Home Depot Dryer Installation
Home Depot dryer installation | This is my son's LG electric dryer after I corrected the dangerous Home Depot installation mistake.
Home Depot Dryer Installation
On May 25, 2022, Home Depot delivered an LG dryer and washer to my son's house in Nashua, NH. My son had told them not to do the actual hookups because it cost $500 and he knew I could do it for nothing.
The installers must have not read the paperwork and proceeded to start to install the 240-volt electric cord my son had purchased with the appliances.
The installers connected the cord to the dryer without using a proper Romex connector. This grave error, over time, would have started an electrical fire because the vibrations of the rotating dryer would wear through the wire insulation. Look at the photos I shot:
This is the frightful thing I saw when I decided to check to see if the Home Depot installers did the right thing. Can you see the mistake? Can you imagine what happens when the dryer operates and vibrates?
What you see above is exactly how the Home Depot installers installed the cable. Look at the full-color diagram on the back of the dryer in the lower left corner of the photo. When I removed the steel plate on the rear of the dryer to access the electrical panel, this is what I saw. This is why you should get educated about how things work instead of trusting others. After all, it's just your life and that of your loved ones. After removing the cable above and installing the code-required Romex/NMB connector, I installed the wires CORRECTLY.
This is the inexpensive UL and NEC-approved connector that should have been installed by the Home Depot installers. It's unacceptable that they don't carry a box of these in their truck at all times.
This view of the connector shows how it works. See the thin nut? You remove that and put the connector through the hole in the back of the dryer. You then screw on the nut and tighten the connector so it can't vibrate loose. Then you turn the screws to move the clamp so the thick black cable can fit through the connector. You push enough of the cable through the connector so the black cable insulation shows on the other side of the romex connector. The final step is to tighten the clamp screws so the cable can't move within the connector.
This is the finished installation that I did. There's nothing hard about this and it's completely safe to do. You can install cables like this if you can fog a mirror and understand simple colored wiring diagrams.
According to the diagram on the back of the dryer, the green power wire and the white neutral wires are not connected correctly either.
Good catch! And there is a angle one which works the same way and holds cord 90 degrees to wall and dryer.
also the hot wires connected to the dryer should be more separated from each other. They are way too close to the ground and neutral wires.
Tim Why isn't the Green ground from the power cable connected to the Green Ground screw on the cabinet and the white wire coming from the upper right connected to the center tap instead of the green wire like the wiring diagram shows?
Good grief! Not using the connector is bad enough but wiring it wrong - even I can see how to do it just by looking at the diagram! HD - do you *want* to get sued for burning someones house down because you hired imbeciles for delivery people? I’m appalled - and scared. How many other idiots are out there like that?! Yikes....
Looks like the wiring was wrong also.
Did you not change the green ground wire from the neutral connection to the chassis ground point demonstrated in the appliance label? The way you have it in your photo works but the chassis is not grounded.............danger!
According to the 4-wire diagram printed on the dryer, didn't they install the green/teal wire incorrectly?
It looks like according to the diagram, they also screwed up the ground connection and tied it to the white rather than the dedicated ground lug.
Tim, it also looks like the Big Orange installer swapped the connector locations for the neutral and ground wires. The ground (green though it looks a tad blueish in the pic) is where the neutral should be and vice-versa according to the chart.
500 dollars for the install and they couldn't afford to
use a 1$ connector. This indicates the typical level
of competence of HD associates.Definitely avoid these clowns.
Wow Tim! I do not believe these installers are being taught correctly or they are hiring anybody and everybody with no thought. Things are getting very strange with these companies.
Thanx again Tim for your vigilance! We learned the hard way that contractors working for HD are laughably inept.Which,I presume, is why they rely on HD for referrals.
The sad thing is all appliance cords come with a strain relief connector the "tech" just decided to not use it.
Our washer went about a week ago. So, my dad ordered a new one from Home Depot two days ago, and paid to have it installed. A gimmick in my opinion, plus I've dealt with multiple Home Depot "Pros" and have yet to meet one I would trust to make Jell-o.
Unfortunately, I couldn't talk my dad out of them installing it, which won't be until the 15th when it's delivered, but thanks for giving me something to think about until then 😛 😉
Hi Tim, I am learning so much from you - thank you! In your Q&A at the end of the article, it shows how many responses there are to the article. Why can't I read those responses? There isn't a place to click or open the responses. I'm interested in what others have to say about your article that I just read. I've noticed this on other Q&A articles, as well.
Well done. Your son is fortunate to have access to
your caring knowledge. The connector skip is more common than most people recognize and the wiring
miss! Oh well
Wiring is also wrong. Ground (green) wire should be attached to the chassis ground screw, as shown on the diagram attached to the chassis. Two Neutral (white) wires should be attached to the center screw (again, as shown in the diagram).
Whoa, not an electrician, but couldn't believe the first picture. Wouldn't last long with some "shake, rattle & role. Cheers from Northern Ont.
I checked my recently installed LG Dryer from Lowes (free delivery and set up) and found that they did not use the clamp either. However, the outer insulation was not stripped like in your picture so it had some protection. I will correct it tomorrow. I guess that you didn't attend the Dayton Hamvention at the Greene Co Fairgrounds a couple of weeks ago.
Did you or your son contact the Home Depot Customer Service department to advise them of the egregious error that would eventually result in a short/fire so they can correct those employees?
I already receive your expert advice for your home
Per the diagram, isn't the green wire supposed to go over to the screw on the frame at the left?
Tim, you have done a great service warning people to follow up. I had to fix Lowe's installation of my dryer. They just slid the vent tube onto the dryer and didn't put a clamp on it. At best it would leak and leave lent behind the dryer. At worse, it could come off and dump all the humid air and lint behind the dryer. If someone didn't know how to check it, it could really lead to trouble.
I’m no electrician but that sure does look like they put the green ground wire on the white neutral terminal and the white neutral wire on the ground terminal. I always read and been told that the grounds and neutrals should always be separate
And then did the ground and neutral swap...
Right, That's why they make romex connectors.