GFCI protection for stoves??

Status
Not open for further replies.

Prosper

Member
Location
Texas
Occupation
electrician
Is this a 3 wire or 4 wire unit? Is the Neutral and ground separated in the dryer and range. Many of the dryers and ranges come shipped with the neutral and ground tied together with a strap.
This is a 4 wire system and the first thing I thought of was to separate the neutral from ground in the dryer. So we took the ground off the neytral and used a lug to bond the the dryer. Still wouldnt hold. The same problem on a slide in range?
 

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
This is a 4 wire system and the first thing I thought of was to separate the neutral from ground in the dryer. So we took the ground off the neytral and used a lug to bond the the dryer. Still wouldnt hold. The same problem on a slide in range?

You still have a N to G connection in the appliance. I would 1) take a good look at the wiring diagram of the appliance; and 2) measure the resistance of the appliance N - G terminals.
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
Take an ohmmeter and test neutral to ground and see if something isn't amiss. I assume you know to connect the neutral of the gfci breaker to the neutral bus and the neutral from the appliance circuit to the gfci breaker.

I don't mean to demean your knowledge but we don't know what you know
 

Prosper

Member
Location
Texas
Occupation
electrician
Yes sir We have been doing for quite a while. You see the delima is the inspectors dont seem to care about the capability of the breaker with appliances. We went through the AFI and the Samsung refrigerator issues while back. We seem to be held in the middle because we bide by the codes but the manufacturers have no responsibilities to make their product work. We wire per code and use products that are top quality in the trade.
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
Yes sir We have been doing for quite a while. You see the delima is the inspectors dont seem to care about the capability of the breaker with appliances. We went through the AFI and the Samsung refrigerator issues while back. We seem to be held in the middle because we bide by the codes but the manufacturers have no responsibilities to make their product work. We wire per code and use products that are top quality in the trade.
New ranges should have no problem as long as they are properly connected for 4 wire. Open the range up and look at the connections or use the continuity check as suggested.
 

jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
Take an ohmmeter and test neutral to ground and see if something isn't amiss. I assume you know to connect the neutral of the gfci breaker to the neutral bus and the neutral from the appliance circuit to the gfci breaker.

I don't mean to demean your knowledge but we don't know what you know

If that wasn't the case, the electronics of the breaker wouldn't be in play, and, the breaker wouldn't immediately trip when the appliance was plugged in.

JAP>
 

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
If that wasn't the case, the electronics of the breaker wouldn't be in play, and, the breaker wouldn't immediately trip when the appliance was plugged in.

JAP>

If the branch circuit neutral was landed on the neutral bar instead of the breaker, it would.

This presumes the range has a L-N load such as electronics.
 

GoldDigger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
Based on don's comment, it may help to power the range from a non GFCI circuit long enough to "heat soak" all elements. But that would not necessarily explain tripping when it is first plugged in, without turning any elements on.
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
Based on don's comment, it may help to power the range from a non GFCI circuit long enough to "heat soak" all elements. But that would not necessarily explain tripping when it is first plugged in, without turning any elements on.


I would bet the neutral and ground are touching in the appliance.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Meter should tell you, but you can also isolate the ungrounded leads, if it still trips as soon as plugged in, has to be a neutral to ground fault.
 

jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
If the branch circuit neutral was landed on the neutral bar instead of the breaker, it would.

This presumes the range has a L-N load such as electronics.

If the branch circuit neutral was landed on the neutral bar instead of the breaker, how would the breaker ever sense a difference in the return and trip ?


JAP>
 

wwhitney

Senior Member
Location
Berkeley, CA
Occupation
Retired
If the branch circuit neutral was landed on the neutral bar instead of the breaker, how would the breaker ever sense a difference in the return and trip ?
As soon as an L-N load uses power, the current on L will be "seen" by the GFCI, while the current on N will obviously not. So the GFCI will detect an imbalance and trip.

Cheers, Wayne
 

jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
Yes, if the pigtail from the gfi breaker was connected to the neutral bar, but, not if it wasn't.

I may have misunderstood the meaning of post 24 sorry,

JAP>
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top