Need advice from a professional electrician.
I just had my counters replaced and I had to install the new downdraft cooktop myself.
Details:
House predates 4-wire code requirement for ranges/cooktops. So, my house wiring to the island consists of 1 solid black wire (hot 1), one black with red stripe wire (hot two) and one multi-strand bundle of bare wire (neutral/ground). All connections verified in panel.
Cooktop consists of one black wire (hot 1), one red wire (hot 2), one white wire (neutral), and one green wire (ground). Parenthesis based on installation manual.
Connection wire consist of 1 black wire, 1 red wire, 1 white wire, and 1 bare wire.
Manual states to connect the ground and neutral wires together in a 3-wire setup (like I have)
I installed a junction box in the island and ran the house wire and connection wire into the junction box. I connected the black wire of the connection wire to the black wire of the house wire, the red wire to the black w/ red stripe, and both the bare wire and the white wire to the mass of bare wires using large wirenuts and double wrapped them with electrical tape to be safe.
At the cooktop I connected black to black, red to red, white to wire, and green to bare. When I flipped on the breaker I heard a loud pop, saw a flash of light (breaker panel is within feet of the kitchen island) and it tripped the breaker - all immediately upon my flipping the breaker on. So, I disconnected the cooktop and double-checked the wires for the correct voltage - 243 between black and red, 121.5 between black to white and black to bare, 121.5 between red and white and red and bare. I also verified there was no continuity between the hot legs or between either hot leg to the neutral or ground. So there doesn't seem to be a short. Also, when turning on the breaker with the cooktop disconnected (and ensure none of the bare ends of the wires are touching anything of course) the breaker does not trip, and all the voltage readings are as above.
So, now I am at a loss as to what the heck happened. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I just had my counters replaced and I had to install the new downdraft cooktop myself.
Details:
House predates 4-wire code requirement for ranges/cooktops. So, my house wiring to the island consists of 1 solid black wire (hot 1), one black with red stripe wire (hot two) and one multi-strand bundle of bare wire (neutral/ground). All connections verified in panel.
Cooktop consists of one black wire (hot 1), one red wire (hot 2), one white wire (neutral), and one green wire (ground). Parenthesis based on installation manual.
Connection wire consist of 1 black wire, 1 red wire, 1 white wire, and 1 bare wire.
Manual states to connect the ground and neutral wires together in a 3-wire setup (like I have)
I installed a junction box in the island and ran the house wire and connection wire into the junction box. I connected the black wire of the connection wire to the black wire of the house wire, the red wire to the black w/ red stripe, and both the bare wire and the white wire to the mass of bare wires using large wirenuts and double wrapped them with electrical tape to be safe.
At the cooktop I connected black to black, red to red, white to wire, and green to bare. When I flipped on the breaker I heard a loud pop, saw a flash of light (breaker panel is within feet of the kitchen island) and it tripped the breaker - all immediately upon my flipping the breaker on. So, I disconnected the cooktop and double-checked the wires for the correct voltage - 243 between black and red, 121.5 between black to white and black to bare, 121.5 between red and white and red and bare. I also verified there was no continuity between the hot legs or between either hot leg to the neutral or ground. So there doesn't seem to be a short. Also, when turning on the breaker with the cooktop disconnected (and ensure none of the bare ends of the wires are touching anything of course) the breaker does not trip, and all the voltage readings are as above.
So, now I am at a loss as to what the heck happened. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
