202528 , Reply# 6 3/31/2024 at 13:15 by Repairguy (Danbury, Texas) | ||
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Post# 1202529 , Reply# 7 3/31/2024 at 13:37 by chetlaham (United States) |
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240 volts is no different than a regular wall outlet since US residential 240 will always be 120 volts to ground. Further any 120 volt device has about a 1 in 10 chance of 240 volts being present in the box itself either from another circuit or as part of a multi wire branch circuit. I wouldn't worry about the voltage.
However if you don't feel confident or don't understand any part hire a professional. | ||
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Post# 1202532 , Reply# 8 3/31/2024 at 15:16 by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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Bad dryer outlet and cord
As Melvin said there’s nothing wrong with the dryer. This happens when a bad connection develops overtime in the outlet and sometimes the cord does this too, in any case you have to replace both.
When the outlet is replaced this time, put it in the correct way, it was upside down before, and that puts extra stress on the two hot connections because the cord is Pulling the plug out of the outlet slightly and can lead to this type of problem, the cord should be hanging down nicely when it’s plugged in. John | ||
| Post# 1202578 , Reply# 12 4/1/2024 at 08:18 by sprog (Boston) | ||
I'm surprised nobody suggested a 4 prong upgrade | ||
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Post# 1202581 , Reply# 13 4/1/2024 at 09:28 by chetlaham (United States) |
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4 prong upgrade May not be practical if the home run is 3 wire and not accessible without opening up walls/fishing wire. Code does not require running new wire unless the circuit is being extended or the outlet box itself is being moved or relocated to another location.
Also judging by all the upvotes I assume people misread what I wrote as insinuating there was something wrong with the dryer. As I said in 3 posts prior, it is highly unlikely the problem rests with the dryer. I stipulated this multiple times.
The problem was created by either the plug being partially inserted or the receptacle contacts loosening over time. Due to the heat damage both cord and outlet need to be replaced.
What did I say originally contradicting these two statements? | ||
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Post# 1202587 , Reply# 14 4/1/2024 at 10:28 by weed30 (St. Louis, MO) |
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Electrician recommendation I see you're in St. Louis - if you need an electrician, I recommend Scott Moushey (Moushey Electric) 314-753-2714.
Also: Who restored your Frigidaire?? Thanks :) | ||
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Post# 1202589 , Reply# 15 4/1/2024 at 10:59 by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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Dryer outlet failure
As Steve mentioned in reply number 11 the thing that causes this is the wire where it is screwed to the outlet was not attached properly. It sometimes takes 20 or 30 years for the failure to take place, this happens because these outlets are designed for up to six gauge wire were only 10 gauges needed and it’s hard to properly clamp. A small 10 gauge conductor in such a large connector, I did a recent post about this where I showed the same failure occurring.
Copper connections do not oxidize and create high resistance. Copper oxide is a very good conductor. The spring terminals do not lose their tension either until they overheat and fail otherwise they would last hundreds of years , a small amount of spray paint sprayed into the receptacle will not cause a problem. It is theoretically safer to have a four wire cord and receptacle, but in reality of properly installed three wire set up there is no safety concern and you would not benefit by upgrading to a four wire receptacle. All you do is waste a lot of expensive copper. Nearly half the clothes dryers we work on with four wire cords. The installer doesn’t even attach the cord properly to the dryer. They link the neutral and ground together anyway so there’s no actual benefit. John | ||
| Post# 1202591 , Reply# 16 4/1/2024 at 11:05 by christfr (st louis mo) | ||
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Post# 1202593 , Reply# 17 4/1/2024 at 11:10 by chetlaham (United States) |
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Google, again, says otherwise:
Once the first overheating occurs from loose contact, it results in oxidization. Once the first layer of oxide occurs, its over. The connection only gets hotter and hotter from there on.
And as I said before, those NEMA outlets can handle 10 gauge CU just fine. Decades of UL testing and listing says its just fine.
OP's setup will be just fine when repaired.
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| Post# 1202599 , Reply# 18 4/1/2024 at 11:57 by Maytag85 (Sean A806) | ||
I agree with John. If a three prong cord and outlet has worked fine for decades, why change it? Wastes lots of copper as John mentioned, along with it being a little more involved when installing a 4 prong cord as opposed to a 3 prong cord. Been using electric dryers with the 3 prong cord and outlet setup, never had issues with anything.
As the saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. | ||
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Post# 1202752 , Reply# 20 4/4/2024 at 09:32 by turbokinetic (Northport, Alabama USA) |
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In reply to post 13 Sorry if it seems that I contradicted you. If so, it wasn't intentional. Probably haste on my part. I saw the original post and replied what I thought happened without reading through all the previous replies. | ||
| Post# 1202836 , Reply# 21 4/5/2024 at 13:48 by anthony (uk) | ||
same thing | ||
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