If you have a Kenmore electric dryer with a 4-prong cord but the house you moved to has a 3-prong 240V outlet can you replace the outlet receptor without altering the fuse box?

Answer 1

The short answer is No.

A longer answer to your question is that the make of dryer is not a key factor and that - to be safe and to comply with the latest wiring codes - the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to upgrade the 3-prong outlet to the correct type of 4-prong outlet and to make sure that the correct size circuit breakers and wiring are used.

For more information see the answers to the Related Questions shown below.

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Presuming that your house was not built before the mid 60's you can change the receptacle to a four wire. Shut the breaker off to the dryer. Remove the receptacle screws and look at the back of the mounting box. As long as there is a three wire cable with ground wire coming into the box the following applies. There you should see a ground wire around a screw to ground the box. Install the new receptacle just the same way as the old one was, wire for wire. Now on the ground terminal of the new receptacle add a new wire of the same size as the ground and terminate it under the same screw as the ground wire that comes into the box. If when you look into the box and there is only a three wire and no ground in the existing cable, a new cable from the panel to the dryer receptacle will have to be installed or a insulated ground wire has to be installed from the receptacle to the panel ground bus.

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As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

Before you do any work yourself,
on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,
always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.
IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.