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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

I understand that if the old work is left undisturbed that it is ok to
use a 3 wire connection when installing a replacement appliance.

What I'd like to learn is just what kind of faults and accidents drove
the code to require a separate ground conductor for those kind of
dedicated 230 volt appliance circuits, mainly clothes dryers and stoves
I suppose. By "dedicated" I mean that the circuit only serves one
receptical/appliance.

IME the neutral conductor is always well bonded to the equipment housing
when a 3 wire installation is used, and that neutral lead is as large as
the power leads. The only fault I can envision creating a hazard with
that kind of setup is an open in the neutral lead combined with an
insulation failure within the appliance.

It would seem that an open in the ground lead of a 4 wire circuit
combined with a similar insulation failure in the appliance would create
the same kind of hazard.

So why the separate ground nowadays?

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."