Range Cooktop Inoperable Oven

Please advise what house wiring is required for electronic cooktop [flat top] ranges. Installation stipulates must have 3-wire, single phase A. C. 208Y/120Volt or 240/120 Volt, 60 hertz electrical system.

Our house is 23 yrs old with 3-wire for range over 10 years old.

Problems with four (4) cooktop replacement ranges, the surface elements work real nicely; however, the Oven and Oven light has been inoperable on all four new units out of the box from the factory with installation in our home.

Certified electrician says in house wall wiring is correct, circuit breaker box is correct and as required--There is no reason that oven should not operate on current house wiring. He found no loose wires either.

Sears Technicians stipulates house wiring ok for regular electric but the electronic cooktop range needs an operable ground wire for oven to operate.
They found circuit breaker box and wiring to be correct as 110/240 but when cooktop range is plugged into the wall wiring it goes to 240 on one leg of wiring and zero on the other.??????

GE Tech stated house needs 3-wire, three-phase A. C. electrical system. However, their installation booklet states requires 3-wire, single-phase A. C. 208Y/120V or 240/120V, 60 hertz electrical system. We are confused.

Help??? Please! Thanks for any insights or suggestions or corrections.

That sounds like an open neutral to me.

If you have 4 wires at the receptacle, you should have;
240 from red to black,
120 from black to ground and
120 from red to ground,
120 from black to white and
120 from red to white.

If you have only 3 wires at the receptacle, you should have;
240 from black to white,
120 from black to ground,
120 from white to ground.
The white may be wrapped in tape to mark it hot.

Is the oven cord wired correctly to the oven?

Square Eye,

Thanks for your reply. We believe it's in the new electronic cooktop range oven area and could very well be that the oven cord is not correctly wired to the oven.

The company refuses to admit something is wrong with the inoperable oven/oven light / control panel although the surface elements operate real good.

The G. E. Tech spent about 2 hrs and 1st said the neutral wasn't working properly but he was testing in the G. E. range connection area---he went to breaker box and was surprised that the current and amps were correct & no breaker was off.

GE Tech withdrew his stmt about the neutral. He checked the range again & the wall wiring. The he called his office & after lenghty talk on the phone, he said our house needed a 3 wire-three phase electrical wiring system--
yet GE range manual states in pre-printed ink: You must use a 3-wire, Single-phase A. C. 208Y/120V or 240/120V, 60 hertz electrical system. Needs a Range Cord rated at 40 Amps with 125/250 minimum volt range is required. A 50 Amp Cord Is Not recommended but if used, s/b marked for use with nominal 1 3/8" diameter connection openings. Sears has only provided a 50 Amp Cord with 3-wire.

Also, the manual states as a Warning: 3-Wire Power Cord Installation: The Neutral or Ground Wire of the Power Cord Must be Connected to the Neutral Terminal located in the Center of the Terminal Block [on the Range]. The Power Leads Must be Connected to the Lower Left/Right Terminals of the Terminal Block.

The same manual states effective Jan. 1, 1996, the Ntl Electrical Code requires that NEW construction use a 4-conductor connection to an electric range. This is not required for existing houses prior to 1996. Our house was built in 1993.

We are disappointed we have had three Model 790 ranges (labeled as Kenmore but is Frigidaire) and one GE Model JB P67S range in our house between July 14 and Aug 6th with the same problems (Sears is known to have the units built in one factory and then mfg names are assigned accordingly on different units). We have for years used Kenmore and GE major appliances without any failures.

A seasoned installer who picked up the range implied it is more than likely a factory defect and Sears needs to send someone into the factory (which is probably not in the U. S. I believe it isn't)

I Elnora worked in semiconductor industry/military aircraft industry with design/quality engineers--we were quality driven until mfg lines were shipped to offshore factories (then quality went out the door). - Bob worked as full carpenter for 40 yrs in building residential houses as employee of Del Webb and Schuck & Sons. He says the problem is with the range and some type of defect to the oven.

could be the cord that is defective i have seen it sometimes the solder in the plug is defective if you have 240 at the outlet and not at the stove ring the wires for continuity in the cord hope this helps