Replacing Electric Stove with Gas

[Matt Meiser]

As of last week our house is all natural gas (shop is still in-process, but that's another story.) One thing we planned for is getting a gas stove eventually so we now have the gas hookup behind the stove. Since gas stoves still need power for the electronics, what's a good approach to switching? I haven't pulled it out to check, but I'm assuming that by 1991 when our house was built the range receptacle was 4-wire. Is it as simple as buying a plug-in adapter that just uses one leg? Or should I replace the breaker and receptacle with 20A 120V parts and just abandon the unused leg? If I do that, what's the proper method of marking the abandoned leg, or should I cut it off right where it enters the boxes?

[Tom Leftley]

My suggestion is to leave the 220 volt stove outlet there and install a new 110 volt supply for the gas electronics.

That way, you could switch back if necessary.

Why would you need a 20 amp outlet for a gas appliance rather than a normal 15 amp? Am I missing something?

[Joe Pelonio]

I agree, someone in the future may want electric. The gas stoves have the basic electronic controls and heating coils for the oven and broiler. In some cases like our new one both may go on at the same time, so 20 amps may be appropriate. One tip, go for one where the burner grates are all flat and go all the way across, so pots can't tip and you can put a giant pot across 2-3 burners.

[Matt Meiser]

If someone in the future wants electric then they can deal with it. Actually, that's why I thought maybe there's a plug in adapter since I'm not the first to switch I'm sure. If I put in a new breaker and receptacle, I figured on 20A just for the sake of getting a receptacle I could land 10ga wire on but I could use pig tails too if that's acceptable.

I would run a new circuit which would be an easy job through the basement but we have 0 open spaces in our panel. Most 220 circuits are eating up the equivalent of 4 120 spaces filling it fast and anything but the most basic Cutler Hammer breakers are next to impossible to find around here. If I switch this circuit to 110, I'll have room for 3 more future circuits.

[Ronald Blue]

Usually in name brand breakers you can get half width breakers so you can add more circuits to an existing box. Besides an a/c unit what else do you have that would need 220 now? I take it you used to have an electric dryer and or water heater. I would probably eliminate the water heater circuit if so. What wire gauge is the old wire? If it were a 40 amp service probably 8, if 30 then 10 gauge. Certainly adequate if you want to convert to a 20 amp service but a little stiff to work with. Good luck.

[Chris Kennedy]

We did exactly as you are describing a few years back. The outfit we had run the gas line installed a new 110V circuit and left the 220. They could have taken it off the 220 or taken it off the range hood. We opted for the range hood in case some future owner for some bizarre reason wanted an electric stove.

Cheers,

Chris

[Al Willits]

Many now are going with a electric oven, gas top burner set up, best of both worlds and chances are all you'll have to do is run gas to the stove.

Al

[Sam Layton]

Matt,

Al hit the nail on the head. Have you purchased your stove yet? Many new stoves are duel fuel, gas cook top, and electric oven. Our new stove is duel fuel. I have gas for the cook top, and electric for the oven.

When we purchased our new stove, most were that way. Everyone said electric is the best for ovens. It sounds as if you have not purchased your stove yet. I would suggest you find the stove you want before you modify your existing electric.

We went from all electric to gas and electric. We are very happy we went with the duel fuel.

Sam

[Tom Winship]

I agree with Al and Matt. When we lived in Houston, we had gas C/T and electric oven(s). Now we do not have gas, would have to be butane and no plumping exists. So we deal with "hangover heat".

[Matt Meiser]

The stove I'm looking at is all gas and requires 15A 120V according to the spec sheet.

It turns out someone does make an adapter, but its only sold in Canada.

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/s...k=P_PartNumber

[Charlie Reals]

Matt, I would hard wire it and gain circuits. Pigtail it off the #10 wire.

[Pat Germain]

We went from all electric to gas and electric. We are very happy we went with the duel fuel.

Sam

Excellent point. For serious, accurate cooking, dual-fuel is the way to go. But a dual fuel range is much more expensive than a gas-only range. There's no doubt it's worth the extra cost. It's simply a matter of deciding if the dual fuel is withing budget. Newer all-gas ranges have convection capability, which helps.

I think most ranges have been so low-quality for so long, most people now have no idea how lousy they truly are. I know the difference because my previous house had a massive Wedgewood gas range from the 1940s. When cranked up, the burners could almost melt cast iron. On low, they provided very good low heat. Since the oven had a lot of mass, it cooked very evenly.

The range I have now is some electric GE turd. Supposedly, it's a higher end model. Right. That just means it has a lot of fancy timers. Overall, it's just a giant, EZ-Bake Oven. I hope to soon upgrade to a dual-fuel convection model.

And anyone wanting to go from a gas range back to all electric deserves the headaches of changing the outlet.

[Matt Meiser]

The one we are looking at is a Maytag, which is the same basic stove as the Whirlpool my dad got for Christmas last year. He's been happy with it. The one we are looking at has a grate that spans between the burners to support larger pots which my dad really likes the idea of and the middle sized burners are larger than his.

I'd sworn off Whirlpool brands after their experiences with some 90's era Kenmore stuff and a Maytag dryer we had that was just post-merger but based on his experience I'm thinking of giving them another chance.

[Chris Padilla]

I've sworn off Maytag but I'm thinking I was a bit too hasty. We had a Maytag refrigerator that we bought at the same time as our Maytag Neptune washer and gas dryer. The fridge was a pain...the w/d have been flawless (to a certain extent). However, I still don't think I could put any Maytag in my kitchen.

It might be worth $6 to subscribe to Consumers Reports for a month and review their findings on stoves.

We just replaced our old Whirlpool that was about 3-4 years old when we bought the house 11 years ago. It worked great...had to replace the lower oven element a couple years ago but that was about it.

We bought a very high end GE Profile: all electric, dual ovens, no knobs...all fancy electronics. I'm worried about the electronics but so far, this stove is working great, had great reviews on CR, and we're using the small pizza oven a lot...in fact, we've only turned on the lower (larger) oven once just to see that it worked.

My house was built in the early 70s and has the 3-wire receptacle. The wiring to the stove is aluminum and was protected with a 50 A breaker but the manual for the stove said it needed a 40 A so I swapped it out.

[Art Mulder]

It turns out someone does make an adapter, but its only sold in Canada.

Hmm, I'd offer to pick it up and mail it to you, but I suspect you'd be violating some code if it isn't available there... Seems pricey also, for a bit of rubber and copper. Low demand item, I guess.