Last updated on August 14th, 2022 at 01:28 pm
Using the recommended circuit breaker sizes for kitchen appliances is a critical decision every homeowner must make. It plays a significant role in ensuring you have the best experience with your appliances.
As a result, if you have a stove, you need to know the best size breaker for it?
For a kitchen stove, the industry-standard circuit breaker size to use is 50 amps, 220 volts. This size breaker is also known as a double breaker (single breakers, which can also be used, carry about 110 volts). Also, you should use the circuit breaker only for the stove if you want a quality amount of power in the stove.
Can I Use A 40 Amp Breaker For A Stove?
You can use a 40 amp breaker for your Electric stove. However, you should note that the standard breaker size for an electric kitchen stove is 50 amps. If you must stick to 40 amps, ensure that your kitchen stove corresponds (12 kilowatts or less).
Deciding what breaker size to use for an electric cooking appliance depends on how many kilowatts the appliance is rated. For any cooking appliance rated less than 12 kilowatts, you can use a 40 amp breaker size or less.
If you are going for a 50 amp circuit breaker, it should be because your cooking appliance is rated higher than 12 kilowatts.
Can I Use A 60 Amp Breaker For A Stove?
You can use a 60 amp breaker for a kitchen stove. However, make sure you find out the number of kilowatts on your stove to avoid oversizing.
While you don’t want to undersize the circuit breaker for the stove, you also shouldn’t oversize it. When the circuit breaker is not enough for the stove, you notice that the electric stove trips off whenever you turn it on.
Also, when the circuit breaker is too high for the stove, it could overheat and start a fire. But because the breaker is too high, it may not turn off on its own to prevent the incident.
Larger kitchen stoves with commercial units or features such as quick-heat burners or convection ovens use much power. They can draw up to 50 or 60 amps. This is because the stove consumes about 10 to 14 kilowatts at its maximum capacity.
How Many Amps Does a Kitchen Stove Need?
Generally, an electric stove can use a circuit breaker with the following amps; 30 amps, 40 amps, 50 amps, and 60 amps. These are the standard circuit breaker sizes for an electric kitchen stove.
Using electric kitchen stoves is the most efficient and fastest way to get your cooking done. For your kitchen stove to work at its maximum capacity, it needs the right amount of amps.
A circuit breaker provides the amps for an electric kitchen stove. Different stoves require different amps to operate fully. However, there is a specific range of amps for a kitchen stove.
There is a standard size for circuit breakers for electric kitchen stoves. It is a 50 amp circuit breaker. You can use it for small, medium, and large stoves. However, the amps to use for a kitchen stove completely depend on the type of kitchen stove involved.
When using a circuit breaker for a stove, do not share this circuit breaker with any other appliance. If you want your stove to work at its best and highest capacity, you have to use the circuit breaker only for the stove. It doesn’t matter whether the circuit capacity is as low as 30 amps or as high as 60 amps.
What Kind of Plug Does a Stove Use?
An electric stove requires a 240-volt plug and outlet. It can also work with 220 volts. Those are the two common volt plugs and outlets for an electric stove.
Also, there are two ways a stove plug can come in full stop with three prongs or with four prongs.
An electric stove, just like many other home appliances, demands a lot of electrical power. Generally, most home appliances operate at 120 volts. However, this is different for the electric kitchen stove.
The electric stove operates at 240 volts. Often, the voltage rating is listed on the stove labels, which you might have observed at some point. On those labels, you often see 220 volts, 230 volts, or 250 volts.
Nevertheless, all those volts listed mean the same thing. The electric stove uses the complete voltage supplied by the electrical panel, which is 240 volts.
The panel separates a cable known as the input cable into two 120 volt legs. There is a wire between them which is often either a return wire or a neutral wire.
Normally, most home appliances and lights are connected to one of these volt legs. Contrastingly, an electric kitchen stove is connected to both of the volt legs. In essence, the stove will need a 240-volt outlet.
Four prong cords for home appliances, especially the electric stove, have been the official standard code announced by NEC (National Electrical Code).
This announcement was made in 1996 when the NEC changed its rules about the range and dryer cords and their corresponding outlets.
If you have a three-prong stove cord, you can easily change it for a four-prong stove cord.
Here is a further explanation of the three and four-prong plugs.
1. Three prong plug:
The three-prong plug, otherwise known as the 3-wire cord, has its neutral wire doing two major functions.
It serves as the return path for the 120-volt loads, which take care of the timer, the clock, the lighting, etc. Also, it returns the current to the 240-volt source. It’s perhaps completely obsolete now, though.
Secondly, it was connected to the metal frame and housing of the range. This enabled it to trip the circuit breaker if eventually there would be a short to the ground.
2. Four prong plug
The four-prong plug is currently the most used drug for home appliances, including electrical stoves.
The fourth wire, the equipment grounding conductor, serves as the conductor connected to the metal frame. Also, it serves as the housing of the range.
The same fourth wire returns current on the metal when there is a short to the ground.
In the four-prong plug, the neutral wire is not connected to the metal frame.
Can I Use an Extension Cord for my Electric Stove?
You can use an extension cord for an electric kitchen stove only if the stove is the only thing being plugged into the extension cord. In this scenario, the extension cord is only used to stretch the distance the stove cord could not cover.
It is best to plug cooking appliances straight into the wall outlet. It’s not advisable to use an extension cord for cooking appliances.
Plugging high power capacity appliances such as an electric kitchen stove, microwaves, and refrigerators into extension cords can be very dangerous.
These household appliances have high power capacity and should not be shared on the same extensions. Plug home appliances directly into a wall outlet.
Also, when using extension cords for ordinary or lower capacity home appliances, avoid overloading the power strips or extensions. Always check the extension code for extreme temperatures. If it feels too hot, it is overloaded and may blow up, causing a fire to start.
However, all these effects don’t mean you can’t use an extension cord for a kitchen stove. You can, but you shouldn’t.
In detail, by using an extension cord, you can stretch out and cover a distance of 10 inches more than what the stove cord would have covered. If you want your stove to be at a particular spot, but the cord can’t reach the wall outlet, you can use an extension cord.
Just make sure that nothing else is plugged into the extension cord, not even for a second, even if it is a low-capacity appliance.
Conclusion
It is very important to use the right breaker size for your electric kitchen stove. Always make sure it corresponds with the number of kilowatts your stove uses.
For maximum use of your electric stove, avoid using a circuit breaker size less than 30 amps and higher than 60 amps. Remember, 50 amps is the average standard circuit breaker size for an electric kitchen stove.