New Electrical Work

for USA, Canada and countries running a 60 Hz supply service.

The 4 wires that are needed for this stove are, L1 (120 phase 1) L2 (120 phase 2), neutral, and ground. If you only have three wires then you are missing one of these wires. I would recommend running new wire from your electrical panel to the stove. I would NOT just leave the ground wire off or connect the neutral and ground together. There is a reason that there are 4 wires, and you should keep it that way.

Another answer

Do not tie the neutral and ground in the outlet! Run new wire! Depending on how much current is flowing through the neutral, there is a potential (pun not intended) for a voltage to exist between the neutral and ground. If you use the neutral as a ground, this means a shock hazard. Get it wired properly. Be safe.

Rationalizing tying the neutral to the hot "because they are tied at the breaker box anyways" is dangerous because it neglects the fact that the wire has resistance. The resistance in the wire causes the potential to ground, which is always 0V at the breaker box.

What if

The neutral and ground are already connected on the back of the appliance? Could I then replace the 4 wire cord with a 3 wire? If you are upgrading to a newer appliance the electrical code allows you to continue to use your exsisting 3 wire supply.You would connect the ground and neutral together as in the old appliance.The neutal currents in cooking appliances( 240 volt) are very small and should not cause you any problems.

Finally

The neutral / ground tie mentioned above is for old 3 wire outlets. If you are lucky enough to have a new 4 wire outlet, break that bond. Your new cord will have the separate neutral and ground so that bond is not needed.

Again, if you are wiring a new outlet you need all 4 wires for a 4 wire plug. Pull new wire if you can, it is safer. If you can't, use the older 3 wire plug. The 3 wire plug does not meet code for new work, but is allowed for old work. Do not under any circumstances connect ground and neutral at the outlet That is dangerous and illegal. Do it right or don't do it at all.

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As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

Before you do any work yourself,

on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,

always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

Live, Neutral and Earth. Live is the wire that carries the voltage. Neutral is the wire that functions as the return for the current path. EARTH wire is very important, it's there for safety and is connected to ALL metal components of an appliance or fitting. If the LIVE wire touches the case and you touched it, you would get an electric shock. If this were to happen with the EARTH connected the live is shorted to earth and either blows the fuse or knocks out the trip. There by rendering the appliance safe. Answer Here's a rundown: HOT wires can be any color (except the ones below). The most used colors in homes is Black and RED. Sometimes you'll see Blue. "Neutral" is called the grounded conductor and is either white or gray, or has 3 white stripes on it. That's it. No other colors can be used for the grounded conductor. The "ground" wire is called the grounding conductor and MUST be either green for bare wire. With all this in mind....sometimes a wire will be used "outside" it's color. Colored tape will re-identify its proper color. Most common is to see a white wire on a light switch. It should have black tape on it to show that it is hot (black is hot).

Answer

The conductors are termed LINE, NEUTRAL, AND EARTH (or GROUND). The neutral conductor is at approximately the same potential as the earth conductor (0 V), while the potential of the line conductor depends on the standards used in your country. In the UK and Europe, this is 230 V (nominal), while in North America it is 120 V (nominal). In Europe, the colour code is: Line (brown), neutral (blue), and earth (green/yellow stripes or bare copper).

Refrigerators don't usually require a minimum of a 220 V circuit. Most ranges do, and of course, the circuit should be dedicated. Make sure you check with an electrician. <><><> No, an electric cooker, uses a lot more power than a fridge!

The breakers on the main panel and the wiring has to be a lot heavier in order to take the much larger load. Most homes have a power point in the kitchen, specifically for cookers. If you haven't, you'll need a qualified electrician to fit one. <><><>

As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

Before you do any work yourself,

on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,

always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

I'm going to assume you are referring to residential construction because rules for commercial and industrial settings can be different. Also rules differ by geography (i.e. Canada specifies a maximum of 8 outlets on a 15 amp circuit, USA code is silent on the issue but for practical purposes, more than about 10 will likely lead to poor performance. Some code also specifies max loading of a 20 amp circuit at 80% making 10 outlets the practical limit if using 20 amp outlets on that circuit.

To expand on the previous answer a little, there is a large margin of safety in the construction of these components but if you think about it, you are placing a component that is rated at 15 amps into a 20 amp circuit. That outlet is potentially the weakest link in the circuit and could act like a fuse. If any of those 15 amp outlets are overloaded, it might overheat and fail before the circuit breaker. This is a recipe for a fire. You may think now that you'll remember to only plug in light loads, but these things have a habit of growing.

