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| Hi,
I had my house rewired recently, and the electrician made a mistake in wiring for a gas, not an electric dryer. He wired for 220V 20amp, but my dryer say it needs 23amps on the side door (which is a standard 30 amp dryer due to the 80% code requirement). My question: what might I expect if I swap the power chord to take a correct plug for the 220V, 20amp socket and run my dryer at 3 amps below it's stated need? Is this safe? Will it damage the equipment or make the dryer less functional? Thanks to anyone who can help! Alan |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ronnatalie (My Page) on Tue, Dec 20, 11 at 12:28
| You can expect it to repeatedly blow the breaker. 23A is more than 20 and motors are notorious for pulling even more at startup. It boggles the mind why he would run 220V @20A for any purpose in a laundry. The code requires 20A for the 120V circuits. A gas dryer typically just plugs into a 120V circuit (to spin the motor). The first thing to check is whether he indeed only ran 12G wire to the receptacle. |
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| Hi, Thanks for your reply. Yes, he only ran 12G wire, which is why we can't just up it to a 30 amp if I'm understanding the problem correctly. Alan |
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| You are correct, 20A is the limit with 12G wire. He'll need to come back and install 10/3 cable and a 30A 2-pole circuit breaker to be adequate for your dryer. |
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| What if we switch to a 30A 2-pole circuit breaker and use a power cord that works with this dryer outlet? This was a solution recommended to me by another person working on the job, but I don't want to be exposed to fire hazard. If we are not running at full dryer power, or shortening the life of the dryer that's fine, but I am getting opinions as to whether it is safe overall. Hope that's a clear explanation, if not please let me know. |
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| You can't increase the capacity of the circuit breaker unless you increase the size of the wire in the wall. The circuit breaker is there to protect your installed wiring against overheating. What you are suggesting is absolutely not safe. |
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| How did you determine that you have a 220V 20 amp line? |
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| Hi, The electrician let me know what he installed, and it was in the fine print on the estimate I just didn't double check. Thanks for the comments above, Alan |
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- Posted by ronnatalie (My Page) on Wed, Dec 21, 11 at 18:20
| Your electrician is an idiot. Get a different one to pull a proper circuit. |
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| Is it actually a 20amp 120V line? Because there is absolutely no reason to have a 20amp 220V line for your laundry. Forget about the paperwork. Typos happen. Is it a double pole breaker or just a single one? But regardless, as others have said, there is no way to run an electric dryer off of a 12G wired circuit. |
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