What's It Doing There?

A long story, and complicated. I’ll try to simplify the Techy stuff.

We ordered a new electric (inductive) range back in November. It arrived today, with two guys to haul the old gas stove away, and install the replacement. The pre-delivery instructions said to make sure there was a suitable electric outlet at the location. I didn’t pull out the old range from the wall to check - I did it by logical analysis. There were circuit breakers labeled range in the main electrical supply box - ergo, there must be a corresponding outlet. 

I was partially right, the wiring was in place, but it terminated in the outlet box behind a blank cover - no plug sockets! I immediately assumed panic mode, trying to find an electrician at short notice (haha) to fix things. I had two listed in my contacts file. Let’s call them A and B. 

A didn’t respond immediately so I moved on to B, who did. He said he could probably come on Friday morning. He asked me if the circuit breakers were 40 or 50 w(atts). I told him they were 40, so he needed to know what the range requirement was. I said I would find out. The product specifications on the seller’s website (Costco) omitted this critical item. I had to go to the manufacturer’s site, which had a gazillion very similar models. Luckily, I did know the model number, and found that we needed 50 w.

Still in panic mode, I relayed the information to A, who was a little puzzled. Back to B, who said it would be easy to replace the breakers, but the next question is whether the wiring to the range has the capacity. If it isn’t the right gauge (thickness), the game’s over, and the range has to be returned. That’s something he’ll have to determine.

 The only bright spot is that B has decided to come tomorrow (Thursday).