Can You Use 12 3 Wire For A Dryer

The typical cable used for a dryer circuit is 10 3 type nm cable which has three insulated wires and a bare ground wire totaling four wires in all.

Can you use 12 3 wire for a dryer. 12 3 is only good up to 20 amps. Don t play around with this stuff if you include some wiring that does not meet code and your house should catch fire and an insurance inspector identifies some non code wiring they could refuse your claim and leave you holding the bag. Electric dryer wire size electrical question. You can not safely use 12 2 wire to run a 220 volt dryer.

Can you use 12 gauge wire for a new electric dryer. If you don t already have a 220v outlet installed you will need to wire a new one where you want to install the appliance. The dryer circuit the typical 220 or 240volt electric heat dryer requires a dedicated circuit which means that the circuit is not shared with any other device. Thanks for your electrical question tina.

Tina from dunkirk new york. Someone told us that 12 wire could be used. 12 ga wire is only rated for 20 amps. If your dryer is a gas dryer and only runs on 120 volts then yes you can junction 12 2 to 12 2 and extend the run the remaining 8 feet.

Electric dryers are 30 amps and utilize a 2 pole breaker so you would need to use 10 3. For example for installations under 15 feet your product s label will read 10 3 nm cable. Typically a 220v 30 amp dryer circuit would utilize 10 3 with ground. The proper dryer wire size depends on the ampacity and when the current draw is 30 amps the wire should be 10 gauge.

According to this voltage drop table it looks like for 100 run you would want to up size the wire to 8 copper to maintain voltage drop less than 3. Manufacturers name cable according to its wire gauge followed by the number of cables. Most electric dryers run on 240 volt power and draw 30 amps. So you have arrived at the correct conclusion within your question to use 8 3 with ground.

You need beefier eight gauge wire for an industrial or heavy duty dryer that draws 40 or more amps of electric current. Click for larger view due to the nature of the 120 240v split phase system the grounded neutral and grounding conductors in a dedicated single appliance circuit are basically the same. Cable manufacturers exclude ground wires from the cable count so when you purchase your clothes dryer cable it will be labeled as three wire cable. Wiring a new 220 outlet is a project that someone who has experience working with electricity can do safely by working carefully and following the proper precautions.

Extending this image further we can see how the dryer connects to a 120 240v split phase system using a 3 wire cord. This electrical question came from.