"Tony Hwang" wrote in message ...

Ralph Mowery wrote:

"Danny D'Amico" wrote in message
...
The wife said the dryer was sparking "in the back".
I moved things around, but didn't see anything so I tell the wife not to
worry.

A week later, I turn on the 220v 3-wire dryer, and a single bright white
spark
snaps in the back, between the dryer and the 4-foot 6-inch diameter
aluminum
corrugated lint pipe connect to the outside vent.

Huh?

Could it be static electricity?
Could it be the dryer frame is hot?
What do I test?

The only connection to the wall is the three-pronged 220v dryer cord,
which
looks perfectly fine when I remove it from the wall outlet.

There is no specific "ground" wire from the dryer to anything (should I
have
put a ground wire in to the 120 volt outlet nearby?).

What would you test?
If you need pictures, just ask.

It could be static electricity. Is the 4 foot long vent pipe seperated
from
the dryer by some material that does not conduct electricity ? If so you
may want to connect a wire between the pipe and dryer. It does not have
to
be very large as almost no curent is going through it, just high voltage.

You may also want to look at the dryer where the power wire is. As this
is
only a 3 wire cord make sure there is a strapgoing from the neutral wire
to
the frame of the dryer. This should be factory installed so it can be
used
for 3 wires or bent out of the way if a 4 wire cable is used.

While it may not trip a breaker, I would think it might if there was an
intermittant short in the power wiring.



Hi,
What is your multi-meter doing? How about measuring things between vent
pipe and dryer body for a starter? 220V can kill.....


Tony,,, You can only get the one leg of voltage to ground on a 220 volt
system on a dryer. However that also is dangerous. The OP may have a sagging
heater coil that is touching the case. If he is not handy on this stuff,
time to get an appliance repairman to check and repair it. WW