On 07 Apr 2004 14:46:11 GMT, (Greg) wrote:

|My
|dryer has no ground (technically, practically it has no neutral)
|
|That exemption in the code (dryers and ranges) started in WWII to save copper.
|A couple code cycles ago the NFPA decided the war was finally over and they
|made these circuits conform to the rest of article 250 with a separate ground
|and neutral. You will now see 4 prong receptacles being installed there.
|I suppose the reason we never piled up bodies is because these were 30-50a
|circuits with very small 120v loads, if one was there at all.

The motors and light bulbs were 120V loads, making the currents in the
two legs unequal and the neutral a current carrying conductor.
Furthermore, a fault in the motor and an open neutral and you have a
big metal box at 120V in a wet location. Pure lunacy.