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I have an old house I'm renovating, getting rid of the paper wires and redoing the runs to have a nice exposed joists type basement.

The panel was replaced a couple years ago and the electrician at the time just put a few junction boxes around the panel to link the new breakers and modern wires to the existing paper wire runs.

For the stove/range the panel has a 40 amp breaker but the gauge coming out is 6/3 up to the junction box. My question is, can I hook 8 gauge (which should handle 40 amp) from that box to the stove/range?

And is there anything specific that I need to know about splicing different wire sizes?

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  • @isherwood OP wants to go to 8 from 6 on a 40 amp breaker. Am I not mistaking that 8 is the minimum allowed on a 40 amp breaker. Not sure of the maximum size a 40 amp breaker can take, guessing 4. OP will need to know the proper splices to use.
    – crip659
    Commented Dec 27, 2022 at 22:24
  • Does the 6/3 have a separate neutral and ground? Is it aluminum?
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Dec 27, 2022 at 22:34

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Key question is copper vs. aluminum. There is a possibility you have 6 AWG Aluminum. If that's the case, it gets more complicated because a wire nut is not a great option.

However, if you have 6 AWG copper and 8 AWG copper then use an Ideal WT54 Blue or 454 Blue or equivalent. The WT54 are rated for various sizes from 3 x 12 AWG on up to 2 x 6 AWG, so 1 x 6 AWG + 1 x 8 AWG will work great, and the 454 up to 1 x 6 AWG + 2 x 8 AWG.

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  • Thanks for the reply, both are copper, 3 strand + neutral.
    – NodeNodeNode
    Commented Dec 28, 2022 at 1:30

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