Dryer trips 30A GFCI breaker

[homeowner steve]

Hi all, I live in a townhome in Northern Virginia built in the mid 80's.

I currently have a 30A double pole breaker feeding 220v to my laundry room through a 10-30 outlet (current wiring is shown in the pic below). In this outlet I have two hots and a neutral attached to the receptacle, and a ground coiled up (unused) in the back of the outlet. In the panel the two hots go to the breaker, and both the neutral and ground connect to their respective bars. 90% of the time I run a dryer off this circuit - the other 10% of the time I run an electric brewery (requires 15A) off this circuit. For safety, I added an in-line 20A GFCI between the brewery and the outlet - this has been working great for over a year.

Flash forward to now - I just recently upgraded my brewery to a new 30A system - so the previous in-line GFCI will no longer work. To rectify this, I purchased a Homeline 30A double pole GFCI breaker with the intent to swap the breakers in the panel. I swapped the breaker and wired it per the directions like Option A in the picture below. All is good when I flip the breaker on, but as soon as I plug in my dryer, it instantly trips. If I reset the breaker and plug in my old 15A brewery from above it works just fine. I'm looking for confirmation, but my assumption is that because of the way a 3-wire dryer is wired, with the washer neutral connected to ground, this is causing a ground fault the second I plug the dryer in. I'm not aware of a safe way to rectify this and make it work with the current receptacle.

Which leads me to Option B in the drawing below - which is what I think everyone will recommend. My thought is that because I have an unused ground sitting in the back of my outlet, that I should just convert my receptacle and plugs to 14-30's, then just re-wire the dryer to be 4-wire compatible. Is my assumption correct here? Will this allow the GFCI to function correctly?

I know there are also configurations where I can keep my original 30A breaker and just add a GFCI spa panel that I plug in to the laundry room receptacle when I need it, but for the sake of space and a cleaner install, I'd like to get the panel GFCI working, if possible.

Thanks for any, and all advice.

 

[westward10]

Option B should allow the GFCI to function correctly however @Megawatt our US correspondent will advise if this is absolutely to Code.

 

[homeowner steve]

Option B should allow the GFCI to function correctly however @Megawatt our US correspondent will advise if this is absolutely to Code.

Am I correct in assuming Option A is not working because the washer neutral is connected to ground - causing a fault?

From what I've read, removing the washer neutral from ground and piggybacking it with the neutral from the power cord should allow this to work, but it would leave the dryer ungrounded - which makes me think Option B is the only safe way to do this.

 

[Megawatt]

Hi all, I live in a townhome in Northern Virginia built in the mid 80's.

I currently have a 30A double pole breaker feeding 220v to my laundry room through a 10-30 outlet (current wiring is shown in the pic below). In this outlet I have two hots and a neutral attached to the receptacle, and a ground coiled up (unused) in the back of the outlet. In the panel the two hots go to the breaker, and both the neutral and ground connect to their respective bars. 90% of the time I run a dryer off this circuit - the other 10% of the time I run an electric brewery (requires 15A) off this circuit. For safety, I added an in-line 20A GFCI between the brewery and the outlet - this has been working great for over a year.

Flash forward to now - I just recently upgraded my brewery to a new 30A system - so the previous in-line GFCI will no longer work. To rectify this, I purchased a Homeline 30A double pole GFCI breaker with the intent to swap the breakers in the panel. I swapped the breaker and wired it per the directions like Option A in the picture below. All is good when I flip the breaker on, but as soon as I plug in my dryer, it instantly trips. If I reset the breaker and plug in my old 15A brewery from above it works just fine. I'm looking for confirmation, but my assumption is that because of the way a 3-wire dryer is wired, with the washer neutral connected to ground, this is causing a ground fault the second I plug the dryer in. I'm not aware of a safe way to rectify this and make it work with the current receptacle.

Which leads me to Option B in the drawing below - which is what I think everyone will recommend. My thought is that because I have an unused ground sitting in the back of my outlet, that I should just convert my receptacle and plugs to 14-30's, then just re-wire the dryer to be 4-wire compatible. Is my assumption correct here? Will this allow the GFCI to function correctly?

I know there are also configurations where I can keep my original 30A breaker and just add a GFCI spa panel that I plug in to the laundry room receptacle when I need it, but for the sake of space and a cleaner install, I'd like to get the panel GFCI working, if possible.

Thanks for any, and all advice.

View attachment 93489

My friend you need to install a 4 wire service to your dryer which will stop the dryer problem and a separate 30 amp circuit for your brewery. Do not use that receptacle for 2 different purposes. Good luck with your project.

 

[homeowner steve]

My friend you need to install a 4 wire service to your dryer which will stop the dryer problem and a separate 30 amp circuit for your brewery. Do not use that receptacle for 2 different purposes. Good luck with your project.

That kinda defeats the purpose. I don't need a 4 wire service for the dryer if I don't have the GFCI. The dryer works fine currently as a 3 wire. This issue only cropped up once I tried to bring GFCI into the picture.

I'm curious why you say not to use the receptacle for 2 purposes? Is there harm occurring by unplugging the dryer and plugging in the brew controller for 3 hours, once a month?

 

[Megawatt]

That kinda defeats the purpose. I don't need a 4 wire service for the dryer if I don't have the GFCI. The dryer works fine currently as a 3 wire. This issue only cropped up once I tried to bring GFCI into the picture.

I'm curious why you say not to use the receptacle for 2 purposes? Is there harm occurring by unplugging the dryer and plugging in the brew controller for 3 hours, once a month?

By code if you do anything to your dryer you have to bring it up to code meaning 4 wire that way you are not using your equipment ground as a neutral. The brewery is fine if you are not tripping your GFCI Breaker x

 

[homeowner steve]

By code if you do anything to your dryer you have to bring it up to code meaning 4 wire that way you are not using your equipment ground as a neutral. The brewery is fine if you are not tripping your GFCI Breaker x

Understood, that makes perfect sense. I'll just convert to 4 wire with GFCI and be good to go for the whole system. Thanks for the input, much appreciated!

 

[pc1966]

The dryer works fine currently as a 3 wire. This issue only cropped up once I tried to bring GFCI into the picture.

It "works fine" unless you have a fault live-ground in the appliance, then it is potentially deadly!

Thankfully you appreciate @Megawatt sage advice

 

[homeowner steve]

It "works fine" unless you have a fault live-ground in the appliance, then it is potentially deadly!

Thankfully you appreciate @Megawatt sage advice

Yep, exactly. Which is why I'm happy to take advantage of the 4th wire. Thanks for all the feedback!