Burnt power cord

Hello,
I came home to a burning smell which ended up being the power cord to my electric dryer. I turned off the power at the breaker and when I pulled the plug out, the plug had started to melt. Can anyone tell what would cause this to happen. My dryer is over 20 years old but I have had to replace the dryer socket a little over a year ago.
Thank you,
JM

 

COULD BE A COUPLE OF THINGS.. LOOSE CONNECTION AT TERMINAL BLOCK... HEATER SHORTED TO HOUSING... OR JUST A OLD WEAK CORD..... WAS IT RUNNING WHEN YOU LEFT..???

 

My wife was home all day and she said it was smelling the moment she started the dryer. She thought it was the clothes making the smell. I came home from work and after she turned the breaker off, I saw that the outlet was melted on one of the plug prongs. Well I did some voltage checks on the electric line and both sides registered 120v apiece. I am going to replace the socket which should fix the problem. On the plus side, she was home the entire time, and it gave us an excuse to buy a new washer/dryer set even though the dryer was not the cause. I hope. Thanks
JM

 

This may sound stupid... but you are going to replace the cord right? There are people that would'nt

 

Actually I went and bought a new set. I am wondering about how this could have happened though. A friend told me that since the wiring to the dryer was aluminum that might have been the cause of my problems. I had replaced the outlet last year with a receptacle that had "al-cu" stamped on it. I wonder if I should replace the entire wire with one made of copper.
JM

 

Chck with the guys/gals in th electic section... they would be happy to answer that...