Hello Guys!
My current cooktop has a big crack. My wife literally found a pristine
ceramic cooktop on the street. I tried to install it - there were four
4-pole plugs which inserted properly into the oven part of the stove -
but when I turn it on, only the outer rings fire up. Compatibility
issues between stoves aside, I'm convinced I can make this work, if
only I can get some info on the wiring scheme. I am in Germany. The
oven/stove control is "Wamsler" The original cooktop is long gone, and
the recent one had it's own "surface" controls, so I can't reverse
engineer like I would like to. I simply can't find any wiring info for
either the stove/oven or the cooktop online. I'm hoping someone here
has expertise, and can give some helpful hints!

Could it be the reason it was on the curb was due to a bad coil ?
Sometimes a gift horse bites you!

Martin

robobass wrote:
Hello Guys!
My current cooktop has a big crack. My wife literally found a pristine
ceramic cooktop on the street. I tried to install it - there were four
4-pole plugs which inserted properly into the oven part of the stove -
but when I turn it on, only the outer rings fire up. Compatibility
issues between stoves aside, I'm convinced I can make this work, if
only I can get some info on the wiring scheme. I am in Germany. The
oven/stove control is "Wamsler" The original cooktop is long gone, and
the recent one had it's own "surface" controls, so I can't reverse
engineer like I would like to. I simply can't find any wiring info for
either the stove/oven or the cooktop online. I'm hoping someone here
has expertise, and can give some helpful hints!

If it is German, they use 380 V 3 phase power in their stoves. The four wires should be 3 phases and safety earth (no neutral).
The burners are powered phase to phase. If the unit is intended for European domestic use, you will need 3 phase power to make it
work, as each element requires 400 V to function.
Steve

"robobass" wrote in message
...
Hello Guys!
My current cooktop has a big crack. My wife literally found a pristine
ceramic cooktop on the street. I tried to install it - there were four
4-pole plugs which inserted properly into the oven part of the stove -
but when I turn it on, only the outer rings fire up. Compatibility
issues between stoves aside, I'm convinced I can make this work, if
only I can get some info on the wiring scheme. I am in Germany. The
oven/stove control is "Wamsler" The original cooktop is long gone, and
the recent one had it's own "surface" controls, so I can't reverse
engineer like I would like to. I simply can't find any wiring info for
either the stove/oven or the cooktop online. I'm hoping someone here
has expertise, and can give some helpful hints!

On Jan 17, 8:33*am, "Steve Lusardi" wrote:
If it is German, they use 380 V 3 phase power in their stoves. The four wires should be 3 phases and safety earth (no neutral).
The burners are powered phase to phase. If the unit is intended for European domestic use, you will need 3 phase power to make it
work, as each element requires 400 V to function.
Steve

"robobass" wrote in message

...


1. I don't think it's a bad coil, since all 4 burners behave the same
way.

2. It's true than 400v is standard for modern kitchens here, but most
older buildings don't have it, and hence most stoves can also be wired
for 230v single phase. In my case, both the parts are wired for 230v,
so it's not that.

Well, I got it running and it seems fine. I simply ganged the two coil
elements together on each burner. I guess that the original top which
went with the oven was just single coil. I still don't really
understand how it works, but, anyway, it does!

On Sun, 17 Jan 2010 07:18:37 -0800 (PST), robobass
wrote:

Well, I got it running and it seems fine. I simply ganged the two coil
elements together on each burner. I guess that the original top which
went with the oven was just single coil. I still don't really
understand how it works, but, anyway, it does!

If you get stuck again, you can usually look up the maker of the
controls on the Web. They will have a "cut sheet" with all the
specifications and the wiring diagrams, and this is usually a really
good clue as to how the stove is wired.

Now be sure to check your circuit ampacity before you go too far, if
an older house doesn't have the 240/380V Wye service for the stove the
straight 240V circuit might not have the ampacity to run all four
burners and the oven at once. When you hook up a 3-phase wired range
to single phase, the amp draw goes way up because it's not spread
across three legs.

You can get away with running an over-elemented range for a while by
knowing to not turn on more than two or three elements at once, but
the only real cure to an overloaded main service panel is to do a
panel upgrade.

-- Bruce --

On Jan 17, 11:59*pm, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote:
On Sun, 17 Jan 2010 07:18:37 -0800 (PST), robobass

wrote:
Well, I got it running and it seems fine. I simply ganged the two coil
elements together on each burner. I guess that the original top which
went with the oven was just single coil. I still don't really
understand how it works, but, anyway, it does!

* If you get stuck again, you can usually look up the maker of the
controls on the Web. *They will have a "cut sheet" with all the
specifications and the wiring diagrams, and this is usually a really
good clue as to how the stove is wired.

* Now be sure to check your circuit ampacity before you go too far, if
an older house doesn't have the 240/380V Wye service for the stove the
straight 240V circuit might not have the ampacity to run all four
burners and the oven at once. *When you hook up a 3-phase wired range
to single phase, the amp draw goes way up because it's not spread
across three legs.

You can get away with running an over-elemented range for a while by
knowing to not turn on more than two or three elements at once, but
the only real cure to an overloaded main service panel is to do a
panel upgrade.

-- Bruce --

Yeah, the cooktop alone is 6.3 KW. That's close to 40 amps right
there, not to mention the oven. This just seems to be the way they do
things here. I am actually in a six story building in a large city. I
have the stove hooked up exactly the way it was when I moved in. I've
never tripped the breaker, even though I have been known to run three
burners and the oven all at once.

400v comes with probably all new construction, and is often run on
large renovation jobs, but that's mainly for heat and hot water. In
many apartments here, you have a "Durchlauferhitzer" which is a
continuous heating tankless system that gives you hot water for the
bathroom as well as for your hot water radiators. A typical unit draws
14KW, so 230v isn't up to the task. In my last flat, we had a gas unit
in the kitchen which provided all heating and hot water.
Interestingly, it is not uncommon to have your 400v wire and your
electric heater in the bathroom, but be left with low voltage (230) in
the kitchen, where you not only have to run your electric range, but
are stuck with a stupid little 5 liter low-pressure electric water
heater to do your dishes. These things are useless! You have to buy a
special three-pipe faucet, which functions poorly, so just when you
get the temperature adjusted properly, you're out of hot water. In my
case, we have central hot water to the bathroom and the radiators, but
not to the kitchen. After looking at my options (no gas or high
voltage available), I elected to run copper from the bathroom to the
kitchen. Sounds crazy? It gets better, In Spain and Italy it is common
to have no gas OR high voltage. Many homes and flats there have a
boiler which runs on bottled gas, so you see little trucks driving
around all day delivering refills. Of course they don't need to heat
the way we do up north, so they aren't using nearly as much fuel.

Well, everyone finds their own way to get things done. My house is in
order, anyway.