How is your double oven wired?

11 years ago

I have an Electrolux double oven stack, which I absolutely love.

The convection fan on the upper oven has stopped working, and after some tinkering, we've decided that the motor has to be replaced. The service guy came out and began removing the unit from the cabinet, and found that the cord is too short to allow him to take it out. Additionally, it's hard wired to a junction box right under the unit in the basement.

The service man says that he isn't allowed to disconnect the wire from the junction box and that we need to call an electrician and make sure that there is enough cord behind the unit to be able to take it out.

The Electrician says that he never heard of a service guy who would refuse to disconnect a hard wired oven from the junction box, but that he will come out and disconnect/reconnect the unit as needed.

Something doesn't smell right here. I have a problem with the idea of having to call an electrician to unhook the wiring in the event we need the oven fixed.

It seems that installing a cord that's long enough to allow the ovens to be removed from the wall is reasonable. Should I insist on this, or is that just not 'how it's done', and should the service man be able to do the disconnect? The guy who installed the ovens is the one who is coming back to do this, and the cost will be covered by our remodeler, even though it's been 4 years since the job was finished. (which is pretty nice). However, this wouldn't be my first choice for handling the situation.

Thanks for any advice.

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Comments (6)

compumom
11 years ago
Well CJ, my 12y.old Thermadors were removed today to fix the wiring that had burnt out. The wires were not long enough for the repairman, however he removed the oven and accessed the wiring from the cabinet above. He felt that they had left things very short and not as specified. I was lucky that he was able to do the job. You're lucky that the remodeler will cover your bill. I'm curious why we both didn't get enough length for our wires. They should have anticipated the need to fix the ovens down the line. Good luck!
kaseki
11 years ago
Ideally, the cable should be long enough to access the hard wired point, whether it is behind the ovens (as mine is) or somewhere else. If the hard wired point is in the basement, then obviously someone has to disconnect it there, and if the homeowner is not prepared to do so, an electrician is called for. Techs mess with home wiring at their peril (perhaps literally, but also potentially financially), and although many of us would think disconnection to be too minimal of a task for them to refuse I can see why it could be prohibited by their management.

On the other hand, if the cable is long enough to get the unit out from the cabinet a bit, then the tech should be in a position to test the state of the power (on/off) and disconnect the wiring at the ovens where there is usually (maybe 'hopefully' is a better choice of word) a connection point.

Modern ovens use high temperature (reduced diameter) conductors, perhaps to save a minute amount of copper, and disturbing whatever was done at the wall to meet both current and temperature standards could lead to a problem with reassembly if disconnection and reconnection wasn't planned for (as it should have been).

kas
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User
11 years ago
WTH is the box in the basement? That's a non compliant installation and should be fixed immediately at the builders expense.
cj47
Original Author
11 years ago
It's a junction box. They drilled a hole in the floor and threaded the cord down into the box directly under where the ovens sit in the kitchen. I have a drawer underneath the oven stack.
kaseki
11 years ago
There is supposed to be a disconnection means in view of the unit under repair. I personally believe that if lock-out/tag-out mechanisms are present at the breakers, then this requirement shouldn't be needed, but for the present, it avoids an electrocution hazard.

When raising the issue of why in the basement, one needs to consider whether the counter size was adjusted so that the ovens would have space behind them for a box, or whether it was feasible to embed the box in the wall.

In the case of my 2007 to infinity renovation, the box was placed in the wall and the cabinetry for the ovens was made extra deep so that the cable could easily get to the box. The wall box in turn was connected to a junction box in the basement using flex. The junction box provided the connection point for connection of the flex conductors to a 6 AWG NM cable that supplied power from one of my breaker panel enclosures. My enclosures are adapted for lock-out/tag-out.

In the wall box were Allen screw type connection blocks that simplified connection and disconnection if needed. They were rated for the higher rated temperature of Wolf's oven wiring conductors. This type of connection works best if suitable ferrules are crimped onto the conductors being compressed by the Allen screws.

kas
weedmeister
11 years ago
As said, the junction box should be at the back of the unit. The installation instructions usually state where the box should go.

My parents had a pair of Thermadors. The box was at the bottom of the opening. The unit(s) were connected while outside the cabinet, then the unit was inserted in the opening.