# Cooktop on 30 Amp/Calls for 40 Amp



## Dock Sitter (Mar 12, 2012)

I've wired my Ikea cooktop into a 30 amp breaker and the specs call for a 40 amp breaker. It turns on and heats up but not to full temp. Is that because of the 30 amp breaker.


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## jschaben (Mar 31, 2010)

Dock Sitter said:


> I've wired my Ikea cooktop into a 30 amp breaker and the specs call for a 40 amp breaker. It turns on and heats up but not to full temp. Is that because of the 30 amp breaker.


Odds are pretty good that your wiring is heating up as well, 30 amp circuit likely has 10 gauge wire, 40 requires 8 gauge (larger if a long ways, as the wire runs, from the panel). Changing the breaker won't buy you anything, the resistance of the breaker will be 0 whether 30 or 40 amp and I believe you are encountering excessive voltage drop.
I think you are in the market for an electrician. :yes:


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

Better put 911 on speed dial.


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## PaulBob (Dec 5, 2008)

Dock Sitter said:


> I've wired my Ikea cooktop into a 30 amp breaker and the specs call for a 40 amp breaker. It turns on and heats up but not to full temp. Is that because of the 30 amp breaker.


Depends on what you mean by "turns on and heats up"..

Is this a 4 burner model? You turning on all 4 burners? Or just one?

If its a 4 burner model and you're using just one burner, its probably not the breaker or the wire.

If its rated 40 amps on a single burner, do what the other guy said and put 911 on speed dial...


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## Bob Sanders (Nov 10, 2013)

Dock Sitter said:


> Is that because of the 30 amp breaker.


No.

A breaker is not a regulator and will simply pop when it hits its limit. A heating element is also not a regulator. 30 amps should be sufficient to run at least 3 burners at full load. Now you may run into trouble when you put the forth one on.

Underamping an appliance is not necessarily dangerous (provided you have installed the proper gauge wiring to support the given breaker.) The cook top will simply pull amps until it hits the breaker's limit at which point it will pop. In other words it will do exactly what it is designed to do... protect the wiring from excessive amperage.

That breaker however and its associated wiring will be pushed to its extremes and that is not what you want to do in the electrical business on a regular basis, so if the device calls for a 40 amp breaker then you really need to put one in. If you change the breaker however you MUST change the wiring to match the breaker you upgrade to. It DOES get dangerous when people change the breaker without increasing the wire gauge to match that new breaker.


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## Daniel Holzman (Mar 10, 2009)

OPS, how do you know the burner does not get up to full temperature? That would seem to be pretty hard to know, unless you had long term experience with that particular cooktop.

As to the breaker, previous posts have pointed out that the breaker itself is only there to protect the wiring leading to your cooktop. So as long as you have 30A or higher rated wire, there is no problem using a 30A breaker, so long as you can live with the occasional trip of the breaker if you put all four burners on at once (probably a very rare occasion). You can also use a 30A breaker on 40A rated wire, as was pointed out by a previous post.

So maybe you can review the bidding, and tell us what size and type of wire you have.


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## gmaint (Feb 21, 2014)

_I would upgrade the breaker and wire gauge. Why? Because I usually use 2 burners and the oven when I cook on the weekend. Rather have a kitchen I can cook in, rather than ashes where I used to live.
Wire fires are deadly.
_


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## sublime2 (Mar 21, 2012)

Daniel Holzman said:


> OPS, how do you know the burner does not get up to full temperature? That would seem to be pretty hard to know, unless you had long term experience with that particular cooktop.
> 
> As to the breaker, previous posts have pointed out that the breaker itself is only there to protect the wiring leading to your cooktop. So as long as you have 30A or higher rated wire, there is no problem using a 30A breaker, so long as you can live with the occasional trip of the breaker if you put all four burners on at once (probably a very rare occasion). You can also use a 30A breaker on 40A rated wire, as was pointed out by a previous post.
> 
> So maybe you can review the bidding, and tell us what size and type of wire you have.


^^^^^^^
Ignore the fear mongers and list to this guy!


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## beenthere (Oct 11, 2008)

gmaint said:


> _I would upgrade the breaker and wire gauge. Why? Because I usually use 2 burners and the oven when I cook on the weekend. Rather have a kitchen I can cook in, rather than ashes where I used to live.
> Wire fires are deadly.
> _


Since its a 30 amp breaker on a 10 gauge wire instead of a 40 amp on a 8 gauge. Worse thing that happens is the OP has nuisance breaker trips. No fire hazard.


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## gmaint (Feb 21, 2014)

beenthere said:


> Since its a 30 amp breaker on a 10 gauge wire instead of a 40 amp on a 8 gauge. Worse thing that happens is the OP has nuisance breaker trips. No fire hazard.


_No, the worst thing that happens is that the breaker is old and 'frozen', that means it doesn't work.
What will really suck is when you tell the insurance adjuster that you were aware of the requirements.
Play by the rules, it is safer.
_


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## cj133 (May 16, 2011)

gmaint said:


> _No, the worst thing that happens is that the breaker is old and 'frozen', that means it doesn't work.
> What will really suck is when you tell the insurance adjuster that you were aware of the requirements.
> Play by the rules, it is safer.
> _


This is the reason I like cartridge fuses. Fuses never stick.


That said, I feel the stove is safe as long as the wire is connected to the proper breaker as others have said. We have to assume the breaker works, otherwise why have them at all? 

However the proper thing to do is run a new correct size line as per the stove's instructions and this is what I would do if I were you. The stove should be safe to use for now, but get things made right.


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## beenthere (Oct 11, 2008)

gmaint said:


> _No, the worst thing that happens is that the breaker is old and 'frozen', that means it doesn't work.
> What will really suck is when you tell the insurance adjuster that you were aware of the requirements.
> Play by the rules, it is safer.
> _


No different then if it as an old 40 amp breaker on a 8 gauge wire. And the breaker froze.


