If you have a four wire cord with the usual four-wire connections inside the appliance, but the equipment ground goes nowhere in that receptacle, you have no fault clearing for those internal ground faults, which is potentially dangerous. While this is not quite as safe as a four-wire circuit wired with an equipment ground, it does provide protection / fault clearing in case of an internal ground fault in the appliance. The connection generally bonds the neutral to the frame of the appliance. ![]() With most ranges and dryers, the instructions will show how to connect your cord if you're using a receptacle without an equipment ground. There are literally millions of ranges and dryers installed this way in older homes in the US. It's a simple fix, easy, inexpensive, code compliant, and reasonably safe. ![]() If you aren't prepared to run a ground wire for the circuit, the right thing to do in this situation is use the three-wire receptacle, and change the appliance cord to a three-wire, making the connections inside according to the manufacturer's instructions for a three-wire cord. That wire is after all the safety ground. ![]() It will operate, but it will not be code compliant, and it won't be as safe as it could or should be. The right thing to do in this situation is not to just omit the equipment ground wire from the four-wire receptacle as if it was optional.
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