Doube wall oven power needs

[dalangdon]

I think we talked about this a few weeks back, but it seems to have dropped off the board.

Does anyone know what kind of power draw my vintage Frigidaire double wall ovens would use? The Fabulous 400's oven is giving out, and I don't want to chance it for Thanksgiving, so I'm thinking of speeding up the conversion. If I were to put a range outlet on the pigtail, and plug it into the range outlet, would the house and/or oven explode? The Flair worked fine on a standard range outlet, but it was designed to do so. I don't know how it would work with these ovens.

 

[bajaespuma]

They use 220V just like any standard electric range.

 

[selectomatic]

Is there a tag somewhere on it that tells you its power cons

I'd guess that it doesn't draw more than 30A, so a standard range circuit should be able to handle it. Of course, if you're sharing the circuit with something else you might end up overloading things if you don't plan your load carefully.

As long as your wiring is in good shape, the theory is that you'll trip the circuit breaker before you do any actual damage. At least that's how it SHOULD work.

-kevin

 

[sudsmaster]

I thought a standard range outlet was 50 amps 220 volts.

A standard dryer outlet is 30 amps 220 volts.

For what it's worth, my GE P-7 oven uses a 220 volt circuit with breakers rated at 40 amps. But I'm not convinced that is proper, the thing probably uses less than that. You might poke around the double ovens and see if there is an electrical rating placard on it. It should give the maximum amp rating. Add 20% to that and you should be fine.

 

[frontaloadotmy]

Dan

It should be fine if you put a regular range pig tail on it.
It draws no more than any freestanding range. I've seen built
ins , surface units and ovens, slpiced together and powered by the same circuit.

 

[luxflairguy]

Double wall oven

I don't post often, but I can answer this easily. Your Imperial oven can easily use your old 50 amp range fuse. Remember, that's the MAXIMUM for that circuit! These ovens only take 25/30 amps Max. Go ahead and put a range cord on it and fire it up. No problem. You could even add a Frigidaire cooktop to and it will be 50 amp.
I grew up with those ovens, have owned several Flair ranges...hence the name and to this day still wish I had them!
Good luck!

Greg Bushman, Seattle--aka LuxFlairguy

 

[panthera]

beautiful

That is a pretty double. Post more pictures, please? Thanks.

As for the current draw, the oven doesn't really draw anywhere near as much as the stove top heating elements. The biggest element in my ceramic cooktop alone draws more (2.4kw) than my oven does (2.2kw).

Just do be careful that the wiring is done properly. Just recently I saw a double oven in the 'States which had been spliced in using bandaids (HUD house, remember ModernHygiene?).

Of course, you wouldn't...but you don't know who might have before you.

 

[mattl]

New to this topic, is that a '59 double? I've got a '59 Custom Imperial range that has controls and a design that look just like it. Very nice oven set. Does it have a rotisserie and the Meat Tender? I still have the probe in it's original vinyl bag though it's a bit discolored. How about the variable broiler settings?

A 40 or 50 amp circuit will be fine for this unit, when I put my self cleaning built in oven in a decade or so ago it spec'd a 50 amp circuit and it's only a single oven unit, but with both elements on continuously it does draw.

Funny, I'm doing a remodel and I'm putting in a gas cooktop and electric wall oven. I need to run a #8 wire for the oven, but when I opened up the junction box on the unit all the internal wiring is at most a #14.

Hope you enjoy your great find over the holidays. ( It's scary to be saying that already when it's still 80 degrees in MI...)

 

[bethann]

I just went though this

Greg helped me out on this. ( BTW, Thanks Greg )

Since it's a double oven you really need to make sure it's draw.

If it's 30 amps or under I would use a 30 amp breaker with 30 amp wire. As Greg said, " If it only draws 30 amps or under and you use 50 amp wiring and a 50 amp breaker if something would happen to the unit itself it would have to get all the way up to 50 to trip the breaker.

I'm sure there are several ways of doing it but, I'd rather be safe than sorry. ( Ya, I'm a chicken! )

 

[dalangdon]

Thanks for the buzzkill, Bethann! ;-)

The wire is in conduit, running behind a finished ceiling in the basement, which I'm not emotionally prepared to deal with. But it had a Frigidaire double oven plugged into it when we bought the house. Shouldn't that count for something?

 

[toggleswitch]

Go forth my child, fearlessly!

You could always downsize the breaker to a 30a if the wire can carry 50a, but not the other way around!

 

[bethann]

If that was what was used before I'm sure you'd be fine, unless there is a big burnt place on the wall! LOL!

Sorry Dan! My smartass side just popped out!LOL!

 

[tomturbomatic]

The ovens will need a 40 amp circuit so you are fine. Congratulations on a beautiful set of ovens with the rare window door. While many Frigidaire 30" inch ranges were sold with the window in the oven door, the narrow ovens, both builtin and on the 40" ranges almost never had the window. The stainless looks almost flawless. You are going to love these huge ovens; both are very deep. The oven cavities are the same as in the 40" ranges and each very sturdy rack will easily hold two 12 cup Bundt pans.

My 1961 Custom Imperial would trip a 30 amp breaker when both ovens happened to cycle on at once. Two bake elements at 3000 watts and two broiler elements at about 800 watts each were pulling just about 1600 watts more than the breaker could handle. My 1954 Frigidaire double oven range works fine on a 30 amp breaker with both ovens in operation because the bake elements were a lower total wattage, 2200 watts, IIRC. The large oven is very fast to preheat because when the Wilcolator thermostat is turned all the way to BROIL and then back to the selected temperature, both the bake elements (2, one on each side with baffle over each) and the open coil broil elements come on full blast. Shortly before the desired temp is reached, the larger broil element cycles off, leaving the perimeter coil (which does not glow red at 750 watts during baking) to cycle with the bake elements to provide top heat for beautiful browning. The smaller oven does not do a special preheat, but uses the same wattage as the large oven for baking.

 

[sudsmaster]

Well OK

I took my own advice and checked the electrical label inside the GE P-7 door.

It says it draws 4.6 Kilowatts. That's about 20 amps at 220 volts.

So 30 amp breaker would probably work for this oven, but for a double oven, a 40 amp breaker sounds about right.

 

[dalangdon]

So I dug the ovens out

They are Frigidaire model RBGB 99-ch. It has three wires, Red, Black and White, and the draw is 7.8kw according to the serial plate. The circuit panel has a 50 amp double breaker, which is larger than the actual amperage, which would be around 32.5 amps (if I am doing my math right).

By comparison, the Flair draws 13.8 amps, which was well over what the breaker was rated for. But the big thermostatic element didn't work.

 

[dalangdon]

Progress is being made....

Got the ovens in and wired up. Nothing has blown up or burned down yet, so that's good. As promised here's some pics.

It's roughed in right now. We'll have a carpenter friend come in and enclose it, probably after the holidays.

 

[dalangdon]

obligatory control panel shot 1

I haven't tried the "meat tender" yet, but I've never run into one that still worked.

 

[dalangdon]

obligatory control panel shot 2

The clock's second hand runs right on time, but the hour and minute hand lag quite a bit. The timer is fine.

 

[dalangdon]

Upper Oven interior shot

That looks an awful lot like a rotisserie input to me. Anybody have any experience with those?

 

[dalangdon]

lower oven shot

It's kind of hard to tell in this shot, but there is a little lever in the center of the top part of the front of the oven (does that even make sense?) I'm not sure what it does. Any thoughts?