My range and dryer are old school 3 wire. No sub panel.Neutral is essentially a ground. Indeed, ground and neutral need to be bonded together exactly once in a structure/property. Due to ohms law, you can't count on neutral being at ground potential at points away from the bonding. However, you can expect it to be a low voltage. Kind of safe to touch - if there isn't a fault somewhere else.Means the hot and neutral connections were reversed.
Once upon a time, 240 volt dryers and ovens were wired without a ground. Instead, they used the neutral, i.e. their metal cases were connected to the neutral.The theory is that these appliances had a direct dedicated run back to the breaker panel. With no other current on their neutral, that wire would be as good as a separate ground. These days, with subpanels and/or accessory structures, these appliances might not have a dedicated run all the way to the "bonding" point.
Statistics: Posted by bogles the mind — Wed Nov 20, 2024 4:12 am