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Bought a new gas range oven with electric oven heat element.

Manual recommends 50 Amps NEMA Type 14-50R dedicated circuit for all models.

But for this specific model requires a minimum of 30 Amps with 220 Volts, which is what I have. 3-pole, 4-conductor.

The power supply cord kit was not included so I had to purchase it.

Wired it up as per instructions.

Now, here is what happened.

When I turned on the oven the second or third time, the temperature sky rocketed to far beyond its limit (I presume in the range of 600-1000 degrees). It melted some of the metal.

And it hasn't worked since then.

Oven light and fan work. The gas stove work fine as always.

Only the heat element has gone bad.

Anything here that would indicate an error on my part?

any idea what the issue could be?

thanks for the help

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  • It sounds to me like the controller failed to control the temperature. This is probably not to due how you connected the power cord, but you would have to send a picture of the connection block on the back of the stove for commenters to see how you have done it. Does the oven have a broiler element? Does it work? Do the clock and the timer functions appear to work?
    – Jim Stewart
    Apr 13, 2018 at 15:59
  • Jim, the oven has no additional electronics (clock, timers etc...).
    – dormant
    Apr 13, 2018 at 16:06
  • the wiring is RED, BLACK, WHITE(neutral) and GREEN(ground)
    – dormant
    Apr 13, 2018 at 16:07
  • what I know is that IF I used a lower amperage (i used 30amps) than the recommended 50 amps - although the manual states that the 30amps is FINE ("requires a minimum of 40 amps with 220volts", taken from the manual), that shouldn't have caused the issue, but I am no expert on ovens...
    – dormant
    Apr 13, 2018 at 16:11
  • i tested the connections. the red and black each produce about half of 220volts, while together produce 220v.
    – dormant
    Apr 13, 2018 at 16:13

2 Answers 2

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You mention 3 pole 4 conductor so you have peaked my interest.

Further these ovens do not just work from a temperature sensor to say the oven is this hot turn it off now - there is also a safety thermostat - no logic just hard wired - it would turn off the oven. So you would need two separate systems to fail.

This leads me to conclude that something was not quite right in your connection, or you had a real catastrophic issue with the oven (1 in 100 million type event) - the thermal cutoff sensor had to fail, the controller itself for temperature control had to fail - two entirely separate systems.

You do not show the oven model number or how you connected those wires (picture of oven connection) - this would help that we could know for sure how you connected it. If you were to post a picture of your connection and provide the model of your oven it would be helpful.

People make mistakes when hooking these ranges up because L1,L2, N and Ground are hooked up and also the link bar between N and Ground on a range needs to be removed or installed depending on the outlet configuration (not the socket - just because it has 4 poles does not mean it is connected that way - check it to know for sure) - it is possible for people to not remove the link bar when hooking up a 4 wire cable.

You should not assume that the outlet itself is wired correctly, check the outlet first make sure it is a 4 wire and also that L1,L2,N , G exist to the proper prong connections correctly.

Of course with out checking all of this - the possibility is you might burn up the new one that is coming..

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  • Ken, I never assumed anything. I checked all the connections at the outlet before I connected, I opened it up to confirm. they're correct. ground was ground, neutral was neutral, and both black and red were +. before I connected I checked the leads as well which correspond correctly to the terminals on the stove.
    – dormant
    Apr 15, 2018 at 2:40
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Looks like I won the lottery. My stove was 1 in a million.

Tested another stove, works fine same connections.

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  • too bad you did not buy the ticket instead of the stove ...?? Generally you should edit your answer with any updates ...instead of adding another 'answer' .. to update..
    – Ken
    Apr 15, 2018 at 9:04

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