Using 60A Circuit

[H_X]

Folks,

I have a stove that uses a 60A circuit. I am going to be replacing it with two devices: One a 240V 40A device, the other a 240V 20 A device.

Question: Can I use the 60A wire as a source for both the 40A and 20A circuits, by putting in a small 60 or 70A breaker box behind the new oven, and add 20A and 40A breakers to get the configuration I need? Or do I just have to abandon the current wire, and run two new ones from the main box?

Thanks.

H

[clare]

Perfectly acceptable to install a "sub panel" and you can use more than a 40 and a 20 on it, as long as you will never use more than 60 at a time (which will just blow the 60 breaker)

[Mike]

Just be sure that the existing wire has 4 conductors (2 hot, 1 neutral, 1 ground). You'll need all 4 to wire up the new sub-panel. I just tried to do the same thing with a 50 amp circuit that was powering a dryer. Once I started looking into things, I discovered that the dryer had a 3 prong plug. I ended up running new 6/3 wire from the main box to the new sub, and using the old wire to go from the sub to the dryer.

[gfretwell]

50 or 60? Range circuits are usually 50. If both of these are listed to be on a 50a circuit you can just connect them directly. The pigtails are considered "taps" and specifically allowed in the NEC 210.19 (A)(3) ex1

Exception No. 1: Tap conductors supplying electric ranges, wall-mounted electric ovens, and counter-mounted electric cooking units from a 50-ampere branch circuit shall have an ampacity of not less than 20 and shall be sufficient for the load to be served. These tap conductors include any conductors that are a part of the leads supplied with the appliance that are smaller than the branch circuit conductors. The taps shall not be longer than necessary for servicing the appliance."

[Don Young]

Any breaker box you install has to be easily accessible. It can't be "behind the new oven". You also must have separate neutral and ground conductors in the feeder cable and keep them separate in the new breaker box if either of your new loads requires a neutral for 120 volts.

Don Young