DIY - Apartment wrong 4-prong 220v wiring, how to fix myself?

mrnine324 · Mar 20, 2022

Hello all, I'm an amateur DIY home-owner that recently moved into an apartment for a 6-month military assignment and these maintenance workers here are clearly incompetent and just do the bare minimum at EVERYTHING, including electrical work.

So I moved in here and my dryer had the 3-prong cord, but the apartment outlet is the 4-prong with that L-shaped neutral, so I go and buy a 4-prong cord at lowes to change on the dryer. Well, I plug it into the outlet and no power to the dryer. Checked circuit breaker, checked my dryer wiring, and then resorted to checking outlet with multimeter. The two HOT's are good with 220ish volts, ground to each hot is proper 120vish, but no power from neutral. So, I take the outlet cover off and discover they wired the white wire from the wall to the ground terminal, and nothing to the neutral terminal. However, I'm not seeing a green or bare metal ground wire coming from the wall. So, I'm not sure what to do here and I certainly don't want to fry my dryer or burn the place down. Could I temporarily install a 3-prong outlet with the white/red/black wires coming from the wall, using white as ground? That sounds bad in my head but it makes me wonder if they wired the white as ground in the circuit panel. Again, this is an apartment so I don't want to get too heavy into fixing their wiring inaccuracies, I just want to be able to use my dryer for the next 6 months and then I'll move back home and restore it to the way it was when I moved into this apartment. Thanks for your help in advance.

[ElectriciansForums.net] DIY - Apartment wrong 4-prong 220v wiring, how to fix myself?

westward10 · Mar 20, 2022

It looks like the original cable had no ground so someone has repurposed the white. @Megawatt one of our US based members will be able to advise a way forward.

Megawatt · Mar 21, 2022

mrnine324 said:
Hello all, I'm an amateur DIY home-owner that recently moved into an apartment for a 6-month military assignment and these maintenance workers here are clearly incompetent and just do the bare minimum at EVERYTHING, including electrical work.

So I moved in here and my dryer had the 3-prong cord, but the apartment outlet is the 4-prong with that L-shaped neutral, so I go and buy a 4-prong cord at lowes to change on the dryer. Well, I plug it into the outlet and no power to the dryer. Checked circuit breaker, checked my dryer wiring, and then resorted to checking outlet with multimeter. The two HOT's are good with 220ish volts, ground to each hot is proper 120vish, but no power from neutral. So, I take the outlet cover off and discover they wired the white wire from the wall to the ground terminal, and nothing to the neutral terminal. However, I'm not seeing a green or bare metal ground wire coming from the wall. So, I'm not sure what to do here and I certainly don't want to fry my dryer or burn the place down. Could I temporarily install a 3-prong outlet with the white/red/black wires coming from the wall, using white as ground? That sounds bad in my head but it makes me wonder if they wired the white as ground in the circuit panel. Again, this is an apartment so I don't want to get too heavy into fixing their wiring inaccuracies, I just want to be able to use my dryer for the next 6 months and then I'll move back home and restore it to the way it was when I moved into this apartment. Thanks for your help in advance.View attachment 96179

We still have dryers wired with 3 wires unfortunately. Since it’s an apartment and your just staying there temporarily get a 3 prong cord for the dryer. By code if you work on a dryer you are supposed to bring in up to today’s standards but that’s not your problem. It should work fine with no problems. Good luck my friend and thank you for your service.

Megawatt · Mar 21, 2022

mrnine324 said:
Hello all, I'm an amateur DIY home-owner that recently moved into an apartment for a 6-month military assignment and these maintenance workers here are clearly incompetent and just do the bare minimum at EVERYTHING, including electrical work.

So I moved in here and my dryer had the 3-prong cord, but the apartment outlet is the 4-prong with that L-shaped neutral, so I go and buy a 4-prong cord at lowes to change on the dryer. Well, I plug it into the outlet and no power to the dryer. Checked circuit breaker, checked my dryer wiring, and then resorted to checking outlet with multimeter. The two HOT's are good with 220ish volts, ground to each hot is proper 120vish, but no power from neutral. So, I take the outlet cover off and discover they wired the white wire from the wall to the ground terminal, and nothing to the neutral terminal. However, I'm not seeing a green or bare metal ground wire coming from the wall. So, I'm not sure what to do here and I certainly don't want to fry my dryer or burn the place down. Could I temporarily install a 3-prong outlet with the white/red/black wires coming from the wall, using white as ground? That sounds bad in my head but it makes me wonder if they wired the white as ground in the circuit panel. Again, this is an apartment so I don't want to get too heavy into fixing their wiring inaccuracies, I just want to be able to use my dryer for the next 6 months and then I'll move back home and restore it to the way it was when I moved into this apartment. Thanks for your help in advance.View attachment 96179

