I have a 220 volt dryer hookup in my house that has three wires. My dryer has the four wire style plug and I'm not exactly sure how to wire in the new receptacle I bought. Please help.

Ray.

I have a 220 volt dryer hookup in my house that has three wires. My dryer has the four wire style plug and I'm not exactly sure how to wire in the new receptacle I bought. Please help.

Ray.
Ray, It would be helpful to know what amps are on the circuit breaker that feeds your three wire box, compared to the amp requirement of your dryer. If they are not the same, you probably need to talk to a professional, or at the least, a very knowledgeable salesman down at the electrical supply shop.

Most all driers require four wire hook ups. The neutral and ground need to be separate. The motor is usually 120 volts & the heating elements are 230 volts making it necessary to have 2 hot conductors, 1 neutral, and the ground. Depending on how many wires are in your drier cable, you may need to call a electrician to run a new cable.

While I agree that the four wire system is now required for new installations, if a three wire receptacle is existing, it does not need to be replaced with a 4 wire cable and receptacle.

Simply replace the 4 wire cord and plug with a 3 wire cord and plug on the dryer. If you do this, then the neutral, white, wire will need to have a jumper connect to the metal frame of the dryer, there should be a green screw for this.

Most dryers use a 30 amp circuit, you can find a 3 wire cord and plug marketed as a 30 amp dryer cord.

Yes you can just change the cord and plug, but I would encourage you to try to meet the new code requirements. You may be able to accomplish this by just replacing the dryer receptacle. The cable that supplies your drier may already be 10/3 with ground, that will allow you to just change out the receptacle. If the existing dryer cable doesn't have four wires but can be changed out without much expense or effort, I would replace it. NFPA made this code change for a reason.