Yet another electrical question.

[Finster101]

I have been gifted an electric stove after a friend bought new appliances. I have a 220v 40amp breaker with 10ga wire for my welder at the pole barn. Will this be suitable to run the oven on the stove? I would need to build a 15 -20 foot cord for it to put it where it needs to go. This will be used for powder coating only. I have searched the internet and the results are confusing, some say I need 8ga wire while others say 10ga is okay depending on the size of the stove. Any help would be appreciated.

[frkelly74]

Well, generally 10 ga wire is suitable for 30 Amp and 8 ga wire is suitable for 40 Amp. I would not skimp on the wire size.

[Jniedbalski]

It also depends if the oven is self cleaning. Self cleaning usually I thank take a 40/60 amp. As long as your only using the oven and not the top burners all at once 40 amps should be fine. That’s what my oven is 40 amp.

[Jniedbalski]

It also depends on the wire run. Some houses have aluminum wire instead of copper. I have seen this a lot around St. Louis. South of St. Louis it’s not up to code

[Finster101]

It is copper wire. I have an old stick welder on it. The run from the breaker box to the plug is about 30 feet. The oven will be the only thing used, I may even remove the burners and create a flatter working surface on the top. I also normally leave the breaker off when not using the welder.

[corbinace]

Here is another possible glitch...
Range outlets have four wires, two hot, one neutral and one ground.
Your welder only has three, two hot and one ground.

The neutral wire allows 110V for some functions of the range. I do not know what those functions are and you may not need them for the oven to operate, but you may. The controls and the readout or timing functions may need 110V.

There should be a wiring diagram on the back of the range that may shed some light on the situation. It will also have the wattage of the oven elements to see what the load will actually be with only the oven operating.

[popper]

The neutral is just the center tap for the 220 so yes, some parts will run off 120.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I would use an 8 ga. cord for the range.
Are you gonna utilize the Welder receptacle for the range, meaning are you going to use a 3 prong welder plug on the cord you are making for the Range?
If so, how will you connect the wires?

[454PB]

If the supply wire to the breaker is #10, that is the bottle neck. I'd use #10 to the range.

[Riverpigusmc]

#10 copper is NOT rated for 40 amps at any distance at all

[Finster101]

#10 copper is NOT rated for 40 amps at any distance at all

After seeing your comment I double checked and it is in fact run with 8-2. The work at the barn was done by the electrician that wired my house when built and it is done to code. If I can't use the stove I can't use it. It would really be nice to powder coat a lot of boolits at one time though.

[jsizemore]

The bottom element in the oven is usually no more then 3600-3800 watts. If there is no preheat that kicks in the broil element then your amperage draw should be 15-16 amps at 240 volts. Even with some losses it should be no more then 18. That's with no other elements running. You can use an inductive meter clamped around either of your 240v legs to check. If you don't have a meter and know how to use it, go get somebody that does. Newer ranges use a 4 prong plug but you can use a 3 prong cord if you use a jumper from the center tap of the terminal block (that would be the white wire in the middle) to the range chassis. Now you'll be grounded. Use 8-2 with ground because somebody might forget and run other stuff.

[Handloader109]

a lot of nonsense posted here.
First. find the plate on the stove that shows the ACTUAL current draw. this will be the maximum for the entire oven and the top elements. it may have individual breakdown, maybe not.
a 40 amp breaker may be used in most locations, but that doesn't mean YOU will pull 40 amps

I've an oven that is run to powdercoat. I only use the one lower element, never the broiler setting and it easily runs off 12 gauge over length of 20 feet. no issue at all. that one element pulls about 15 amps. well within the wiring at 220v.


Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[bangerjim]

a lot of nonsense posted here.
First. find the plate on the stove that shows the ACTUAL current draw. this will be the maximum for the entire oven and the top elements. it may have individual breakdown, maybe not.
a 40 amp breaker may be used in most locations, but that doesn't mean YOU will pull 40 amps

I've an oven that is run to powdercoat. I only use the one lower element, never the broiler setting and it easily runs off 12 gauge over length of 20 feet. no issue at all. that one element pulls about 15 amps. well within the wiring at 220v.


Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

Agree.

The"rating" of the oven is with all elements running.....lower,upper broiler, and 4 top cook burners. I have a clamp-on digital current meter, so I always know, but you will have to "assume" on this one. I doubt you need 40A to PC!

[popper]

It is not the problem of what you need (draw) but liability if something 'happens'. Not to code defaults to NO insurance!

[kenton]

My shed oven just had a 3 wire plug since it was old enough not to have any digital settings or clock. I just had to cut off the 30 amp plug and put on a 6-50 plug to match my welder outlets. I also made a cart with casters (wheels) so I could move it around easily or even push it out onto the driveway and run it off an extension cord.

[454PB]

A solution to an unintended overload (to many elements running at once) would be to lift the leads to all but the one you want to use.

[jsizemore]

I figured since he had to ask he probably didn't have the ability/knowledge to go into the range controls. Personally I'd keep them working cuz you never know what the future holds. Nothing wrong with keeping your options open and when you ain't around somebody might do something you swear up and down wouldn't happen.

