Jeff C wrote:

I have #6-3 Alum Wiring that was wired DIRECTLY to an 30 year old
JennAir Downdraft Range, which I'm now replacing. The circuit is on two
ganged 50a breakers. I'm going to put in a 3 prong outlet into the
wall. The wire has 2 black wires, one with a red stripe, the other
black wire with no stripe, and what looks like a bare ground wire. The
directions on the outlet say to wire the "hot wires" to the two angled
connections and the neutral to the "straight" connection. When I
started this I noticed the "straight" connection has the word "neutral"
embedded on the back of the connector.

Am I correct to assume that the black wire without the stripe is
"neutral", the black wire with the red stripe is "hot" and the bare
wire is ground? If that's right, then which what do I do with the
"ground" wire?

Thanks
Jeff C

p.s. I know what assume means and someone's going to say I should leave
this up to a qualified electrician, but sometimes money is short and so
is time, so please bear with me.

Sounds like you have the wrong style outlet for your current wiring
which sound like it's 6/2, not 6/3 which would have a total of four
conductors (black, red or black with red, white, and green or bare).
Your current wiring is supplying two hot leads (the two black ones) and
a ground (the bare one) and no neutral.

The outlet you have is a 120/240V without ground variety that requires a
neutral (white) connection. What you need is a 240V (only) with ground
outlet to go with your current wiring.

Better still would be to replace the wiring (cheap unless it's real
long) with 6/3 (four conductors) and install the newer (and new code)
four conductor 120/240V with ground outlet style. You don't need to
change breakers or anything, it's just an additional conductor to
neutral in the panel.

If you stick with aluminum wire (either your existing or new 6/3 AL) be
sure to apply anti-oxidation compound to the connections and use AL or
CU/AL rated devices. Revisiting the connections after a few weeks of use
and retightening them (power off of course) is also a good idea.

Pete C.