[babuji]

I have a wire coming for circuit breaker for an electric dryer. It has 3- wires black, white and open wire. I want to connect them to an outlet. Which one is neutral and which ones are hot?
Also if color codes are wrong, is the middle one the neutral and 2 on sides are hot?

Thanks

[Stratmando]

If you are talking about 3 wire dryer cord, 2 outside are hots, and middle is ground.
If you are asking 3 wires, black, white, and open(Does that mean green or ground)
Maybe its 120 volts and Gas.

[labman]

I think an American 230 volt dryer needs a 4 wire cable from the breaker, black and red hots, white neutral, and bare ground, or a least 3 insulated wires. Older dryers used a 3 wire plug with the neutral serving as the equipment ground. I am not comfortable with telling you to use the (do you mean bare?) open wire as the neutral. The motor and controls run on 115 volts and need a current carrying neutral. I won't be surprised if when tkrussel shows up, he says using a bare wire to carry current violates code. Your best bet is to ignore everything else here and wait for him and do it exactly as he says.

[tkrussell]

Only new installations require 4 wire circuits for 240 volt appliances, such as ranges and dryers. If the three wire cable, with two insulated wires as the hots and one bare wire as the neutral and equipment ground, is existing, then it can be used for a 240 volt appliance.

At the terminal strip in the dryer, the bare wire will connect to the silver terminal in the center, and a jumper will connect to the frame of the appliance.