Any electricians out there? Ballpark estimate for a 220 volt outlet in the kitchen

[joeekaitis]

 

Our house was built to favor gas major appliances over electric, thus the only 220V circuit is for the A/C compressor.  From time to time Home Depot puts a Frigidaire induction stove on sale for as little as $800.00.  Only problem is, our kitchen has a gas line and a 110V outlet for the stove.  Would the cost to add a 220V outlet equal or exceed the cost of the stove?

 

Thanks.

 

[appnut]

Joe, I think it will be dependent upon how far from the circuit box the line has to be run in addition to the going rate locally.  You might do an online search for your location with Home Advisor and a similar services.  Sometimes Lowes and HD have contractors they refer when customers purchase products that needs installation.  You might also ask either store if they know how much such a job would estimate for.  

 

On another note, that particular Frigidaire range is like the BOL of all induction ranges.  Frigidaire also has some reliability issues, along with parent company Electrolux.  

 

[thomasortega]

My stove is an Electrolux made Kenmore.

Not the BOL but also not the super TOL.

I'm shocked because it works! and It's working great entering the 3rd year of use.

And before somebody say something, I'm kinda OCD about the oven being clean but I hate cleaning it, so even the tiniest thing that drips in the oven means I'll start the longest self cleaning cycle. if it doesn't disappear completely, I'll self clean again.

In almost 3 years I think I ran the self cleaning cycle average 50 times. Nothing stopped working (yet)

 

[lowefficiency]

How far is the stove from the circuit breaker panel?

Is the kitchen on the first floor, and is the basement (or crawlspace) finished?

 

[thomasortega]

My experience:

I wanted an induction stove too.

It's a rental unit, the landlord even told me he'd pay 50% of the service.

Kitchen on second floor, circuit breaker panel right below the kitchen, the plan was making an external pipe that would go straight from the panel to behind the stove. Easy job.

Anyway....

The electrician (very good btw) gave an estimate that almost made me decide I'd never again have a stove in my life or even eat again.... why if i can "eat" sunlight like plants?

$1600 labor + 600 material.

Note to add: The landlord (after we both recovered from almost fainting) just said "Welcome to California".

Of course I didn't do it.... and got a gas stove.

 

[launderess]

At risk of repeating oneself

Have stated more times than care to recall, there was a huge reason why Miele and other European laundry appliances had issues penetrating North American market. Not every home or apartment had 220v electrical service, and often cost of upgrading or installing same came to more or at least large part of what appliance cost.

People always are going on about how "all" homes have 220v service to the panel (or fuse box), and all that one must do is run proper line; rubbish. If it were so easy everyone who could would have done so.

 

[combo52]

Cost Of Installing A 240 Volt Rnge Circuit

Can vary widely depending on many differences in homes, without any information about your homes construction, layout and electrical service panel I would guess that it could vary from $150 through upwards around $4000 if your home needs new upgraded service panel and service line.

 

Get quotes on installing a 40 amp 240 volt four wire receptacle and go from there., also consider that someone has to unhook the gas range and cap the line, you might do this yourself if you are handy.

 

John L.

 

[lowefficiency]

>> Get quotes on installing a 40 amp 240 volt four wire receptacle and go from there.

I'll second this. The quotes won't cost you anything, and will give you a good idea of what you are up against.

 

[mattl]

I'm glad I'm a DIY, those cost are insane...

 

[lowefficiency]

>> I'm glad I'm a DIY, those cost are insane...

Me too - but to be fair, anything toward the higher end of those quotes is almost certainly work that isn't going to be DIY-friendly. And if you've received quotes that have several thousand bucks in labor alone, it's pretty safe to say that the installation is going to be either tricky or labor-intensive.

That's why I had asked how far the stove was from the panel, as we could help calculate the materials cost pretty easily, and what the basement looked like, as that would give us a feeling of how difficult the work would be in general (the labor costs)...

 

[sudsmaster]

The only problem with DIY is that in many locations it still needs to be permitted and inspected.

 

I'm a bit lucky, here. The kitchen has 220 to the cook top, and also to the laundry closet nearby, as well as to the electric drop in range in the patio kitchen.

