Satisfying electrical project!

We picked up our washer and dryer today. That in and of itself was an adventure. Everything went smoothly; it's just a mammoth chore lugging large appliances down stairs at the pickup location, then upstairs at home. Still, with Brian doing all the really heavy lifting, we got it done.

Then, we got them home. We were hooking up the dryer when we realized... the outlet and the plug did not match! Ugh. I had a semi-panic. I was totally fretful that the dryer we had just bought was going to be useless.

I consulted my two fabulous DIY books. Home Improvement 1-2-3 was a gift from our realtor after we closed on the house and it is fantastic. The Reader's Digest New Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual was a gift from my delightful work husband, and is also fantastic. Between these two hefty tomes, we've got a LOT of info at our fingertips.

I learned that most appliances work on a 240 or 120/240 volt outlet. Regular outlets are usually 120, so these have more power, which means you have to be careful! The diagrams in the books made it all seem like a pretty simple switch out of three wires. No problem! I can totally do that. So, off to the hardware store. We found the right outlet plug, got it home, unscrewed the other one from the wall and discovered... FOUR wires. What am I supposed to do with THAT? I guessed that the fourth wire, a non-insulated copper affair, would have to be the ground, but I was not confident, so I did what I always do in such situations. I called my dad.

My dad has DIYed EVERYTHING. Even so, he is extremely modest. When I told him I had an electrical problem, he was all "ooooh, I don't know how much used I'll be..." then went on to describe to me in detail what each of the wires does, how a circuit works, and that my plan for that extra wire was probably ok. So, we capped it, and proceeded to re-wire the rest to the new outlet plug.

We plugged in the dryer. Brian flipped the breaker back on. We pushed the button to start the dryer... and...

HOLY CRAP IT WORKED.

And it didn't shock us!

I have never done anything electrical before. In fact, it's always scared me. But I figured I needed to get used to doing things I'm not comfortable with, because a house has needs. And this first go was successful. Huzzah.

Behold, our new outlet:

Here's to hoping it doesn't do anything screwy when we run our first load!