The Real Tom wrote:
On Thu, 19 May 2005 03:51:14 -0400, " uriah wrote:


Just got new drop in electric stove which has 4 wire 10 gage hookup.
Old stove has 3 wire 6 gage cable per my inspection of breaker box.
Do I have to replace with 4 wire cable or can I run a single 6 gage
wire to box to for forth wire.
Stan



No. Sorry that I don't have the specific article in the NEC that says
it, but I recall, all wires in a circuit must be housed in a cabled
sheath, jacket or raceway. The forth wire would be independent of the
original 3 conductor cable, therefore it would violate this
requirement.

I'm guessing from what you wrote the forth wire would be a dedicated
equipement grounding conductor(since years ago 120/240volt applances
were grounded via the neutral wire), so even thought it isn't normally
carrying current of the circuit, it's part of the system.

Please, working from memory, so referr to the actual codes(even local)
for performing any electrical work.

hth,

tom @ www.WorkAtHomePlans.com



Last time I checked, the NEC allows an equipment grounding conductor to
be run seperate from the current-carrying conductors when you are
updating old work. If I'm right, and if the original wiring has a red,
black, and white wire (or 3 black wires since it's #6), OP could run a
separate green or bare wire and bring the existing circuit up-to-date.

My guess is that the old cable is type SE, and he can't add a seperate
4th wire EGC because the cable's grounded conductor is not insulated
except by the outer jacket -- it could short out to the EGC at the metal
J-box -- and it's not white, nor black with white tape on the ends.

I don't know if that makes sense or not; I'm having trouble describing
it. My point is the EGC does *not* always have to run with the other
circuit wires, but that's unlikely to help in this situation.

Bob