House electrical issue

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dja4260

dja4260

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May 16, 2011
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Greenville, SC via Chicago, IL
Our dryer is 220v electric. There is a run from the main panel (40 amps of fusing), to a sub panel (two 30 amp glass tube fuses) to the dryer.

A few weeks ago one of the sub panel glass fuses popped. The dryer wouldn't turn on. I traced the problem to one popped fuse. The other day the dryer would work, not no heat. Service technician came out and his notes are below.

"Checked voltage at the outlet and at first didn't get proper voltage. Then I got enough voltage for the unit to run and heat. The voltage is high at 256v. Unit requires 120v on each leg, total of 240v. Too high of voltage can cause issues with the units electronics."

I wasn't home so this is what I have to work on.

Is this a issue with my electric supply company? or electrician?

Thoughts?
 
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I would pay an electrician and that person just correct the issue and possible rewire the laundry room.
 
I'm not really buying it. Junky meters don't read AC all that well. Service guy should have also measured at the main breaker and under load if possible.

However, you have this in writing, so forward it to your power company and see what they have to say. Since you have a dedicated circuit, nothing else could be corrupting the power to your dryer.

The dryer electronics likely run off 120V which is one of your fuses and a neutral, which is why it worked but without heat when one fuse went. It seems like the electronics work fine but the heater is the culprit. Wonder if the element is going south and drawing too much current. Did it dry "really well" before it broke?

Also check your lint trap and for lint in the air exhaust, if this chokes it's a fire hazard and makes it work harder. Probably not related but might be.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I'm not really buying it. Junky meters don't read AC all that well. Service guy should have also measured at the main breaker and under load if possible.

However, you have this in writing, so forward it to your power company and see what they have to say. Since you have a dedicated circuit, nothing else could be corrupting the power to your dryer.

The dryer electronics likely run off 120V which is one of your fuses and a neutral, which is why it worked but without heat when one fuse went. It seems like the electronics work fine but the heater is the culprit. Wonder if the element is going south and drawing too much current. Did it dry "really well" before it broke?

Also check your lint trap and for lint in the air exhaust, if this chokes it's a fire hazard and makes it work harder. Probably not related but might be.




The lint trap & air exhaust are both clean. The unit is less then 1 year old, front loading unit. It never heated very well and we're very unimpressed with it's drying ability.

My electrician is a family friend. He offered to come out but told me honestly he's not sure what it can be. He rewired the house in October when he installed the new panel.
 
Commonly, a house has two phases coming in. If they are 120º apart the voltage between the two 120 V legs will be 208 V. If they are 180º apart the voltage between the two legs will be 240 V. It is not uncommon for those voltages to run high, so the voltage you report is possible.
 
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How old is this house and the wiring? Fuses?

Retrofit your home with circuit breakers, GFCI, and have all the wiring checked by a licensing electrician.
 
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Did your neighbors grow house get shut down? I wonder if demand in your are went down.

7% high doesn't sound too high to me. I would think the electronics could handle that. I would think the heating elements would be the ones with shorter lifespan.
 
Originally Posted By: user52165
How old is this house and the wiring? Fuses?

Retrofit your home with circuit breakers, GFCI, and have all the wiring checked by a licensing electrician.


Electrical is new. Stove is also 220v with no issues that I know of. My electrician is licensed and experienced. Please read my post.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
Did your neighbors grow house get shut down? I wonder if demand in your are went down.

7% high doesn't sound too high to me. I would think the electronics could handle that. I would think the heating elements would be the ones with shorter lifespan.


My wife was the only one home. But it does say that at first, he couldn't get proper voltage. Then got too much voltage? Not sure what to do...
 
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Originally Posted By: dja4260
Originally Posted By: supton
Did your neighbors grow house get shut down? I wonder if demand in your are went down.

7% high doesn't sound too high to me. I would think the electronics could handle that. I would think the heating elements would be the ones with shorter lifespan.