You can plug typical small home appliances (lamp, stereo, TV, etc.) into a 20 amp outlet so the only benefit in using the 15 amp outlet is the minor cost savings at installation. If it were my building, I wouldn't risk it.

In the United States you can run 20 amp breakers with 15 amp outlets but not in Canada. And for how many? About 10 to be on safe side as long as they are all low amp usage appliances. TVs, steros, fans, lamps.

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You can run 20 amp breaker with 12-2 wire as long as you make sure you use the 12-2 wire that is rated at 20 amp.

Before you do any work yourself,
on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,
always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

Did you reset the GFCI? Any outlet attached to the GFCI's load (output) will not work if the GFCI has no power/is inoperable.

The water heater could have a neutral-to-ground short, a type of fault which would be not have shown up on a circuit having no GFCI. That would be a good reason to scrap the water heater if it cannot be fixed! Anyway the best advice is to call in an electrician to run a separate circuit for your water heater.

Take the water heater off of that circuit! Nothing else should be on that circuit, and call a electrician to run a separate circuit for your water heater!!! 1500watts divided by 120 volts is 12.5 amps.

Always be sure to switch off the breakers at the main panel before you attempt to do any work on any mains power circuit.

If you know that the GFCI is good, then the heater that you are plugging could have a "hot to frame" ground fault condition. This means that the ground prong on the plug is carrying some current as well as (or instead of) the neutral. A GFCI measures the current coming in from the hot and compares it to the current going out on the neutral. If they differ from each other, the GFCI will trip.

In your case the heater could probably have a "hot to frame" short - also known as a ground fault - and some of the current is going onto the ground wire. Either find the fault by taking the heater apart, or buy a new one and toss the faulty one before it causes a serious problem.

<><><>

As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

Before you do any work yourself,

on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,

always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS

WORK SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

* A 240V double-pole breaker of the right size for your load, (Don't try and use two single-pole 120V breakers!) and the right type for your box (SquareD breakers for SquareD boxes, GE for GE, etc.)

* A length of 4 conductor wire to run from the breaker panel to the outlet that is the right size for the breaker! Rule of thumb for wire runs under 50ft: 14 gauge for 15A, 12 gauge for 20A, 10 gauge for 30A, 8 gauge for 40A, 6 gauge for 50A, etc. Get 4 conductor wire even if you only want 240 (and not 120) for futureproofing.

* A new outlet and box to mount it in.

* Clamps to secure the wire to the box and breaker panel.

Then you need to:

* run the wire from the panel to the outlet. Leave slack at the panel, you need a couple feet inside it.

* Wire the 240V outlet. Remember the color code: the black/red/brass screws are for the black and red hot wires, the white/silver screw is for the white neutral, the bare/green screw is for the bare or green-covered ground wire.

* One slip and you're dead. So always shut the breaker panel main switch to OFF.

* Connect the wires into the panel. Which bus is which should be obvious by the existing wiring. Remember to get your connections good and tight.

* Put the covers back on everything, switch everything on and enjoy.

If anything I said above wasn't obvious, buy a book. It will explain everything better than I can in text and serve as a handy reference on the job. If you are still not confident, hire a professional licensed electrician.

Addendum

Some things to remember are:

A - You must kill the whole box before jumping in it. KILL IT.

B - never grab more than one wire - or contact - at a time!

C - Try not to ground yourself out.

D - always use the right size wire for amperage needed.

E - You do not have to be a brain surgeon to wire in a circuit. If you are not totally confident with what you are doing definitely consult someone who will be nice enough to give you life saving tips instead of telling you to take a hike.

<><><>

As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

Before you do any work yourself,

on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,

always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

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You can, if you want to burn the house down 30 minutes after the range kicks on.

<><><>

As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

Before you do any work yourself,

on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,

always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

for USA, Canada and countries running a 60 Hz supply service.

This can be a complicated project. First and foremost turn the breaker off that supplies the voltage to that circuit. A light fixture outlet is usually switched and the majority of times it is on the ceiling. To bring this circuit down to accommodate a wall receptacle will mean fishing a new wire from the ceiling junction box down to the new wall receptacle outlet. One the rough in is completed the switch will be removed and the two black wires will be spliced together. This will make the old light fixture junction box connections "hot". Install a blanking plate on the old switch junction box. This will keep small fingers out of the electrical splice. Now splice the black to black and white to white in the old ceiling junction box. Install a blank cover on this box. Now the voltage supply will be at your new wall receptacle. Connect the new receptacle to the circuit and install a cover plate. Turn on the circuits breaker and the new receptacle should be in operation.

