Westinghouse Wall Oven - Wires

victorheaven on 31/01/2022 - 22:33

We bought a new Westinghouse wall oven (Model number WVE615SC) and I found 4 wires at the back of the socket for hard wiring.

The colours of the wires are green, brown and 2 blacks, see photo below:

https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/67354/93890/20220131_2…

There is also labels to the right shown in the photo below, which contains Earth, N (Neutral), A1 (Active 1) and A2 (Active 2).

https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/67354/93891/20220131_2…

Green is earth, which is universal. Because there are two black wires, I am assuming the two black ones are active ones and the brown one has to be the Neutral wire. But this is contrary to the current Australian wire colouring system with the brown being the active one.

Anyone could shed some light on this?

Home & Garden Westinghouse WVE615SC

Comments

  • MS Paint on 31/01/2022 - 22:52

    Are you hard wiring this in yourself? Why the concern if you know what you are doing?

    • victorheaven on 31/01/2022 - 22:58
      -3

      DIYing this is what I'm contemplating at the moment as the ozbargainer in me is refusing to pay $250 to an electrician for a 20 mins job.

      • MS Paint on 31/01/2022 - 23:02
        +13

        That 20 minutes includes a certificate of compliance. If you hard wire it in and your house subsequently burns to the ground because of your workmanship it will cost you hundreds of thousands when insurance refuse to pay up.

        Do you have a photo of the existing cable from the wall?

        • victorheaven on 31/01/2022 - 23:11

          Appreciate your advice on certificate of compliance.

          The existing cable looks like this, which is quite outdated. With green being earth, black being Neutral and red being the live wire.

          https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/67354/93894/20220131_2…

          • RooAvery on 31/01/2022 - 23:17
            +2

            @victorheaven: what used to be connected to that wire? It does not look like 2.5mm², which you will need at a minimum, and a 16A fuse/circuit breaker.

            • victorheaven on 31/01/2022 - 23:22

              @RooAvery: There was a cooktop and old wall oven (to be replaced with the new oven) connected to that wire at the moment.

              This is probably more complex than what I thought it was.

            • SBOB on 01/02/2022 - 07:00

              @RooAvery:

              It does not look like 2.5mm²

              Looks awefully inadequate to operate 3kw 12.7A oven

          • MS Paint on 31/01/2022 - 23:19
            +5

            @victorheaven: Hint 1 : You are single phase
            Hint 2: get a sparky for the love of god

            • victorheaven on 31/01/2022 - 23:27

              @MS Paint: Thanks for the hints mate.

              Appreciate that it's single phase outlet and it's best done by an electrician, I was hoping to know if my understanding of the 4 wires at the back of the oven is correct.

              • MS Paint on 31/01/2022 - 23:31
                +5

                @victorheaven: No respectable sparky will answer your question on the off chance you will perform the work yourself and putting your life in danger.

                If you do decide to proceed with DIY, before you start please change your username to Victor In Heaven. Cheers

      • jv on 31/01/2022 - 23:26
        +2

        DIYing this is what I'm contemplating

        and voiding and home & contents insurance you may have…

      • jv on 31/01/2022 - 23:29
        +4

        $250 to an electrician for a 20 mins job.

        Colonoscopies cost twice as much and also take 20 minutes.

        Do you do your own for those too?

      • SBOB on 01/02/2022 - 06:57

        DIYing this is what I'm contemplating at the moment

        If you have to ask the questions you've asked, you aren't suitably knowledgeable to attempt to diy it (let alone any legalities)

  • RooAvery on 31/01/2022 - 23:11
    +4

    pages 5 and 6 of the user manual give some insight, stating "Second active wire only required (optional) for multi-phase products" but it also very clearly states "This appliance must be installed by an authorised person according to all codes and regulations as stated in the local municipal building code and other relevant statutory regulations"

    with this being ~3kW and on or around 13A, I would not DIY this.

    • hoey888 on 01/02/2022 - 09:37

      Agreed on this on.

      Regards to ovens, only DIY devices suitable to circuit. This is a 12.7A oven, which would be unsuitable for standard 10A powerpoint.

      Would be worthwhile upgrading the wire and circuit breaker to give you the piece of mind. If not, when using the oven at full power you'll trip the circuit/fuse. Bye bye power.

      *Generally the more basic and cheap ovens offer the ability to plug into standard 10A circuits. Perfect for investment properties.

