When moving to a new home with washer/dryer connections, one major annoyance that can come up is an incompatible electric dryer cord. Newer homes are usually constructed with a 4-prong connection, and if you own an older dryer, you may face the problem of an incompatible 3-prong dryer cord. Not to worry! You don't need any expensive or bulky adapters or a whole new appliance. It turns out to be a fairly easy and straightforward task to swap in a new 4-prong cord.
You'll need to buy the new cord, which can be found at most home improvement stores for $20-30. For the job all you'll need is a 1/4" or 5/16" nut driver and screwdriver to secure the connections on the electrical panel. In the back of the unit, you'll first need to remove the cover plate, which will be directly above where the cord enters the machine. Once that is off, there are four terminals (one for each wire, plus ground with a 3-prong cord) that you will see. With a 3-prong cord, the ground terminal connects directly to the chassis of the appliance. With a 4-prong cord, ground will have a dedicated wire inside the cord. In essence, this is all you are changing.
Unscrew the wires of the 3-prong cord from the terminal and remove the strain relief clamp to detach the cord. The new 4-prong cord will be color coded for easy installation. Ground should be the first connection made, which will be the green wire, and will connect directly to the chassis along with the white wire coming from the terminal. The white wire from the cord connects to the middle terminal post, black connects to the left post, and red to the right post. Make sure all connections are tight (but not too tight) and secure, then reattach the strain relief clamp and cover plate.
You're done! Replacing a dryer cord is an easy job that does not require a master electrician, as you can see. Make sure to take all safety precautions and proceed at your own risk! As long as you follow the color coding guide with the wires, you should now be able to plug in your dryer and go.
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