Fahrenheat wiring question

[imamotohead]

hello all! I am wanting to wire my new 5000 watt Fahrenheat heater with a dryer cord. I Have a 4 wire wall socket and cord. The heater is set up for 3 wires. I was under the impression that you can just wire the ground (green) and common (white) wires together at the ground screw then put red and black to L1 and L2 and be good to go. Apparently not. Wired up that way the heater will not come on. I have checked continuity am confident that the heater is getting full power. What am I missing? Hopefully something simple. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!

Scott

 

[Milton Shaw]

You need to check to see if the dryer socket itself was wired with 4 wire and that the ground wire is actually grounded in the main box/service entrance. Just because it was inspected does not mean that it was wired correctly. You probably have a neutral at the dryer outlet but not a ground. This would permit the dryer motor and timer to work as they require 120 volt and just use the 240 volt L1 L2 for the heating elements. You might use a volt meter while the dryer is working and make sure the dryer metal cabinet is not hot with a floating ground problem. Check between dryer and metal water pipe or ground terminal on the 120 volt. If you have one use one of the non-contact type of tester to see if you have hot metal parts on dryer/washer due to grounds not connected properly. I saw this about 3-4 times a years in new construction service calls.

 

[imamotohead]

Thanks for the response. I don't actually have a dryer hooked to the outlet. I had the outlet installed in the garage as an extra. The heater is the only thing I have to plug into it. What should I look for inside the electric panel to see if the ground and common are hooked up right in there? I definitely have 110v on each leg of the outlet. I did check that. Not sure how to verify the ground. To check each leg of the outlet I put the red probe from my mm into the power and the black to ground. The reading showed 110 per side. I would need a good ground to get that right? Thanks again for the help!

 

[dfiler2]

You should not connect the neutral and ground together, cap off the neutral in the heater.

 

[cagullett1]

You should not connect the neutral and ground together, cap off the neutral in the heater.

Agreed. This worries me that you thought it was okay to connect the 2 together.

Spend the $15 and make the proper plug. I have the same heater and was going to do it with a dryer cord I had laying around as well... decided that with something I'm going to leave on while not always in the garage, better safe than sorry.

 

[rancherbill]

Is it turned on? They are thermostatically controlled and it might be set too low to come on.

Is it level? Some of that type have a level sensor.