0

I am rewiring an old dryer and it had three grey plugs in the past. I swapped the plug for a four prong and not sure what to do with the green ground wire.

There’s a neutral ground wire coming from inside the machine. I’m not sure what the green wire from our four-prong cord hooks up to, and whether or not it’s safe to leave any wires dangling inside the machine after it’s plugged in.

The plastic holding the three terminals has become dislodged, and the terminals no longer line up neatly in a row. Will this compromise the safety of the circuit even if all the wires are connected properly?

Lastly, unfortunately I discovered as I unscrewed the screws from the terminals that there were square nuts holding the screws in place from behind. Two such nuts fell deep into the machine; I went to Lowe’s to get replacements, but they only had hexagonal ones. I bought the hexagonal ones that fit the screws and reinstalled them into the terminals. Are they safe to conduct electricity long-term?

wire photo

isherwood
  • 158,133
  • 9
  • 190
  • 463
j w
  • 1

1 Answers1

-1

The black plastic piece is the dryer terminal block. It should all be intact to prevent the contacts and/or wires from touching. The black wire seems to be a bit loose from the dislodging. You may have to unscrew the terminal block and the rear panel to try and re-assemble the terminal block unless the plastic actually broke, in which case I recommend that you just replace it (they sell dryer terminal block kits at any hardware store).

Mount the green ground wire from the cord to the same screw as the other green ground wire to the left.

Do you have another neutral wire (white) coming up from the machine? If so, that should be on the same terminal as the white wire from the cord. If not, disregard.

The nuts you replaced, as long as they match the thread of the terminal screws, won't really matter as they just hold the wire eyelets to the terminal.

cluelessone
  • 329
  • 1
  • 9