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## jagans (Oct 21, 2012)

You are quite literally playing with fire. Listen to No. 2


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## gmaint (Feb 21, 2014)

_Just another question about this.
What type of breaker box is this?

It does matter because some breaker boxes are prone to fire hazards.
Also known as defective.
_


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## Bob Sanders (Nov 10, 2013)

gmaint said:


> _No, the worst thing that happens is that the breaker is old and 'frozen', that means it doesn't work.
> What will really suck is when you tell the insurance adjuster that you were aware of the requirements.
> Play by the rules, it is safer.
> _


This makes no sense. A 30 amp breaker might stick, but a 40 would never do that so it's better to play by the rules?


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## gmaint (Feb 21, 2014)

Bob Sanders said:


> This makes no sense. A 30 amp breaker might stick, but a 40 would never do that so it's better to play by the rules?


_Can you guarantee that a breaker never doesn't work?
Can you say Zinser/Zinsco? Fire trap waiting to happen. Look it up.
There are a few other brands out there as well.
_


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

Bob Sanders said:


> This makes no sense. A 30 amp breaker might stick, but a 40 would never do that so it's better to play by the rules?


Well Bob..... it might...

Not from an electrical perspective.... but from a legal perspective, you do have a UL listed and plated appliance on an undersize circuit.....????

Best


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## Bob Sanders (Nov 10, 2013)

MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> Well Bob..... it might...
> 
> Not from an electrical perspective.... but from a legal perspective, you do have a UL listed and plated appliance on an undersize circuit.....????
> 
> Best


As far as I know, there is no legal perspective. If the appliance calls for a 40 amp breaker, one SHOULD have one in there, but there is no law stating it has to happen. Particularly with something like a stove top where amperage draw is completely dependent on the operator in the number of burners they choose to use. But that's not really the point.

If you're going on the premiss that a 30 amp breaker should be replaced by a 40 because the 30 might stick, then you also have to work in the fact that a 40 might stick too. So "playing by the rules" does not make things safer.


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## Bob Sanders (Nov 10, 2013)

gmaint said:


> _Can you guarantee that a breaker never doesn't work?
> Can you say Zinser/Zinsco? Fire trap waiting to happen. Look it up.
> There are a few other brands out there as well.
> _


My point is that you can not guaranty that a 40 amp breaker won't ever fail either.. or a 50... or a 60....

There's only so far you can go with the scare mongering.


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## beenthere (Oct 11, 2008)

gmaint said:


> _Can you guarantee that a breaker never doesn't work?
> Can you say Zinser/Zinsco? Fire trap waiting to happen. Look it up.
> There are a few other brands out there as well.
> _


Which means if it was a 40 amp Zinsco breaker, it might not trip either. And Zisco breakers are also known for tripping when there is no ovr load either.



MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> Well Bob..... it might...
> 
> Not from an electrical perspective.... but from a legal perspective, you do have a UL listed and plated appliance on an undersize circuit.....????
> 
> Best


And a lower rated amperage breaker that will trip quicker then the larger breaker it is listed as be acceptable to use. So the breaker will trip quicker.


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## cj133 (May 16, 2011)

Using the same logic that the appliance should be connected to a 40A circuit because the 30A breaker could stick,

We should also assume we can never install more breakers then add up to more than what the main breaker is because the main could stick. Right now, all of my breakers add up to something like 360A but I only have a 100A main.

Of course, my panel doesn't say Federal Pacific, it says Square D QO so I probably have little to worry about. But as far as I'm concerned this is no different, if not worse than plugging a stove that calls for 40A into a 30A circuit.

If he has a FPE panel, then the panel is the problem not the stove and the panel should be replaced immediately.

That's my non-professional opinion anyway.


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

gmaint said:


> _No, the worst thing that happens is that the breaker is old and 'frozen', that means it doesn't work._
> _*What will really suck is when you tell the insurance adjuster that you were aware of the requirements*._
> _Play by the rules, it is safer._





Bob Sanders said:


> *This makes no sense*. A 30 amp breaker might stick, but a 40 would never do that so it's better to play by the rules?





MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> Well Bob..... it might...
> 
> *Not from an electrical perspective*.... *but from a legal perspective*, you do have a UL listed and plated appliance on an undersize circuit.....????
> 
> Best


Just for clarrity as I forgot to quote the posts I was referencing previously, G-maint advised that it was probably preferable to wire up to a 40A/8guage/40breaker for reasons apart/beyond from electrical safety.

Bob mentioned it was superfluous as a 40 breaker could fail as likely as a 30A. (Agreed no debate)

*My only point was G-maints point*, .... that it might matter *from a legal perspective* (if there ever was a failure), as installing a listed appliance on an undersized circuit, could certainly be legally argued as contributory negligence, in any resulting liability case/claims.

Best


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## gmaint (Feb 21, 2014)

_This is getting a bit out of hand.
I have to play by the rules, 26 years apartment maintenance and I am liable for undersize circuits.
_


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## cj133 (May 16, 2011)

gmaint said:


> _This is getting a bit out of hand.
> I have to play by the rules, 26 years apartment maintenance and I am liable for undersize circuits.
> _



I lived in a fairly pricey apartment complex for 7 years and every apartment had an FPE panel. Maintenance guy didn't care neither did management even after 2 fires a week apart.

Wish there were more guys out there like you.


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## beenthere (Oct 11, 2008)

gmaint said:


> _This is getting a bit out of hand.
> I have to play by the rules, 26 years apartment maintenance and I am liable for undersize circuits.
> _



Yes, if the circuit doesn't provide the power to use the appliance as intended, you would have to correct it.


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