Electrical requirements for double wall oven

11 years ago

I am replacing an existing electric double wall oven. Current oven required 40 amps. When I look at my electrical panel, I see it is hooked up to two 30-amp breakers which someone told me would be called "piggybacked" and can be thought of as 60 amps. It just looks like two breaker switches tied together so to reset, they both move together. My question is will my new oven work properly with this double breaker thing (2 X 30 = 60 amps). The new oven calls for 50 amps. Details on new oven below.

WOLF L SERIES ELECTRIC DOUBLE OVEN (DO30)

Power supply: 240/208 V AC, 60 Hz with 50 amp service.

Maximum connected load: 8.9 kW.

Total amps: 37 amps.

Supply wire minimum size: L1, L2 and ground-10 AWG.

Thank you.

Featured Answer

mike_kaiser_gw

11 years ago

When I look at my electrical panel, I see it is hooked up to two 30-amp breakers which someone told me would be called "piggybacked" and can be thought of as 60 amps.

That's incorrect. What you have now is a 30 amp, 240v circuit. Your new oven calls for a 50 amp, 240v circuit. That probably means running new wire for the new double oven.

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Comments (11)

amyf5
Original Author
11 years ago
Mike,

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I was talking to the "technical support" person at Wolf and described my panel to them. That's where I got the information that my two 30-amp breakers were like a 60-amp one and would be ok. I guess I thought this made sense since my existing oven called for 40 amps. (House and oven are seven years old.)

Maybe if you would be kind enough to elaborate on why the oven was done this way - two breakers attached to one another - I would be better able to explain this to the oven installers to see if I need to have an electrician here first to switch the two 30s for a 50.

Thank you.

Amy
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greg_2010
11 years ago
A single 30A breaker would supply 30A at 120V.
A double 30A breaker would supply 30A at 240V. This is what you have.

Note that you (ie. your electrician) can't just switch the 30A double breaker for a 50A double breaker. A new cable will most likely have to be run to your oven location.
amyf5
Original Author
11 years ago
Greg,
Thanks. I knew there had to be a reason that it was different than the other breakers and I really wanted to double "something". I understand your response and that either an electrician or the oven installer will need to both run a new cable and replace the breaker. So nice of you to help me out here.
Amy
greg_2010
11 years ago
A licensed electrician is required to do the electrical work. If your oven installers have a licensed electrician, that's fine, but don't let just anybody mess with your electrical system.
Most likely, the work will need a permit and an inspection.
weedmeister
11 years ago
If you're the luckiest girl in the world, the cable will be the correct size already. But I doubt it.
hrajotte
11 years ago
Total amps: 37 amps.
Supply wire minimum size: L1, L2 and ground-10 AWG.

10 AWG???
eleena
11 years ago
Don't mean to hijack the thread but I have similar questions if you don't mind.

What is the problem with 10 AWG?

Also, how did the old oven needing 40 amps work on 30 amps?

Sorry, if these are silly questions. :-)
hrajotte
11 years ago
Normally, 10 AWG is limited to 30 amp overcurrent protection. There are exceptions to that, but I believe the exceptions apply to a few specific things, such as motors, that have a huge current draw at startup.
One of the pros will have to comment about the oven's specification of 10 AWG supply wire on a 50 amp circuit for an oven with a possible 37 amp current flow. But it doesn't sound right to me.
amyf5
Original Author
11 years ago
These recent posts got me back to researching. My installer was here to scope out the project and said that I had a 6 AWG ALUMINUM wire so I would be fine just switching out the 30A breaker for 50A. After investigating, I am worried about the wire being aluminum instead of copper. Also, the Wolf oven instructions to use 10 AWG doesn't match up with what I have read. My house was built in Michigan in 2004/2005. Is the aluminum wire ok? My installer said I was lucky, since a new wire would cost over $500 and even more for copper.
hrajotte
11 years ago
Aluminum wire, in and of itself, is no cause for alarm. There are special requirements to prevent oxidation at splices and connections, however, such as using approved wire nuts when connecting aluminum to copper, and using anti-oxidant paste, which looks like black goop. With proper connections, aluminum wiring is perfectly safe. The utility wires serving your home are probably aluminum.