I’ve got a head scratcher on my hands. A few days ago, my brother, who happens to be an electrician, and I replaced my Circuit Breaker board, from the old push-o-matic’s to the standard breakers found in new homes with a 120 amp main. Everything went as planned, and power was restored shortly after noon.
No here’s where it gets interesting…
Part 1: while my wife was cooking dinner, she called me into the kitchen to look at the electric range (220V, 3 prong wired to its own 40 amp breaker)… while the burners were still on, the digital clock/temperature display, as well as the “hot surface” light, and the “oven on” light were flicking on and off like someone was inside the wall flipping a hidden switch on and off (all while the burners were functioning as normal). I called my brother, who came over, but by that time, the oven was performing as normal, so we rechecked the breaker box, and called it a night. Part 2: Before I went to bed, I wanted to give the oven one last look before I went to bed… Everything seemed normal… HOWEVER right beside the oven is a GFCI outlet… The Light was on indicating a “trip”. I pushed the reset button and decided to pull the range plug out and check the voltage at the outlet… voltage was 230-240v.
As I plugged the range back into the outlet, I heard the distinctive “pop” of the GFCI… Sure enough, it was tripped, and the oven lights were going bananas again. I reset the GFCI and everything went back to normal… Before leaving the house this morning for work (5AM), I saw that the GFCI was again tripped… I unplugged the range, and reset the breaker, and left for work… I just spoke to my 15 year old, and he said that the GFCI has not tripped as of yet, and seems normal without the range plugged into its own circuit. Has anyone ever seen such a thing before?
My brother called me, and thinks that is it as well! We are making a trip to Lowes and buying the material to make a new run (4 prong) for the range. Thank you so Much!!
I’m curious to see if that solves the problem. Was the GFI added at the same time as the panel change?
What’s different with the new panel wiring than the old panel wiring other than the breakers?
There’s probably millions of 3 wire range recepticals still out there, including my own that aren’t causing problems with GFI’s.
Obviously if plugging in the range causes the GFI to trip somethings going on, but I’m not sure how changing to a 4 wire is going to fix it, the ground/neutral wires are going to the same place.
Find/read the installation instructions for your electric range. Those instructions will show you how to remove the “neural/ground bonding strap” to properly wire a 4-wire plug.
I’m puzzled. Is the GFI on the same circuit as the range?
If nothing other than the panel was changed, the logical suspicion is that something’s not quite right at the panel. I’d start be ensuring all of the neutral and ground connections are tight. Only other thing I can think of, and it’s a heck of a stretch, is that you reversed the hot legs of the range circuit and the range’s controls are now pulling power from the same leg that the GFI is on.
The GFI popped when you slid the range back into place… Something’s either loose or there’s just enough current draw by the range’s controls to put some stray voltage on the range’s cabinet and neutral/ground. Does the range touch anything such as a wiring box or conduit when it’s in position? Updating it to the 4-wire connection should cure that.
**glennwith2ns **- Nothing weird about a 120 amp main, especially if someone wants to modernize their panel without the extra expense of a service upgrade.
Possibly it’s built into the range itself – some new ranges have this.
Note that the OP says it is right next to the oven, not “on the wall next to the range”.