Double Oven Wiring


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Old 06-21-16, 02:54 PM
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Double Oven Wiring

Hey everybody. My wife and I are remodeling our home and she has decided on a Jenn-Air JJW2830DS double oven. The house currently has a single gas oven with an unused 240V outlet. The circuit is 40A with 8/3 stranded wire, my plan was to pull the wiring up and run it down to our new location. I was reading through the installation instructions for the oven and it states the oven requires 8g solid wire. I emailed customer support asking for clarification/reasoning and the response I got was "solid wire is required". Can anyone explain the reasoning behind this?

I've looked around some and didn't see anything in the NEC specifying solid vs stranded wire but I'm not an electrician and it can be difficult to decode sometimes. I've looked at both HD and Lowes and the 50' or cut to length 8/3 was stranded, the individual strands did appear to be thicker gauge than what we have currently. I'm comfortable with the wiring, especially since it will basically just be redoing what is already there. Getting the new wire into the box and the old wire out is my main concern so I'm undecided if I will attempt it myself or call an electrician.

If I do it myself I'd have to track down some solid 8/3 but it should be under $100 which isn't too big a deal but would still like avoid it if unnecessary. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
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Old 06-21-16, 03:10 PM
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Welcome to the forums.

I have never heard of the requirement for solid wire. I think they may have meant copper wire only. Below is the JennAir installation guide and there is no mention of solid wire in it.

jennair/digitalassets/JJW2830DS/Installation Instruction.pdf
 
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Old 06-21-16, 03:42 PM
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Thanks for the welcome. I haven't registered yet since I am usually able to find answers to my questions by searching.

Page 13 under the warning for double ovens states "Use 8 gauge solid copper wire." I've not seen it mentioned by other manufacturers with ovens having similar ratings. My main concern is liability if we rent the house in the future. Or if we get a faulty oven that ends up getting blamed on the wiring.
 
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Old 06-21-16, 04:10 PM
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I think they may have meant copper wire only
I agree. Jenn-Air is better than most at providing instructions, but I think they made a mistake in specifying the type of copper cable required.
This was probably meant to mean "no aluminum allowed".
 
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Old 06-21-16, 05:48 PM
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I see no issue. I suspect the instructions were written by someone not as familiar with the actual materials and codes. Larger wiring is stranded for flexibility. Without looking the NEC calls for wiring #8 and larger to be stranded.
 
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Old 06-23-16, 03:46 PM
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If you intend to do the work there should be a permit and inspection or you could also have liability issues anyway.
 
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Old 06-25-16, 07:29 AM
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Thanks guys, you've made me confident there are no problems with using it. Now I'm hoping to find something saying it isn't needed. Probably won't happen but I'll look around some more.

Without looking the NEC calls for wiring #8 and larger to be stranded.
I don't have access to the NEC but from what I found this applies only to runs in conduit. It may have changed in recent editions?

This was probably meant to mean "no aluminum allowed"
There are specific requirements for aluminum wiring earlier in the instructions

If you intend to do the work there should be a permit and inspection or you could also have liability issues anyway
I am aware, thank you
 
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Old 06-25-16, 09:14 AM
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You are overthinking this if you don't mind me saying.
I've installed so many wall ovens it's not funny.
If the oven nameplate data calls for 40amps, and you have 8-3 with ground, you are in good shape, great shape actually and better than most homes I see.

The strands in 8-3 are solid copper and that's probably what the instructions meant. There are no worries.
 
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Old 06-25-16, 09:28 AM
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They could also have meant not to use copper clad aluminum wire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper...aluminium_wire As Brian said, "don't over think it". Just do it.
 
 

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