240 dryer outlet only putting out 1.6 volts one side

Have 4 prong outlet, new LG dryer had 3 wire-changed cord to 4 wire-no power to dryer! Checked outlet , wires to outlet, and cord with circuit tester-had power-checked with voltmeter-one side had only about 1.6 volts-could it be a bad breaker?

 

What type tester are you checking it with? Digital or analog? Where are you checking voltage? It should be from each hot to ground/neutral. It could be the breaker, but it could be the way it is connected, or not connected.

 

Is this how you connected it at the dryer?

 

Before I would condemn the breaker, I'd check the voltage at the breaker. Hot to ground and hot to neutral. If you still have a voltage problem with one leg, check the power at the busbars and at the line side of the main breaker as well.

 

You will also want to check voltage between hots of the breaker. (240v)

BE VERY careful checking voltage on the buss bars of your panel!!!!!

 

Ray, thanks-thats the way the power cord was connected. Chandler-you're right on both counts! Casual-that got me started...Tolyn-thanks for the advice-I'm not electrocuted! ..I used an analog multi-tester, checked the voltage at the breaker-120v and 5v....replaced the breaker, got 120v and 120v...so far so good...dryer still wouldn't turn on! Checked the voltage at the dryer terminals.. 120v and 240v ! Checked the voltage at the plug-120v and 240! Pulled the plug out and saw the neutral wire where the black hot should be! Previous owner maybe mangled it? And the bad breaker hid it? But I wonder why it didn't blow the breaker-thank God the LG has some sort of circuit that prevents overloads!

 

It did not blow the breaker because there wasn't a short. The wrong wiring could have done something even worse, depending where the other hot was wired, it could have energized the frame of the dryer! Hopefully nothing got damaged on your dryer due to the miswire.

Side note: I have done a service call on a stove one time which was miswired and energized the frame of the stove. The person was getting shocked whenever they would touch the stove and anything grounded. This was not too tough since it was a very small kitchen.