Kitchen oven range wiring made easy

Now let’s move on to wiring your oven or range top for your kitchen. There are new code rules in some states that require a four-wire oven/range cable. So you will need to install a 4-wire outlet plug when you do the electrical. It’s easy though. You just go look for range cable. It typically is called 6/3 cable.

That just means it has 3 cables that are each 6 gauge and a bare copper ground wire. It makes 240-volts by adding together 2 of the 120-volt lines and using the third for a neutral wire that goes back to the neutral bus in the breaker box.

A four-wire plug will just have the bare copper wire attached to the ground and it will be grounded to the oven chassis.

You will most likely have to attach the power cord to the oven at the junction box in back of the oven. You will have four wires.

There will be a block with four screws on it and they will be marked. Two of the lines will be hot, one will be neutral and one will be a ground.

We can see the plug with four wires that attaches to a block with four screws.

Remember the red cable and the black cable are both hot lines. The white is a neutral and the ground will be connected to the oven ground.



Some older homes have three hole plugs. If you have an older home that has a three hole plug, but you have a newer oven that has four prongs, you can get an adapter for cheap.



For more wiring information, be sure to see my quick wiring guide

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