re: 4 prong dryer hook up question

quote:

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It's more of a shock hazard than a fire hazard. If you get a short to the appliance case and touch it, it may go through you to ground (or a child or pet). I would recommend against it unless you're planning to run a ground wire to the adapter, but people do it all the time and odds are you'll never shock yourself.

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You can run a jumper wire between the ground and the neutral(common) connection on the back of the dryer. In fact, that is how you do it. That way if there is a possible shock it directs it down the common wire and treats it like a ground. In the breaker panel, a lot of the time the neutral and ground bus are connected anyway. Outside where your meter socket is, the neutral and ground are always connected with a jumper rod of sorts. So using a 3 vs 4 prong plug is no different, it's all in how you connect the wires.