Note: Light fixtures are typically on circuits with other lights and sometimes outlets for electronics, both of which are adversely affected by sharing a circuit that powers motors and compressors. So, if you are planning on plugging a freezer, washer, dishwasher, or the vacuum cleaner into this outlet, check to be sure your home theater isn't on the same circuit breaker.

As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

Before you do any work yourself,

on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances

always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

+++

I'm pleased you prefixed the answer with a statement of country. In the UK the power and lighting circuits are separated immediately after the supply company's master switch and fuse, and fed through separate fuses or (nowadays) circuit-breakers. You NEVER mix the two: you can run a table-lamp with a standard 3-pin plug from a 13A outlet socket, but you cannot run an appliance off the light fittings, and definitely never connect the lighting-ring wires to a wall socket as described above. That would be not only dangerous due to the likely higher current hence overheating & fire risk, but probably illegal as a result. The wires are never "spliced" either, if that means twisted together and taped or sleeved, but are connected in proper junction-boxes with screwed terminals.

In times past it was possible in Britain to buy 2-pin bayonet-connector leads enabling small appliances to be plugged into the light fittings in place of the bulb - without an earth pin! They were outlawed decades ago. Incidentally, the supply frequency (50Hz in UK & Europe) is not relevant to the point here.

If you get any detailed "how to do this " answer here, you might attempt to do something you shouldn't be doing, and that may cost someone a shock, a home fire, or their life.

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You should hire an electrician to do a job like this.

<<>>

DO NOT FOLLOW THESE STEPS AS THE SERVICE WILL NEVER BE PASSED BY AN ELECTRICAL INSPECTOR.

One glaring fault is the wire size. A #4 copper conductor with an insulation factor of 75 or 90 degrees C is only rated at 85 amps.

A 3/0 copper conductor with an insulation factor of 75 or 90 degrees C is rated at 200 and 210 amps respectively.

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STEP 1

You should make sure that the meter can you purchase is equipped with a horn bypass. Then fasten the meter can with #10 stainless steel screws to your house at eye level and where it is easily accessible from the street. Most utility companies require that they first approve the location.

STEP 2

Then, depending on whether you are using #4 service entrance cable or regular 4 otu cabl,e the steps differ: with #4 service entrance cable you would simply insert about 2 feet of wire with a rubber bushing and fitting made for electric service that mount ether on meter hub or on meter can directly. Then run cable up 15 ft or to previous electric service height and strip 3 feet of the wire and mount weather head your local utility will make the final connection to the power lines. Important do not cut off excess

With regular 4 otu wire you will have to assemble a mast. Note if mounted through the soffit and roof the conduit must be rigid. You most first mount the meter hub to the meter can. Then with a threaded 2 inch fitting attach conduit to the meter hub until you reach 12ft or previous electrical service height. Then feed wire up through conduit till there is three feet hanging out the top and cut the wire with hack saw or bolt cutters so there is two foot left at the bottom. Strip the 3 ft at the top and install weather head.

STEP 3

Then strip the bottom two feet hanging out of meter can and wire up to the lugs the plain aluminum wire or the one that's just black goes to the center lug and the other two go to the other top lugs.

STEP 4

Then run the amount of cable out that is required to reach the panel box. Running ether through the conduit or through a hole conduit looks much better and hook up the same way in the meeter box. Note if you have to go below ground you must have it in conduit and a slider tube must be installed. Make sure to leave your self excess wire always. Note you must use anti corrosive grease on all connections in meter can.

STEP 5

Install with hammer two ground rods into ground near meter can approx 1ft from house and 6 ft apart from each other. Then run #6 braided copper wire starting at one ground rod and going around the other and back to the first one and then through to the panel box. Note make sure to use a ground rod clamp to secure wire on each one make sure you put them on when you start to run the wire when you run the wire back through to the first rod makes sure you go back through the ground rod clamp tap clamps on with hammer.

Wire to panel box inserting with a romex connector through knock out into ground bar and tighten lug.

Check with local electrical inspector to see if the ground wire must also be hooked to water and gas.

STEP 6

Wire 4 otu wire into panel box keeping in mind that the center bar is for the bare aluminum wire or the plain black and the other lugs are for the two hots Note it does not hurt to use the anti corrosive grease here either especially if located in a damp basement.

