120v washing machine circuit converted to 240v for new washing machine

[mbrooke]

After all this I went to a new house we just finished. The dryer was 4 wire but the washer had a 4 wire 30 amp cord also. Now looking at it one would think you needed 2- 30 amp circuits but I remembered years ago- these units are 12 years old- Miele made these and you had to buy a splitter specifically made for these unit. Plug the splitter into the 30 amp dryer plug and attached was a jb with 2- 30 amp receptacles with in line fuses.

So she has to buy this $240 unit have it shipped etc- probably $275 which she should have had when she first got it. Apparently the electrician wired up a small panel and fed them separately from the dryer cir. I thought we had screwed up--- They don't make these units like that any more for obvious reasons. The washer had 2- 1300 watt heater elements for the hot water.-- Dryer only had 10 amp draw.

When 240 volt appliances first started hitting the US they often were designed to plug in the only 240 volt outlet near by which was for the dryer. So manufactures got creative. Also a lot of them required to have a 4 wire plug just because that's what the dryer plug was even though the washer may not have need a neutral.


Just to point out a lot of older bosch dryers had a 15 amp 240 volt plug in the back of them for a matching 240 volt washer. Dryer used 15 amps max as well as the washer so a single dryer circuit could do both of them. Often because the dryer was more compact and the washer spun faster the dryer could get away with less power.


Today there are a lot of washers on the market with NEMA 6-15 or NEMA 6-20plugs that are either European washers that were given a UL listing for international use or plain American versions with built in heaters.



Just for kicks most Euro washers only have a cold fill valve and a built in heater. They will always fill cold, but depending on the cycle a built in heater will heat the water to what ever temperature the programing calls for.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Yes but most washers don't come with a dryer 240 cord. The one you are talking about is this one- I wired it many years ago. Plug the dryer in and the washer plugged into the dryer with a 240V 15 amp cord and fuses on the back of the dryer. You can see the 240V recep. on the right side

 

[mbrooke]

Besoeker, I think the confusion lies in the fact that most US dryers are wired with 240V feeding the heating element and 120V powering the fan and electronics so even with a three wire dryer plug here the third wire is functioning as a neutral because there is a load on it. A stupid system, I know but that's what we have to deal with.

Incredibly stupid. The 3 wire requirement has been dropped for a 4 wire one since the 1997 code, but still its so stupid having to pay more per role or having older installs using a neutral for a ground.


I asked an appliance maker years back why dryers have 120 volt motors and timers and their reply was because only 1 (one) motor had to be made and kept in stock instead of two. Gas dryers use the same motors and usually the same timers as electric dryers hence the stock stream lining.


A lot of electric dryers on the auto dry cycle will actually wire the timer in parallel with the heater in such a way so when the temperature thermostat opens indicating the load is beginning to loose moisture the thermostat begins to advance. Since it often puts 240 on the timer motor a resistor is added to provide sufficient voltage drop down to 120. Sounds crazy but it lets the same timer be used on the gas version


Here are a few examples. The last pic is the same dryer timer on in gas one in electric. Notice the resistor on the electric version:roll:

 

[mbrooke]

Yes but most washers don't come with a dryer 240 cord. The one you are talking about is this one- I wired it many years ago. Plug the dryer in and the washer plugged into the dryer with a 240V 15 amp cord and fuses on the back of the dryer. You can see the 240V recep. on the right side

YES!!!! That's the one I was talking about. The neutral terminal isn't used at all but still required a dryer cord to fit the dryer plug. Easy way to get 240 without rewiring.