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Dryers are often in the garage or in the small room adjacent to the garage that we called the "service porch" when I was a kid. I think it's because the garage is a good place for the main junction box (near the street, where the main power lines are, but indoors so creepers don't mess with it), and since 240-volt wiring is thick and expensive, it's cheaper to put any 240-volt outlets near the junction box.

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So I'm going to know to unplug a dryer and expect my friends to be cool with that? And that plug is plain out in the visible, easily accessible areas and not hidden behind a heavy dryer?

People often don't have a dryer in the garage, but it's common enough that they'll have the plug there anyway.

I've owned half a dozen houses including new construction and never had a 240 outlet in the garage.

I wonder if it's a regional thing. My experience is US West Coast. The dryer is a source of waste heat, which out here is usually undesirable, so it makes more sense to put it in an extremity of the house where the heat can easily escape. I could imagine that other areas of the country might be more likely to view extra heat as a good thing.

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