STEP 7

Call and get an electrical inspection

It is important to do this as most utility companies will not hook up to it until it has been inspected. Also, if the new panel and circuits were put into regular use without first getting the proper inspection done - and having an official inspection certificate issued - if your house ever caught on fire, it could be deemed to be your own fault and your home insurance would not cover the cost of repairs.

This kind of electrical work should most definitely be done only by a licensed electrical contractor.

Full knowledge of the electrical code for wire sizing, placement, height, etc. is all mandatory. This type of work must not be done without a proper permit followed by full inspection.

<><><>

As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

If you do this work yourself, always turn off the power

at the breaker box/fuse panel BEFORE you attempt to do any work

AND

always use an electrician's test meter having metal-tipped probes

(not a simple proximity voltage indicator)

to insure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

This is known as "staircase wiring". It uses two two-way switches. A two-way switch has one common terminal and two alternate switching terminals. Say C1 being common, A1 and B1 are alternate terminals. second two-way switch has C2 common terminal and A2, B2 alternate terminals. Connect the live phase wire to C1. Wire up A1 to A2 and B1 to B2. Connect a load (say a lamp) to C2 and the other end of the lamp to neutral. The wiring is complete and now the lamp can be controlled by these two switches.

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If, and ONLY if, there is an on/off switch for a 120 Volt lighting fixture installed onto a wall box containing wires, it is possible that the Red and Black wires in this situation are:

a) the "hot" feed wire coming from the mains breaker panel to the switch and

b) the "switched hot" wire going to the lighting fixture.

BE VERY CAREFUL: YOU MUST BE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND

HOW TO DO ANY OF WHAT FOLLOWS SAFELY BEFORE YOU TRY TO TEST ANYTHING WHICH MAY BE A HOT OR LIVE WIRE

Only someone who knows how to use a test lamp or voltmeter safely will be able to confirm if the Red wire in the wall box is a) and the Black wire is b), or if they are actually wired the other way round, meaning the Black wire in the wall box is a) and the Red wire is b).

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A Red wire can be the first "Hot Leg" of a 240 volt supply. It could also be one of a pair of hot wires connecting two switches controlling one or more 120V lighting fixtures.

A Black wire can be the second "Hot Leg" of a 240 volt supply or the "Hot" wire of a 120 Volt supply. It could also be one of a pair of hot wires connecting two switches controlling one or more 120V lighting fixtures.

A White wire is normally the "Neutral" wire. It is common to both hot legs on a 240 Volt supply.

A Green wire (or bare wire with no insulation) is normally the local "Ground "wire.

<><><>

As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

Before you do any work yourself,

on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,

always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

If you get any detailed "how to do it" answer here, you might attempt to do something you shouldn't be doing, and that may cost someone a shock, a home fire, or their life.

<><><>

Don't tie the two hots! You'll short out the circuit if you do!

US service is 120V to neutral and 240V between the two hots. To power this European appliance you must not use the US Neutral (The White wire.)

To supply the the appliance with 240V you would have to connect one US 240 Volt hot (Red) to the appliance's Live wire - its Brown wire - and the other US 240 Volt hot (Black) to the appliance's Neutral - its Blue wire. As for Ground, any washer must be grounded, to protect users from getting electrocuted but be careful, you cannot just connect the appliance's Earth - its Green/Yellow wire - to the US Ground (Green or bare wire) until you have made sure, using a meter - and with the appliance disconnected - that the appliance's Blue Neutral wire is completely isolated from its its Green/Yellow Earth wire, otherwise you will short circuit one of the US Hot wires and seriously overload the other one!

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Before you do anything to connect this appliance please read the answer to the Related Question shown below!

If you handle just one wire wrongly you could kill yourself or someone else in your home, or start a house fire.

Please ask a licensed electrician to advise you what to do.

Connect the two US hot wires to the brown and the blue wires of the washer. There are two potential problems: I. European electrical equipment is designed for 50 Hz and in the US you have 60 Hz. Certain motors will not 'live long' on the wrong frequency. Check the plate on the back for something like 50/60Hz. If that is there, you're O.K., for frequency issues.

BUT now read the answer to the Related Question shown below to see what to do about the safety Ground wire.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

If you do this work yourself, always turn off the power

at the breaker box/fuse panel BEFORE you attempt to do any work AND

always use an electrician's test meter having metal-tipped probes

(not a simple proximity voltage indicator)

to insure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.