[frkelly74]

You could just pull the burners out and keep them safe somewhere. No wiring involved. But it has already been stated I think that the wire to the building is #8 wire so I think there will be no fire because of overload. Be safe be cautious have fun.

[Finster101]

Yeah guys I'm not exactly a Mr. Sparky. The wiring is 8ga. I had planned on removing the burners and they will go in the trash. Wiring diagram with the stove says 2400 watts on the oven element. I may have to run a separate wire for the neutral since the controls are electronic. From what I am reading this is how I would get my 110 for the controls and oven light. Is that correct? If I decide to go ahead with it I will run 8ga for that as well. I have a 100amp cut off for the barn at the house so powering everything down to make it safe is not a problem. Thanks for the comments and concerns.

[Petrol & Powder]

The guy has a 220 volt circuit set up with 8 gauge wire feeding it through a 40 amp breaker. That's plenty for an electric oven unless it's a dual oven and he's running both ovens and all of the elements on the cooktop at once - which he is not. So there's enough power available at that 220 outlet. He said he needs to make a 15' - 20' cord to get that power from that outlet to where the oven will be. That cord will need to be a sufficient size to carry the load but that shouldn't be too difficult to set up.

As for an insurance company denying a claim due to an extension cord not being "up to code".......that would be a tough sell for an insurance company. It's one thing if the building is inherently dangerous due to substandard wiring but there's a limit to that. That building code stops at that outlet. That's why we have breakers, fuses, minimum wire sizes and electrical codes. We DON'T require an electrician to replace light bulbs or select extension cords. If a homeowner screws that up and there's a fire due to the home owner's selection of a an extension cord - the insurance company is still on the hook for that claim. They might whine but they still have to pay it.

There seems to be some electricians on this forum that think every time a homeowner wants to replace a burned out light bulb they need to hire an electrician and get a building permit
:kidding:

[jonp]

It's not what the entire stove is rated for, it's what the oven is rated for as that is what you are using. You should be able to look up online the power the stove draws plus the elements on top and each element as they are different sizes just to verify the plate on your stove if you want but if the plate is original I wouldn't bother. Since you are not using the top, you can disregard the stove rating and concentrate on the oven rating which is 2,500 Watts.

Most electric ovens use a max of 5,000 Watts, that's homeowners not commercial ovens.

So, if my math is correct and there are calculators online to do this for you, 5,000 Watts at 220v DC is about 23 Amps. A 10g copper wire is rated at 30 Amps so even at that wattage there is a 20% margin of safety. Your 2,500 oven comes in at less than 12 Amps which is less than half the rating of the 10g line. 8g, of course is higher than that so your good with a wide safety margin

Since your oven is 2,500 watts you are well within a 10g not to mention the 8g line you have. In fact, if you add up the entire stove you most likely can just run the entire thing but do the math to make sure.

This is a good site https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/conversions/common/watts-amps.php

[454PB]

The math is pretty simple, watts divided by volts equals amps. Every system I've used had 240 volts, though most are called 220 volts. Measure the voltage at your receptacle. If it is 240 volts, divided into 5000 watts equals 20.8 amps. Well within the 30 amp rating of #10 copper.

[45-70 Chevroner]

I know this is not the answer you are looking for but as for me, I would sell the stove and get a nice countertop toaster oven. The trays that come with a toaster oven will hold 100 to 200 boolits. The toaster oven takes up a lot less space. I think most of the guys on here that powder coat use a Toaster oven.

[Finster101]

I've been using a toaster oven for a long time but now that I have the barn and the space I would like to be able to powder coat some things other than just boolits. Other things do exist you know? I fool around with motorcycles and cars some. I would like to give coating some parts a try.

[45-70 Chevroner]

I've been using a toaster oven for a long time but now that I have the barn and the space I would like to be able to powder coat some things other than just boolits. Other things do exist you know? I fool around with motorcycles and cars some. I would like to give coating some parts a try.

With that in mind the #10.wire should handle it but that depends on how far it is from your breaker panel to the outlet (plug in).

[45-70 Chevroner]

I've been using a toaster oven for a long time but now that I have the barn and the space I would like to be able to powder coat some things other than just boolits. Other things do exist you know? I fool around with motorcycles and cars some. I would like to give coating some parts a try.

With that in mind the #10.wire should handle it but that depends on how far it is from your breaker panel to the outlet (plug in).

[45-70 Chevroner]

With that in mind the #10.wire should handle it but that depends on how far it is from your breaker panel to the outlet (plug in).
I've got to make a correction on that, my son is an electrician and he said it should be a 8/3 wire and no longer than 70 feet. It should also have a 40 or 50 amp circuit breaker.

[45-70 Chevroner]

With that in mind the #10.wire should handle it but that depends on how far it is from your breaker panel to the outlet (plug in).
I've got to make a correction on that, my son is an electrician and he said it should be a 8/3 wire and no longer than 70 feet.

[Plate plinker]

The electrical police are coming. Run for the hills!

[lightman]

The electrical police are coming. Run for the hills!

All of these electrical questions get blown out of proportion. I've about got so that I don't even reply to them. And I was a Master Electrician for 40 something years!