What do you do with the green wire if the 3-prong outlet for your clothes dryer has a green ground wire coming from the bottom of the outlet?

Answer 1

That green wire is a Ground or Earthing wire which must be connected securely to the metal casing of the Dryer.

Its purpose is to protect users of the dryer from electrocution if something ever goes wrong inside the dryer that would cause the casing to be made electrically "hot" or "live" if such a protective Ground or Earthing wire was not installed. It works by making sure the circuit breakers shut off the power. Another reason is to help prevent house fires.

For more information about earthing wires and dryer circuits please refer to the Related questions shown below. <><><>

As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

: IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

If you do this work yourself, always turn off the power

at the breaker box/fuse panel BEFORE you attempt to do any work AND

always use an electrician's test meter having metal-tipped probes

(not a simple proximity voltage indicator)

to insure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.