  • AndyC1 on 31/01/2022 - 23:31
    +3

    No worries connect the green to the brown and the red to the green and watch the fireworks and the house burn down.

    Call an electrician as you have no idea and if you DIY you are asking to get electrocuted now or in the future due to your dodgy wiring.

    • lgacb08 on 01/02/2022 - 17:25

      No it doesn't, the cb in the meter box will trip before you know it. If it doesn't the service fuse will blow and you will have fun getting the house light up again.

  • [Deactivated] on 31/01/2022 - 23:32
    +2

    i hope you dont burn your house down

  • websterp on 31/01/2022 - 23:35
    +4

    …and the brown one has to be the Neutral wire…..

    Sure!
    Brown is Live and since you can't even get this most basic colour code right just do yourself and your family a favour and pay a licensed electrician for an hours work to hook it up for you.

    I guess no amount of good advice would change your mind so I'll give you a hint about A1 and A2. These are usually for connecting separate phases but since you are having a single phase (1xN,1xL,1xE) cable usually the manufacturer would give you a metal link or cable link to connect these two to a single Live. Check the accessories bag that came with it.

    As someone else pointed out I would be more concerned about the existing wiring as it doesn't look like something rated for your oven. Drawing high amperes through a thinner diameter cable is one guaranteed way of setting your house on fire if the breaker didn't activate in time.

    • victorheaven on 01/02/2022 - 00:15

      Thanks for the warning on the cable thickness, will bring it up with the electrician if he doesn't spot it.

      How thick do you recon the existing one is, 1.5mm2? Was doing some calculation on this page (not sure how reliable it is though), inputting rating 16A, and distance of 10m, the 1.5mm2 cable seems to be okay.

      • MS Paint on 01/02/2022 - 00:31
        +2

        If you need to bring it to the attention of the sparky you are hiring the wrong sparky. If the gauge of the existing wire is not suitable prepare to pay more than $250.

  • victorheaven on 31/01/2022 - 23:48
    +3

    Thanks guys for your comments and advices.

    It looks like I don't know what I am planning to be doing and will be calling an electrician tomorrow.

    Don't want to start a thread that starts with "My house is burned down" or "Someone is electrocuted".

    Have a good night all.

    • MS Paint on 31/01/2022 - 23:55
      +1

      Awesome decision. Sweet dreams and don't let the bed bugs bite.

    • antmcbane on 01/02/2022 - 01:34
      +1

      This is good to hear.

      Even if you were able to get this wired in without a hitch, it's quite possible that the installation will require modification to comply with current versions of the wiring rules (your cables look thin, what manual isolation scheme (if any) is in place at the oven and RCD/MCB protection of the circuit at your board).

      This would make it obvious that modifications had been performed by someone unlicensed and you'd be back to square one.

  • bloom on 01/02/2022 - 07:39

    Lots of people replace their standard oven with a self cleaning pyro type then find out the RCD and cable need to be changed
    Not as straight forward unfortunately

    • knasty on 01/02/2022 - 09:59

      Yeah we got 2 self cleaning (not Pyro) ovens but the quick start feature puts all elements on so it heats up in about 8 mins. I forget how many amps the sparky said the cable would need to handle but I know it is red and very thick, and required a new RCD/breaker. In the old days a lot of ovens just plugged in to a 240V plug?

  • Marty-69 on 01/02/2022 - 08:41

    I installed and hard-wired my (pyrolytic) oven myself. NOT because I didn't want to pay my sparky, but my sparky was busy and I wanted to use the oven. It's simple, 4 wires and Google did the job…..

    After I almost killed myself when I activated the fuse and blew out the main fuse (like the one on the street side of the supply cable) the electricity distributor had to come over to fix that. My sparky connected the oven a few days later, showed me what I did wrong, explained the new regulations about isolation switches and wrote a certificate.

    • MS Paint on 01/02/2022 - 09:31

      Glad you're still with us to tell your story.

    • victorheaven on 01/02/2022 - 10:55

      Thanks for sharing your story.

      I would most likely do something silly as well and therefore will engage an electrician for the job.

  • timthetoolman on 01/02/2022 - 09:32

    Wondering where all the 'it's 3 wires, it's not hard, do it yourself' people are now?

    • MS Paint on 01/02/2022 - 09:47

      6' under

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