oven wiring

18 years ago

my old oven is hardwired from the main using 3 wire cable,red,black,neutral,no ground as the house was built in 1950.My questions,when the new oven arrives will it have an option to wire with 3 wire cable or 4 wire cable?Even with the grandfather clause is it safe to use the 3 wire such that the neutral and ground are bonded with that strip in the back of the oven.Finally would it be code compliant to use the 3 wire cable as is on the new oven,break the bonded strip and then connect a 10g bare ground wire to the grounded terminal on the oven at one end and ground the other end down stream in a junction box where the 3 wire cable is spliced before going to the main.The 3 wire cable is 8g and encased in metal tubing and secured at the main entrance box

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Comments (8)

pudge565
18 years ago
as far as i know the grandfather clause only covers the old oven if you install a new oven i think you ave to rewire that to make it the 4 conductor. i may be wrong so please anyone correct me if i am.
seesee
18 years ago
Is the neutral an insulated conductor in conduit, the same as the red and black? If so, you may run a grounding wire in the same conduit for your oven. My oven was wired with type SE cable with only two insulated conductors, and a ground, so we had to use all-new cable.

Is 3-wire safe? Sure it is, if the wires are intact and the appliance is in good repair. Code did not require 240/120 ovens and clothes driers to be on 4-wire circuits until the 1990s.

Is a 4 wire circuit safer? Yes. Separating the ground and neutral provides an extra degree of safety if something should happen to the appliance or circuit.

Around here, you do not have to update the wiring if you are just replacing an appliance. I recently bought a new drier and oven, and they came with a bonding strap and instructions for using 3 or 4 wire service.

We are moving the oven and running new wire. Thus, we are replacing the 3-wire cable with 4-wire to comply with the current code.

The new drier is installed on an existing circuit. Since it is untouched, we are not required to update the wiring; it is grandfathered.
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petey_racer
18 years ago
"My oven was wired with type SE cable with only two insulated conductors, and a ground, so we had to use all-new cable."

You did not have to replace the cable. The bare conductor in SEU cable is a NEUTRAL, NOT a ground.
Type SEU cable was perfectly legal in the situation you describe.

You are correct though. Simply replacing an old dryer or range does NOT require upgrading the circuit.
hendricus
18 years ago
If the metal condiut runs all the way back to the main entrance box, wouldn't that be an acceptable ground?
joed
18 years ago
If this is wired in conduit then you can pull a new green ground or use the conduit as a ground.
tuften
Original Author
18 years ago
Yes the neutral is an insulated conductor in conduit, the same as the red and black.Thank you all for your responses.
pudge565
18 years ago
thank you like i said i wasn't totally sure about the grandfather clause
chris_yates82_yahoo_com
15 years ago
installing a wall oven, white black red and ground do you match the colors