In article , Mike Hartigan wrote:

But that's not the case with the 240V heating elements - the heavy
hitters in an electric range. They don't use the neutral for return.
As Doug correctly stated, the neutral is used only for the
electronics, lights, fan, etc. And since 120V outlets on ranges have
gone the way of cigarette lighters in cars, the maximum current that
the neutral will see is predictable. Indeed, Thermador specifies 10
for the hots, 12 for neutral and 10 for ground for their dual fuel
ranges (although I'm not sure why ground needs to be 10, in this
case).

If it's a 30A circuit (as implied by the use of 10ga hots), the NEC does not
permit the ground to be any smaller than 10ga. [2005 NEC, Table 120.122]

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Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.