Wiring oven

[fabman]

I bought a 230v oven and it has four wires coming out of it. I know what the green, black, and white wires are. But does anybody know what the red wire is for? I've never seen this before. It's a Whirlpool unit. Thanks

[Fireblade]

Depending on the age of the existing wiring in your house/shop. You will have either a 4 wire or a 3 wire plug, the 4 wire is code now. Two of the wires, forget the color off the top of my head right now, are grounds, Basically if you are wiring this up completely from the circuit breaker back to the oven, then just pop open the panel, and see which color wires come off the circuit breaker itself, the other two would be the ground. Usually in a 220v wiring circuit, the black is hot, the white is hot, and the ground is copper. In your situation, maybe the red and green are grounds. Easiest way, is pop off the front cover of the circuit panel. Be careful, and don;t touch anything live!

[DALE]

wiring

Fabman- unscrew the back panel and remove, most all manufacturers place a schematic inside.

[fabman]

I pulled the cover off and found no schematic. I think I can trace all the wires though and figure it out. I do have half a mind to just tear all the wiring out and start over. I don't need all the controls this oven has, just a thermostat.

[fabman]

One last though. When do I get rid of my "Newbie" title?

[JohnPLC]

Depending on the age of the existing wiring in your house/shop. You will have either a 4 wire or a 3 wire plug, the 4 wire is code now. Two of the wires, forget the color off the top of my head right now, are grounds, Basically if you are wiring this up completely from the circuit breaker back to the oven, then just pop open the panel, and see which color wires come off the circuit breaker itself, the other two would be the ground. Usually in a 220v wiring circuit, the black is hot, the white is hot, and the ground is copper. In your situation, maybe the red and green are grounds. Easiest way, is pop off the front cover of the circuit panel. Be careful, and don;t touch anything live!

WOW! the white wire is not the ground only the green wire is . The White is the neutral wire that carries current for the 120v parts of your oven. These do not get connected together. The Red and Black are the two 120v hot wires that make it 220v for the oven. If you don't want to use the light bulb or any other 120v parts of the oven then connect the Red and Black to the the hots and the green to the ground. Make sure you disconnect any of the 120v parts of the oven so you don't get shocked!!!

John

[fabman]

Bingo!! I was just out in the shop checking out the wiring and I was starting to wonder if they were bringing in two 115v instead of one 230v. I didn't mention before but there is no existing wiring from the main master to the oven. I will be wiring that part which is why I need to know what the four wires were. I do want to run the 115v circuit so I can have a light. One this for sure is I don't want to burn down my garage and be on the 6:00 news! Thanks everyone!

[Fireblade]

hey John PLC, I think you misread my post. I said the white wire is usually hot on a 230v circuit, I am talking about a normal circuit like ou would use on say a 230v air compressor. The black and white connect to the circuit breaker, double pole connections, then the ground would go to the ground bar. Anyways, he took the time to trace the wires himself, as I suggested, that is the onl way to do it. Don't assume everything is ok with electricity cause that is how you get hurt. Alwys assume the electrician who wired up your house is a total moron that was boozing it up all day before he came to take you money. Lesson for everyone! lol

[upncoming]

hey im just going over the forum for info on wiring up an oven. i going to be using a regular house oven (GE Appliances) and on the wire there are 4 wires.Red,White,Black and a thin plane that i think is ground. i have it hooked up to a plug so i didn't have to keep it connected when im not using it. my thing it come on and all but i only have the thin wire for the ground, the W and B for the powers. Is there a certain was thing should be hooked up. I turned it on and I started smelling a sent like wire in the top of the over where starting to burn . well if anybody could help me out with this it would be of grate help.

[jblack223]

Wiring

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.

[dagobert]

Re: Wiring

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.