 

However the only one I use is for the patio range, an old Frigidaire electric number. I had someone extend the gas line to the cooktop and laundry room. I'm fixing to extend the gas line to the patio kitchen as well, and maybe also to the outer patio where I have a gas grill (would like to convert that to natural gas). Even have a couple of used gas ranges ready to put in the patio kitchen: a GE, a Modern Maid, and the latest, a Kitchenaid Superba convection range, which my neighbor gave me the other day since he's remodeling their kitchen. It's white, and they want stainless. Will it ever happen? Damned if I know!

 

 

[earthling177]

Well, take a look at the requirements for your locality.

Around here, my electric range came already installed with a 240V / 50A breaker and outlet.

I can't remember how much power my previous range (a rather simple one, Calrod coil burners) used, but my current induction range apparently needs 50A according to the installation leaflet that came with it.

Either way, if you are installing new wiring, insist on the 50A wire, breaker and outlet, in case your next range needs more power, the labor costs will probably be higher than the difference in cost for wiring anyway. And, to be honest, I'm not even sure if they have 40A wiring at this point, you'll more than likely only find 50A.

Good luck!

 

[circlew]

There's no such thing as a 40 amp receptacle. However, a range circuit can be wired with #8 wire, using a 40 amp breaker, and a 50 amp receptacle. Using #6 wire and a 50 amp breaker will give you the full capacity of that receptacle, and accommodate ranges with double ovens.

 

[combo52]

Cost Of Installing A 240 Volt Rnge Circuit

A 40 amp circuit is more than heavy enough for any domestic today, installing a 40 amp line and breaker gives a greater margin of safety if something goes wrong in the range, it also saves cost and valuable copper and doing so reduces your impact on the environment, there is no benefit in over consuming materials.

 

John L.

 

[sudsmaster]

When I bought this house, it had an electric wall oven (GE P*7) and an old Corning ceramic cooktop. It also had a 60's era Frigidaire drop-in range (30 in) in a kitchen area of the enclosed patio.

 

I replaced the electric cooktop with a Frigidaire "Gas on Glass" cooktop. Kept the P*7 wall oven and have been collecting gas ranges as possible replacements for the electric range in the patio kitchen. Since that will require running a new gas line, it's been postponed a few times.

 

Anyway, this thread prompted me to check out the amps in the breaker box for the cooktop, range, and oven. The oven has its own 40 amp circuit, and it's hard-wired in, of course. The cooktop was sharing a 50 amp breaker with the patio range. When I converted the cooktop to gas, I ran a new breaker box under the counter to split out one of the legs of the 220 circuit to 110 to run the igniter for the new gas cooktop, on a 15 amp circuit.

 

I will have to do a similar arrangement if an when I convert the electric patio range over to gas, to run the igniters and fan for the convection oven in that appliance.

 

Interestingly, there's a 40 amp 220 volt breaker in the main house panel that runs about 100 feet to the separate workshop building. At some point I'll have to measure the gauge (and length) of the wires in the buried conduit that serves that run. It would be nice to up the breaker to 50 amps or more, and upgrade the wire gauge if necessary. But no hurry on that. Esp since the whole property is running on a 100 amp 220 volt main circuit.

 

[mikael3]

I had that job done for $600 in Atlanta. The fellow ran a new line from the box, under the floor and up into the kitchen wall. From the box to the outlet is about 25 feet.

 

[earthling177]

I would look at the range in question and decide from there.

If it's an induction range bought recently, it's very likely it will take advantage of the 50A just fine, I know that if I turn on everything on mine, it pulls more than 40A (if I remember right, it's rated 12.5kW).

Older coil or radiant electric ranges are on a fixed power, so maybe they were limited to 40A just fine.

Newer ranges may have two ovens, and even the ones that have just one oven and a warming drawer tend to use more power when the burners are set to PowerBoost, even if it's limited to 10 minutes or so.

In any case, I wouldn't want to have to redo the wiring in the future if all the future induction ranges go up in power.

Like I said, even before induction ranges got popular in my area, all the electric range circuits were already being wired for 50A. Check what your area requires.

(This may be particularly important for CA residents, if they are switching from "no electric ranges/dryers" to "no gas appliances" as it has been reported on the other thread.)