Running a dryer on 110 volts?

[volvoguy87]

I have a Maytag DE308 that I have never fired up. I have no access to a dryer outlet, so I would like to run it on 110 volts. Does anyone out in AW land know how to rewire the dryer so it will run on 110? Any recommendations on things to check on this type of Maytag if it hasn't been run in at least over a year?

Thanks a bunch,
Dave

 

[toggleswitch]

yes. But You don't have to rewire the dryer.

Take a HEAVY DUTY air-condtioner extension cord that handles at least 20a. Cut off the female end. Fit it with a 220v 30a dryer outlet that mathces the configuration of your cord.

Now the hard part.

Neutral to neutral.
Hot to prong that goes to MOTOR AND TIMER.

Now the OTHER side of the heater will probably be the RED terminal on the terminal block. Figure out which prong on the cord feeds that terminal. Wire the outlet such that that this is fed a neutral.

Clear as mud? Write to me and I'll make you such an extension cord that is non-invasive to the dryer. Or I can give more specific details!

Trick is not to blow fuses by making sure the proper terminal that is the second hot gets fed a neutral.

I made one for GadgetGary, and will try to post a pic if I have it.

 

[toggleswitch]

Polarity is crucial to ensure that the ground and neutral are not fed by a "hot".

And that the hot DOES get to the timer, lights and controls.

 

[gadgetgary]

Extension cord

Here's a pic of the cord Steve made for conversion

 

[toggleswitch]

Thanks Gary.

For that one I bought a 220v A/C extenstion cord and replaced the male plug as well as the female end. This was to ensure the gauge was thick enough and it can handle the required wattage.

Polarity is CRUCIAL. In a 220v dryer in ths country the frame of the machine was allowed to be grounded through the neutral conductor. This CAN NOT be fed a hot/live/active or it will be a jolting experience and/or blow fuses if that is actually miswired.

I actually put a bit of green electrical tape on the side of the receptacle indicating which "hole" (that is normally hot when using 220v) gets a neutral. In this way with each subesequnet dryer that comes into the house, I can ensure the proper polarity and that the heater gets 110v, since flex/line cords are installed on-site and may have the (two)hots reversed (from what is proper and needed to run 110v).

If your plug and cord has 4 conductors that is great. Otherwise the ground(earth) will have to run through the neutral or a separate conductor. This is accomplished by a grounding "bar" that attaches the frame of the appliance to the neutral conductor at the teminal block.

 

[toggleswitch]

BTW look what happens to the wattage when used on 110v insead of 220v....

Assuming the motor is 600 watts, the heater goes down to 1/4 of the original wattage.

View attachment 4-24-2008-06-53-20--Toggleswitch.jpg

 

[tomturbomatic]

I don't understand the dryer outlet on the cord. When I modified my 806 I just used a heavy duty 110 volt extension cord, cut off the female end, stripped the insulation back to get to the wires and stripped some insulation from each wire, soldered loops on the stranded ends and hooked the hot wire wire to one side of the terminal block and the other side to the neutral terminal, after removing the ground strap to the neutral terminal. I screwed the green grounding wire to to the dryer cabinet. Then I pushed the control to start the dryer and it worked. If the dryer does not start move the hot lead to the other side of the block.

 

[toggleswitch]

yes your system works too (and would work for Dave). That was my orginal configuration, which evolved to the "conversion" extension cord.

The dryer remains intact (complete with 220v cord) and can be used on either voltage.

In the set-up where used, there is one 220v 30a dryer outlet and three dryers. So with my cpnversion extension cord, any of the three dryers can get the 220v for a quicky dry, and any of the three can be used on an ordinary 120v appliance crcuit. The benefit to me is that this allows two to run at once in any permutation.

 

[toggleswitch]

Here's Tom's idea said differently.

Remove the ground strap that connects the frame of the machine to the middle terminal of the terminal block that will be the white (neutral wire).
Add the white wire form the etnediosn cord to thiis middle terminal
Put the black wire on the terminal where the black wire is.
Move the red wire over to the white wire in the middle of the terminal block. (if the black is on the left, the red is on the right or vice-versa).

If you prefer not to move the red wire over, simply make a "jumper" to move current from the white middle terminal to the red wire on one of the ends of the terminal block.

If-a no worky, put the black from the heavy-duty extension cord to the red on the dryer and jump the END terminal that does not have a supply wire to the middle/neutral post.

RECAP of theory
All but the heater works on 110 v BLACK (hot/live/active) AND WHITE (neutral) WIRES).

The heater normally gets 220v (BLACK AND RED)
to give the heater 110V it also needs to get BLACK AND WHITE!

------------------------------------------------------

UNRELATED:

GREEN Ground/earthing wire was traditionally used here.
RED hot/active/live is still currently used here in certain cases, with black being more common.

10% of the men electrical installers were found to be red-green color blind. So installers now have a striped green/yellow conductor to to help them differentiate between the ground and the hot leads/wires.

 

[toggleswitch]

of course my method assumes there is already a cord installed on the dryer.........

And that the outlet bought mathces the prong configuration.

 

[gadgetgary]

Tomturbomatic

I prefer this system since I can use any dryer on either voltage.
I can even test the dryer I acquired today at a neighbor's estate by even plugging it in on the patio, where is it currently living till it gets cleaned and finds a new home.

 

[volvoguy87]

Thinking...

The extension cord idea is good and not what I initially thought of. Let me ponder this for a day or so while I deal with some family drama.

Always with the drama
Dave