The supply cord on an electric dryer can be 3 wire or 4 wire,
depending on the existing receptacle. All new construction
must have 4 wire receptacles for dryer hook ups.
At the back of the dryer you will see a set of three
terminals. The outside terminals are for connecting the
outside wires of the cord. In a 4wire hook up, the center
terminal is for the center, insulated, white wire, the
neutral. The bare copper or green wire of the 4wire cord
gets connected above these terminals to a lug or stud on
the body of the dryer. There may be a strap there. For a
4wire cord connection this strap is connected to the stud
only.
The change for a 3wire connection is that the center green
wire of the 3wire cord connects to the center of the three
power terminals along with the grounding strap from the
dryer body above.
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