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How to Install a Three-Prong Power Cord on a Maytag Dryer

Chris Baylor

Maytag is a manufacturer of electric and gas clothes dryers. Maytag's electric clothes dryer models utilize 220-volt power for the motor to turn the drying tub and for the heating element as well. Because some household laundry rooms are equipped with three-prong 220-volt outlets, while others are equipped with four-prong outlets, these Maytag electric dryers can be adapted to either type. Installing a three-prong power cord on a Maytag dryer takes only a few minutes with some common hand tools.

  1. Pull the dryer away from the wall, and unplug the existing power cord from the 220-volt outlet.

  2. Loosen the screws on the dryer's electrical cover on the back of the dryer, and remove the cover.

  3. Loosen and remove the screw connecting the green ground wire to the dryer cabinet with a Phillips screwdriver. Next, loosen and remove the three screws holding the three main wires to the electrical block.

  4. Loosen the two screws on the strain relief that secures the power cord to the dryer cabinet, using a flat-head screwdriver. Slide the power cord out of the strain relief and set it aside.

  5. Attach one end of a green No. 10 wire to the ground screw on the cabinet, and tighten the screw with a Phillips screwdriver.

  6. Insert the open end of the three-prong power cord through the strain relief.

  7. Place the open end of the green ground wire you installed in Step 6 in the center terminal of the electrical block. Place the ring terminal of the center wire from the three-prong power cord over the green wire on the electrical block, and insert one of the screws through the two wires and into the grounding block. Tighten with a Phillips screwdriver to secure both wires to the center terminal.

  8. Connect the two remaining wires of the power cord to the two open terminals on the grounding block. It does not matter which of the two outside wires of the power cord are attached to the block, as long as the center wire was the one that was attached in Step 7.

  9. Tighten the two screws on the strain relief to secure the power cord onto the dryer cabinet.

  10. Replace the electrical panel cover and tighten the screws to secure it to the back of the dryer cabinet.

  11. Plug the power cord into the wall outlet and test the dryer. If the dryer runs as expected, slide the dryer back into position.