I’m sorry but I misread your post. That looks like a 3 prong outlet, could the maintenance people have installed a 4 prong cover over a 3 prong outlet just for fooling an inspector. With the power off and leave the cover off see if the 3 prong cord plugs into the outlet. Maybe I’m brain dead and my eyes are getting bad but it appears to be a 3 prong outlet. Sorry

Megawatt · Mar 21, 2022

mrnine324 said:
Hello all, I'm an amateur DIY home-owner that recently moved into an apartment for a 6-month military assignment and these maintenance workers here are clearly incompetent and just do the bare minimum at EVERYTHING, including electrical work.

So I moved in here and my dryer had the 3-prong cord, but the apartment outlet is the 4-prong with that L-shaped neutral, so I go and buy a 4-prong cord at lowes to change on the dryer. Well, I plug it into the outlet and no power to the dryer. Checked circuit breaker, checked my dryer wiring, and then resorted to checking outlet with multimeter. The two HOT's are good with 220ish volts, ground to each hot is proper 120vish, but no power from neutral. So, I take the outlet cover off and discover they wired the white wire from the wall to the ground terminal, and nothing to the neutral terminal. However, I'm not seeing a green or bare metal ground wire coming from the wall. So, I'm not sure what to do here and I certainly don't want to fry my dryer or burn the place down. Could I temporarily install a 3-prong outlet with the white/red/black wires coming from the wall, using white as ground? That sounds bad in my head but it makes me wonder if they wired the white as ground in the circuit panel. Again, this is an apartment so I don't want to get too heavy into fixing their wiring inaccuracies, I just want to be able to use my dryer for the next 6 months and then I'll move back home and restore it to the way it was when I moved into this apartment. Thanks for your help in advance.View attachment 96179

After studying the picture turn off the power and move the white wire over to the screw on the right. It will work then. Sorry but it’s been a long hard day

mrnine324 · Mar 22, 2022

Megawatt said:
After studying the picture turn off the power and move the white wire over to the screw on the right. It will work then. Sorry but it’s been a long hard day

Thank you. My only concern, is that if I do that, moving the white wire to the pin to the right (which connected behind to the neutral plug), then I would lose ground, correct? Wouldn't I be asking for problems without a ground? But, I do see your point about how they probably just put a four prong outlet on three wires to fool the city/state inspectors. If I test the wires with a multimeter, how can I make sure that white wire is ground and not neutral, or vice versa? It's very possible they put the white wire as ground at the circuit breaker box, I just can't see behind there to trace that. But, what if it's in fact neutral? I just don't want to 1) blow up my dryer, or 2) cause a fire. Thank you.

Megawatt · Mar 22, 2022

mrnine324 said:
Thank you. My only concern, is that if I do that, moving the white wire to the pin to the right (which connected behind to the neutral plug), then I would lose ground, correct? Wouldn't I be asking for problems without a ground? But, I do see your point about how they probably just put a four prong outlet on three wires to fool the city/state inspectors. If I test the wires with a multimeter, how can I make sure that white wire is ground and not neutral, or vice versa? It's very possible they put the white wire as ground at the circuit breaker box, I just can't see behind there to trace that. But, what if it's in fact neutral? I just don't want to 1) blow up my dryer, or 2) cause a fire. Thank you.

Put your meter on ac voltage and check hot to neutral and you should get around 120 to neutral

norcal · Mar 23, 2022

It looks like the receptacle is miswired, it never should have been changed to 4 wire, as there is no grounding conductor and doofy the wannabe electrician connected the neutral to the grounding terminal, a 3 wire dryer cap is a dual voltage non grounding device, the landlord should have it rewired but a lot of them are slumlords, but the 3 wire is permitted in existing installations and that is another way to fix it, by changing the receptacle, I am no fan of the 3 wire dryer receptacles as they should have been canned 40 years prior, they were prohibited in new installations with the adoption of the 1996 NEC.

BTW 220V is a prewar voltage, around WWII it was 115/230V, before it changed to the present standard of 120/240V