Wiring stove outlet in old house

mrjoeygee1

So, if I set it up with a 3 pole, the center post and cable is the bare copper, green or ground wire and, in the 3 pole, this wire acts as the neutral. Does it matter, then, if the white or black is reversed? Is there any weird polarity issues? It's working fine, by the way.

Speedy Petey

NO, you have it backwards.
The bare wire CANNOT act as both ground and neutral. The ONLY exception to this is if the bare is part of a Type SE cable.
The bare of an NM cable can never ever ever act as a neutral.

If you had an old existing NM cable with just black, red and white (and no ground), the white would act as both neutral and ground.

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mrjoeygee1

I think I'm getting even more confused. The three-wire cord I bought has three copper "loop connectors" on one end, but these are not labeled. I am assuming that the center wire is used as the neutral and ground. The other wires are set up as "powered" and one goes to the black components and one goes to the red components in the back of the stove. The center wire is screwed to the center pole, which is wired to the white components inside the stove. Both far left and far right nuts are for the powered wires, "black and white, coming from the box. Again, I'm using the bare copper wire in the center as the neutral, since I have NO RED wire coming from the wall to the plug.

The bare wire is screwed to the center post and the "other" wires on the cord are split left and right. Again, I am assuming the there is NO ground with this kind of set up.

Please let me know if I'm already in trouble.

When

Speedy Petey

I am not talking about the cord. I am talking about the branch circuit.

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Sometimes I feel like if I answer any more questions it is like someone trying to climb over a fence to jump off a bridge and me giving them a boost.

mrjoeygee1

Right. The branch circuit that originates at the box is ONLY black, white and a bare copper ground. I put a three prong plug on it. Middle slot is bare copper/neutral. White and black are split left and right.

Speedy Petey

If by plug you mean receptacle, and this ground wire is a bare solid copper wire, you CANNOT use it. Well, you physically can, but it is not right, not to code and not safe. What you are describing sounds like NM cbale.

Whoever ran it either ran it for a straight 240v circuit where no neutral is required, or they had no clue what they were doing.

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Sometimes I feel like if I answer any more questions it is like someone trying to climb over a fence to jump off a bridge and me giving them a boost.

Stavop

Guys. Correct me if I'm wrong but the neutral and ground are essentially the same except for the fact that the bare ground is attached to the equipment and is an equipment grounding conductor.

Speedy Petey

You are VERY wrong about that.
The neutral is a current carrying conductor.
The ground only carries fault current.
BIG difference! The fact that they are connected to the same place in the main panel is irrelevant.

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Sometimes I feel like if I answer any more questions it is like someone trying to climb over a fence to jump off a bridge and me giving them a boost.

jimmy21

your right, sort of, for the most part. But to use your ground as a neutral is very very against code. If that ground went anywhere else before the panel you would have big problems. Like say you ran EMT pipe, and its grounded, and used the ground as a neutral, you would have the pipe also being the neutral, and it wouldn't be safe, and it would cause major electrolysis