Oven Wiring Part 1

Ward came over yesterday to show me how to wire this oven! Not only is he on my thesis committee (along with Diana Stuart and Peter Friederici, the chair), I am working with him on my independent study for semester for help with the machines. Above is the backside of the oven. For the purpose of the compression machine the left side in the photo will be the bottom, and the right side will become the top. That way the heating elements will not interfere with the mold compression or jack shaft going through the new bottom side. The oven came as 220V but we will be running it off 110V for the time being.

Tour of the oven. The top two isolated wires go to the broiler heating element. The elongated hole with two wires on the top right is the oven light. The galvanized (grey) piece on the bottom center guides the power cord (a used computer power cord) up to the connector (with white insulator behind it). The small grey box on the bottom right is a relay, and the new temp controller will be mounted near the front of the oven, out of sight.

The positive wire goes up through the power cord, and through that connector block and through the relay. From the relay it continues to the controller at the front of the oven, which makes sure turns the oven on and off repeatedly to maintain a consistent temperature. The wire then goes back through the relay and through the heating elements. The broiler elements are up top, while the standard heating elements are visible in the above photo above the connector block. The negative wires come off the other side and pass back through the power cord.

I really have no idea about wiring so this is a huge learning experience for me.

Here is the relay up close. We got it in a kit with a connector and thermostat sensor dealio. I'll post more photos as we hook them up. But it's coming along!