Basically, the long and the short of the story is, I had a gas leak somewhere under my house, so it was cheaper to switch my hot water heater and my stove over from gas to electric, rather than rip up my floors.I have a contractor friend doing the work, due to the fact I can't run the wiring through the attic, what's basically going to be done is run it outside, drill a hole in the wall, and plug it in there. We are using a 30amp 220 v breaker, what gauge wire should we use? The lady at Lowe's say we MUST use 6/2 wire, we MUST and she refused to sell me anything else. I called a cousin of mine who works construction, and he said an 8/2 would work. It has also been suggested that we use 10/2 My contractor friend says he would be comfy using 10/2, but if 8/2 is what I want he will go with it. The Lowe's lady says 10/2 will meltSo do I use an 8/2?Why the patchjob? because the house is going to be torn down in 3 months and a new one builtI dont want my house to burn any ideas?
Usually most water heaters are wired with 10/2 with gound and a 2 pole 30 amp breaker. Stoves are wired with 8/3 with ground and on a 40 amp breaker. If you look inside the stove there will be a nameplate with the kw rating on it, that will also help you decide what wire to run.
Here's the short of it if you put in 30 amp and the range is 50 amp (most are that are sold in the USA) and you use a dryer cord instead of a range cord then you have an electrical problem who ya gonna call? If your gonna tear it down in 3 months why not just use a microwave and forget the range. I'm not clear on tearing it down and why you want to set up a range? If your gonna use electric and you might be in the house more than 3 months why take a risk if the appliance manufacturer, local code, national electrical code, and Lowe's (and I don't usually put a lot of stock in what Lowe's says) says is not a good idea, because its suppose to be for 50amps AND #6 2 W/GROUND WIRE DOESN'T SOUND LIKE YOU intend to be out of the home for sure in 3 months (and the contractor might have to hold up for a few weeks anyway and unless it is a mobile home or modular home it wont be built in a day) so to be safe I cant recommend you take a shortcut I know might be a bad choice. Does The microwave and maybe a small LP camp stove for 3 months sound cheaper and safer to you?
10/2 is rated for 30 amps. (It'll be 10/3 actually, if you're in the US, because 220 volts requires 2 hot feeds and one neutral, one ground) The lady is full of **** and/or trying to rip you off by making you spend a LOT more per foot of wire. I'd also suggest running it through conduit for the outside part, but since you're tearing the place down in 3 months, it's not going to decay from sunlight in that short of a time. And don't worry about the length of the run, you're not going to be going far enough for significant enough resistance to raise the amperage. As it is , 10-3 is rated for 30 amps, but can often handle 40 amps peak. And your stove is not going to be pulling 30 amps continuously, if at all, otherwise it would constantly be tripping the breaker. Considering the price of copper now, the price difference between 10 ga and 86 ga is NOT insubstantial enough to just go with the larger gauge. Especially when it's not remotely necessary. EDIT: Like the guy below pointed out, check your stove. If it is a 40 amp, you will need to use 8/3- and should definitely put it on a separate circuit from you water heater, because using both at once will draw too much current and trip the breaker. My range/oven is 40 amp, and the circuit it's on at the new house here is 40 amps, so your mileage may vary. Electric stoves have gotten a lot more efficient over the years.
