Wiring oven

[dagobert]

Originally Posted by jblack223

On a 230/240 volt system the red and black will be current carying conductors on a 4 wire system. Each will be connected to a phase on the distribution panel. The white is a neutral connection designed to carry unbalanced current. The green is the equipment ground, of safety ground. You should not experience electrical shock on the white conductor once it is connected. The only way to be shocked by the white conductor would to be in series with it, making yourself the path for current flow as is the wire. A three wire will use white and black as the load wires and the green will be a neutral/ground combo.

Well, the old way was that manufactuers put a jumper to connect between the neutral and the ground inside their equipment, usually right where the wires hook up at and the three wires were ran as the black and white each connecting to one LEG (not phase) of the 220 hots, and the green connecting to the jumpered neutral/ground, and when the code changed (I believe it was either 2000 or 2002?) the 4 wire hook-ups added a red wire which was used along with the black to attach to the two hot legs, the jumper is to be removed (if the appliance still has one- inspect where the wires attach) and the neutral uses the white wire (as it would on a 110V) and the ground uses green. Inside your panel (under the cover plate) you can see which way the neutral and the grounds are SUPPOSED to go, as one group attaches to a bar for neutral wires only and the other bar is for ground wires only. If the neutrals and the grounds are mixed together inside the panel box, call an electrictian to come out and fix it, as that can allow problems with backfeeds under the right conditions that might cause damage to your household appliances. I used to work as a commercial electrician, and my father owned one of the top 100 electrical contracting firms in the Southeast before he died, so I do have a bit of expertise in this. And as such, my advice would be to call a pro if you have ANY doubt or question about wiring. It's just too easy to accidently hurt yourself or others by a simple mistake if you don't know what you're doing, and no amount of money saved is worth that.