The more I think about it…I agree. The Dryer plug/receptacle is old,but I didn’t see anything out of place,loose,or broken. I HAVE 240V…but something is missing. I don’t think the cord has been yanked & broken internally. All of the terminals are tight & clean.
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? For Electricians. I’m stumped.
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The more I think about it…I agree. The Dryer plug/receptacle is old,but I didn’t see anything out of place,loose,or broken. I HAVE 240V…but something is missing. I don’t think the cord has been yanked & broken internally. All of the terminals are tight & clean.
It could be someone drove a nail into the cable or drilled a hole into the cable. Ground/neutral wire problems act crazy sometimes.
divinginn
Senior Member
meter out both hot legs on the dryer with it plugged in,doing it one leg at a time will fool you sometimes.
If you don't get 240 volts go back to the recpt and meter both hot legs again to see if you have 240 there.
I would bet you are missing a hot leg but reading hot on both but from the same leg.
If you don't get 240 volts go back to the recpt and meter both hot legs again to see if you have 240 there.
I would bet you are missing a hot leg but reading hot on both but from the same leg.
divinginn
Senior Member
I would suspect the recpt,just had to trouble shoot one that was pushed back to far where the plug makes connection in the recpt.
All showed good on the recpt but was loosing a leg going to the dryer,new recpt and cord fixed it.
All showed good on the recpt but was loosing a leg going to the dryer,new recpt and cord fixed it.
notnksnemor
The Great and Powerful Oz
Agree with the others, it appears to be a "floating" neutral problem.
Have someone try to start the dryer while you check voltage (each hot leg to neutral).
I suspect the meter voltage reading will drop when start is pressed.
Have someone try to start the dryer while you check voltage (each hot leg to neutral).
I suspect the meter voltage reading will drop when start is pressed.
Soo…The “Floating Neutral” would be isolated to this one circuit…since the other circuits are working properly? All of the other circuits in this panel are 120V. The Dryer circuit is the only 240 circuit in this outbuilding. Everything on the main breaker box,at the house seems to be working properly. It is sounding like the receptacle May be doing something funky,that I can’t see..when I plug the cord into it.
Don’t rule out a problem with the neutral wire from the sub-panel to the dryer plug. Also be aware corrosion at terminals is possible.
Lotsa stuff can happen.
Doug B.
Senior Member
It looks like it is a three wire cord. If that is the case then there won't be a neutral wire from the panel box to the dryer receptacle.
Check both lugs in the panel box to see what the voltage is there. If there is an imbalance in voltage there, you may have a bad neutral coming from the panel box in the house to the sub-panel.
Wire Nut
Senior Member
I’ve been lurking to see if to OP could fix the issue. If all other circuits in the panel are 120v they will work fine. As mentioned above you need to check from leg to ground with the dryer turned on. If you have a bad neutral/ground one leg will be much higher than 120v and the other will be much lower. It may not be the neutral/ground coming from the panel to the dryer. How is the panel fed? Overhead or underground from the house? You mentioned it’s an out building. Is it fed from the house or does it have its own service?
Artfuldodger
Senior Member
I thought the center wire or terminal in the receptacle was the neutral and the 4 wire one came later in years/time and included a dedicated ground.
Isn't the controls and motor in most dryers 120 volts? I was thinking a water heater doesn't need a neutral but dryer and stove does.
Lilly001
Senior Member
I had a similar problem.
It turns out it was a neutral problem.
The panels bonding screw was defective. A jumper from ground to neutral solved it.
It turns out it was a neutral problem.
The panels bonding screw was defective. A jumper from ground to neutral solved it.
Doug B.
Senior Member
A three wire dryer, stove, oven, etc, usually only consists of three conductors. Two hot legs and a ground. No neutral. Now by code these circuits must have the two hot legs, a ground, and a neutral. The appliances come with the ground and neutral bonded. If you are using a four wire cord, then by code, you must disconnect the bond on the appliance which separates the ground and neutral. A neutral is not a ground.
If you look at the op's pictures you will see that the black and white wires are connected to the breaker. That means that the only conductors going to the appliance from the panel box is a black wire, a white wire, and a ground wire. That doesn't leave any conductor to be used as a neutral. In that case, the ground wire will be connected to the ground/neutral terminal in the appliance because the ground wire and the neutral wire go to the same place. In a four wire system, which is code now, the ground and neutral must be separated.
Artfuldodger
Senior Member
I thought the new code added a dedicated ground, not the other way around. Thanks. I had it backwards.
I did know how it worked, just the wrong nomenclature. I thought the neutral wire was acting as a ground but actually the ground is being used as a neutral.
Amazing how many argue this point on the internet and forums, lol. Reading this;
3 wire dryer circuit
The older style 3-wire ranges and dryers didn't have a neutral ... they had grounds. They used the ground as their neutral.
I'm afraid I need to disagree. The wire present in these old circuits is the neutral. The fact the conductor needs to be insulated when connected to other than service equipment proves this out. The neutral conductor has always been required because of the design of the appliance.
But could it truly be a neutral by code without a wire with insulation? Thus it's a ground being used as a neutral.
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I have not had a chance to go back and look at it/work on it yet. Maybe tomorrow evening. It is a three wire set up(Dryer/receptacle/cord). It is fed underground from the main panel box,at the house.
Lilly001
Senior Member
I had, what sounds like, the same issue With a new dryer in a new utility shed.
I had a sub panel in the utility shed fed via a three wire (2 hot 1 ground) from the house.
I had the three wire dryer plug from the sub panel. The new dryer wouldn’t run. Both hot wires tested hot and the ground was fine.
I ran a temp 4 wire plug and the dryer worked fine.
A jumper (10 gauge) from neutral to ground fixed the issue and I was able to use the 3 wire plug.
It took 2 electricians to figure it out.
I had a sub panel in the utility shed fed via a three wire (2 hot 1 ground) from the house.
I had the three wire dryer plug from the sub panel. The new dryer wouldn’t run. Both hot wires tested hot and the ground was fine.
I ran a temp 4 wire plug and the dryer worked fine.
A jumper (10 gauge) from neutral to ground fixed the issue and I was able to use the 3 wire plug.
It took 2 electricians to figure it out.
Artfuldodger
Senior Member
Is his dryer receptacle ground, that's also being used as a neutral, tied to the neutral bus in that sub-panel? I don't think grounds and neutral are suppose to be tied together in sub-panels.
I guess that sub-panel has a ground that goes all the way to the main panel where it is tied to the neutral?
Just trying to figure out what his dryer ground path to neutral is.
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Same Cord each time. I don’t see any damage to it,the prongs,or the terminals on each end.
oldfella1962
Senior Member
I wish my memory was better! 
I had a very similar problem about a year or so ago with a military maintenance van I was servicing. It was driving me NUTS but an HVAC tech figured it out pretty quickly and explained to me the science behind the problem. Military troubleshooting manuals often use "if X is the problem, the solution is A,B or C" but often as not A, B or C do not fix the problem. When it comes to goofball phase & grounding problems, experienced HVAC techs have generally encountered a wiiiiiiide variety of situations.
I had a very similar problem about a year or so ago with a military maintenance van I was servicing. It was driving me NUTS but an HVAC tech figured it out pretty quickly and explained to me the science behind the problem. Military troubleshooting manuals often use "if X is the problem, the solution is A,B or C" but often as not A, B or C do not fix the problem. When it comes to goofball phase & grounding problems, experienced HVAC techs have generally encountered a wiiiiiiide variety of situations.- Status
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