Converting elec stove outlet to 110
RichBeckman
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I’m coming up on ten years doing mostly handyman type work and this has never come up. Now I have two customers wanting it done!
Is there any reason the 220 plug can’t be removed. One of the hot wires in the box moved from the breaker to the neutral (and taped white), the breaker changed to a 15 and a standard outlet installed where the 220 plug used to be (with the neutral wire taped white).
The only obstacle I see is if the wire is too thick to properly attach it to an outlet.
Are there any other issues here, code or otherwise????
Thanks.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Replies
Seems reasonable to me, assuming the white tape is legally adequate for changing the conductor ID. With white heat shrink, you could cover all of the black wire that's visible at the breaker box and in the outlet box. Actually, I suppose you could do that with tape, too, but it would be a lot more tedious.
I don't belive it would generate enough heat to cook on
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"I don't belive it would generate enough heat to cook on"Hmmm. Well that is a problem. The customers were hoping to cut the electric bill, but if it won't generate enough heat...
:)
Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
Most of the comments so far seem to be about how to deal with this from service panel to the recepticle, which is not what I thought was the big concern. I thought you were talking 'bout how to rewire the stove itself.I commented about cooking output because I have twice been asked to remedypoor performance in a stove/range and discovered that one of the two sides had been disconnected somehow abnd they were only getting half the juice through.I would not want to do this myself, becaue the dollars saved in electrical bill would probably not equal the labor cost to do the work for about twenty or thirty years - penny wise and pound foolish.and the opther reason is that it sounds to me like taking a BMW and disabling all but two cylinders to save money on gas
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"I thought you were talking 'bout how to rewire the stove itself."So your comment above was serious! I thought you were just making a joke...I see the confusion now.I would never attempt to rewire an appliance.The customer just moved in and is bringing a gas stove to where there once was an electric.HVAC folks ran a gas line to the location (without even bringing up the subject of an exhaust hood/fan...currently there isn't one).The gas stove has electronic ignition so it needs a 110 outlet, but there is no such animal in that corner (very old house).I brought up the hood/fan issue and they sound like they will have me install one.The other customer has been living there and using a gas stove for maybe three years...and the discussion on the subject was brief...so I have still to learn the whys and wherefores.Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
I see. I honestly thought that customers wanted to run the electric oven on 110V. The part that had me really confused is that you were considering it, and that others here were getting to it for you.
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I asked our Electrical Safety Authority Inspector the very same question because my new gas stove needed a 120 volt receptacle to run. He told me similarwhat you said but told me to add a mud ring to change the big stove receptacle to a little standard receptacle. Also to use big marettes to join the number 8 wire to pigtails of number 14 wire to join to the new receptacle. Our stove wire already had a neutral so he told me to disconnect the red at both ends and cap it off in case I or a future owner ever wanted to switch back to an electric stove.
Have a good day.
Cliffy
Edited 1/21/2005 12:24 am ET by cliffy
Adding to what cliffy said.
You may have trouble getting a no. 8 or no. 6 wire in a 15 or 20 amp breaker. Same on the neutral bus. You can pigtail smaller gauge wire (#12) to the larger gauge in the panel for the transition in sizes.
On an older three wire 220v range hook up , I would use the red wire as my hot. Tape the black wire with white for the nuetral, and the white wire would be taped green for the ground. Be sure to ghange the legend in the panel box to indicate the changes made in the circuite.
I might also type a short note on the changes, laminate it, and tape it to the inside of the panel door. Keeps the the "what the f**k is this" to a minnimum when someone else pulls the cover off for future work.
I also would use a label gun to mark the new circuite number on the inside of the new receptical cover. The older I get, the less likely I am to remember how I wired something years ago. Labeling circuite numbers on the inside of all covers saves me a lot of running back and forth, or yelling to find the right breaker. In my shop I label on the outside of the covers, but in the house, inside hides the label, but serves the same function.
Dave
Cliffy,I don't understand the mud ring reference. What is a mud ring? I was planning to remove the existing plug, replace it with a box for the new outlet.Also, what is a marette?Thanks.Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
Isn't a marette one of those wooden puppets that dances from strings? :|
That is a type of wire nut.And the reason for the plaster ring is that you have a large box (4x4) that you are trying to mount duplex recpetacle in.
The mud ring is the transition piece you attatch to the big stove box to mount a regular receptacle. You could remove the big box if you want to, the inspector told me to leave it in in case I ever took out my gas stove to put an electric back in.
A marrette is a plastic wire nut, like kleenex is a fascial tissue.
Have a good day
Cliffy
Thanks everyone.The most interesting aspect of this thread is the apparent assumption on everyone's part that there is a box in the wall which contains the outlet the stove plugs into.I have never seen a stove outlet in a box, let alone in the wall. The outlet comes in its own "box", a plastic case, that is screwed to the baseboard. The wire comes out of the wall or floor two or three inches away and runs into the case. This is, seemingly, ubiquitous around here.Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
I kinda bypasse this thread as figured you'd get the simple answers needed easily, BUT, Nobody verified the change of your 30 A or 50A DP breaker into a 15 A breaker was to a single pole breaker (maybe assumed?).
Replace the "plastic box" with a surface mount deep 4" sq box with double receptacle face plate, then you get 2 outlets. White tape, ets as previously outlined by others.
For DIY, typical #8 is 7 strands of approx 16 AWG, clipping off 3 strand better than 12 AWG and will fit outlet.
For non DIY or inspected, go witht he blue wire nuts to 12 Awg.
Edited 1/22/2005 10:56 am ET by JUNKHOUND
"...Nobody verified the change of your 30 A or 50A DP breaker into a 15 A breaker was to a single pole breaker (maybe assumed?)."Yes, I understand the change of breaker in the box and the need to put a breaker into both vacated slots even though one won't be used."Replace the "plastic box" with a surface mount deep 4" sq box with double receptacle face plate, then you get 2 outlets."Well, I plan to use the "surface mount deep 4" sq box", but my plan is to only put one outlet in it (I believe face plates can be had, or maybe this is where the mudring would work...).Since this is buried behind the stove, I see no point in a double receptacle. I wanted the big box since I would be dealing with that thick wire. I always try to use the largest box I can...just to keep the job as easy as possible.Thanks.Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
This has come up before. There is some debate as to the absolute legality, but is should be perfectly safe if done properly. Use a large box for the outlet (if there isn't already a box), so you can easily pigtail with smaller wire. Pigtail the other end too, for consistency and to assure a fit to the smaller breaker. Use tape to designate the wires (past the pigtails), and make doubly sure you get things wired the same on both ends.