I bought a second hand stove yesterday to replace mine. Clean it up and get it into the house tonight and discover it has a different plug than my old one.
My original one has 2 flats and a ground. The outlet is surface mounted and on 40 amp breaker.
This one has 3 flats and a ground.
It is a GE True Temp The temp and clock control are electronic.
Can I just change the outlet to match the stove plug or do I need to go back to box? What is the third flat for? Do I need an electrician?
Help!!!
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My original one has 2 flats and a ground. The outlet is surface mounted and on 40 amp breaker.
This one has 3 flats and a ground.
It's more likely that your old one had two hots and a neutral, not two hots and a ground. You can check this by looking inside at the wiring & diagram.
If it were mine, I'd just use the old cord on the new stove and wire it up the same way as the old one was wired.
Bread,
See if you can go to the GE web site and download the instructions for the stove. All of the new ones are 4 wire, the extra wire is the "equipment ground", but they also allow you to use the three wire cord if you have an existing three wire plug. You have to hook up a jumper in the junction box in the back of the stove to convert it to the three wire setup. Just went through the same thing with a new cooktop a couple of years ago.
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
"All of the new ones are 4 wire"Actually most of them come without a cord at all. And most of them have places for 4 wire connects and also a jumper of some source. It has been that way for maybe 30-40 yerars.That is the way that my dryer is. And it was used when I got it 30 years ago.
.
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
As Mr. Bill alluded to, the four prongs are 2 hot to achieve 240V for the heating elements, a neutral for the lighting and 120V controls, and ground. This change is due to code changes some time ago that only allow neutral and ground tied at the breaker panel (main panel not in subs).
Some old stoves I've worked on had a tie between neutral and ground terminals so that you could either have a three prong plug (leaving the tie in place), or four prong (remove the tie).
Best bet is to contact GE, since this should be a relatively common question. Of course if wire it differently than what they call out and have issues with the stove, they'll probably want to void your warranty. It's their way of saying "thanks!".
The outlet you have is the old style, where neutral and ground were combined in one pin. The new range has the new style, with separate neutral and ground.
Ideally, you should have the outlet AND WIRING changed to carry four wires all the way from the breaker panel. But in most jurisdictions it's legal to have your appliance repairman replace the "pigtail" on the range with a 3-pin version. (But note that you can only do this if the range is speced to accept a 3-pin pigtail.)
(Note: DO NOT change the outlet to a 4-prong outlet without changing the wiring. This is a bad idea -- it "advertises" that four wires are there when they aren't -- and it's likely against code.)
Edited 8/11/2009 11:03 pm by DanH
Before you condemn the outlet it is worth looking at how it was wired. You might find the installer used 8/3-wg romex. The code did require that the neutral you were using for the ground was insulated but it is a violation that went unnoticed in a lot of cases. It may have also been 8/3 without a ground.
A common installation would be to use the ground to bond the box or back strap of a flush mount receptacle and bringing the white wire to the receptacle neutral.
If the ground is present it is just a case of hooking it up to the 4 pin receptacle and entering the 21st century.
As Phil Simmonds said in his proposal to the 1996 code "the war is over".
Thank you all for your help with this.
I went into the plug and found just 2 blacks and alum strand wrapped around the neutral/ ground screw. It is not a good setup but I was able to change the pigtail and use my 3 prong plug because there was a strap between the neutral and the green ground screw on the stove.
Turned the breaker back on and nothing blew up.......
This will be a temporary thing until I can get the electrician in to do it right this weekend..Will get the wire tomorrow and do the bull work pulling it over to the panel box through the crawl space...Hate to make electricians get dirty since it always seems to be reflected in their bill.
Again thanks all for the information and help.......Bill
FWIW....There are millions of ranges wired the way yours is now. I would say that at least half of the new ranges delivered today are eventually set up with a three wire cord like yours.
I really don't see the need for spending so much money to redo your wiring.
But I've personally gotten shocked from ranges "correctly" wired the old way. All it takes in a poor contact on the neutral pin (not unlikely) and the entire case of the range becomes "hot". It amazes me that the old scheme was allowed by code (for new installations) for so long -- the 4-prong pigtail came available in the 50s or early 60s, but the code didn't begin requiring 4-prong outlets in new installations until the 90s, IIRC.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
I got fried cooking dinner several years ago when the whole top of the stove became live. I thought it was a loose connection on one of the elements, but was unable to find any problem and ended up replacing the whole stove as it was very old. Interesting to find out that was what caused it.