My wife was the only one home. But it does say that at first, he couldn't get proper voltage. Then got too much voltage? Not sure what to do...


He didn't get proper voltage because one side was blown and you were just getting 120 instead of 240. If you're really getting 256 volts, then contact the electric company. Depending where you are in the street, the voltage could be high at the beginning of the transformer and then drops a bit the further you go. But the voltage can vary a litte bit and 256 volts isn't that far out of wack.

Most home electrical systems are single phase wiring so you just have 240 coming in, two hot wires with one neutral wire. When you add both hot wires together, you get 240, half of that is 120. If you're at the far end of the street, the voltage could be as low as 110.
 
You can purchase an inexpensive voltage tester most anywhere.

From what you mentioned that the fuse blew my first guess would be that the dryer has developed an electrical fault?

Glass fuses have not been used for years so sounds like the electrical system is old too.

My best guess would be a fault in the dryer?
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: dja4260
Originally Posted By: supton
Did your neighbors grow house get shut down? I wonder if demand in your are went down.

7% high doesn't sound too high to me. I would think the electronics could handle that. I would think the heating elements would be the ones with shorter lifespan.


My wife was the only one home. But it does say that at first, he couldn't get proper voltage. Then got too much voltage? Not sure what to do...


He didn't get proper voltage because one side was blown and you were just getting 120 instead of 240. If you're really getting 256 volts, then contact the electric company. Depending where you are in the street, the voltage could be high at the beginning of the transformer and then drops a bit the further you go. But the voltage can vary a litte bit and 256 volts isn't that far out of wack.

Most home electrical systems are single phase wiring so you just have 240 coming in, two hot wires with one neutral wire. When you add both hot wires together, you get 240, half of that is 120. If you're at the far end of the street, the voltage could be as low as 110.


One side wasn't blown. That blown fuse was a earlier issue and I replaced the fuse. He at first didn't get voltage, then got 256v. That's basically what I got from his note.
 
256 on a 240 volt circuit is high-but not extremely high. I've had isolated occurrences with customers seeing spikes of 280 on a 240 volt circuit before. You could have your electrician install a buck/boost transformer on the line to your dryer, to lower the voltage to 240 if you continue to have problems. Personally, I would try it first to see if it will be OK on the slightly higher voltage, odds are it'll be hard to get the electric utility to do anything about it (in my experience).
 
The house has been re-wired with a new 100 amp panel. The two glass fuses in the sub panel were re-used as the wiring was good. The sub panel is located right above the dryer.

One fuse popped weeks ago.

On Tuesday the heat in the dryer stopped working due to excessive or insufficient voltage.

Different problems, different days.
 
256 is high to me (as that means each split phase is 128v), and into a fixed resistor, will draw more current as it will dissipate more power.

Remember that P=V*I and P=R*I^2, so, R*I^2=V*I, which means also that I=V/R

What that all means is that into a fixed resistor, a higher voltage will dissipate a higher current, causing a higher power draw. So 256V creates a higher current flow that blows the fuse.

The question is why would you have 256V at your home, out of the blue?

The other situation could be that the reading was wrong, you have an appropriate voltage, but the resistance of the heater element has DROPPED... Meaning that from I=V/R, a smaller value of R will also raise the value of I for a given (constant) voltage.
 
Originally Posted By: dja4260
Originally Posted By: user52165
How old is this house and the wiring? Fuses?

Retrofit your home with circuit breakers, GFCI, and have all the wiring checked by a licensing electrician.


Electrical is new. Stove is also 220v with no issues that I know of. My electrician is licensed and experienced. Please read my post.


You keep saying that the "electrical is new", but then you're talking about fuses and 100 amp service. If the electrical is "new" then you should have circuit breakers and at least 200 amp service. Fuses and 100 amp service tell me you have an old electrical system that has been patched together.

There is nothing "new" about a residential system so old it still uses fuses.
 
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