# Where to buy: 120v stove



## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

Everyone remembers my nephew's apartment saga from last week I trust.

Well, it has come about that the reason the super wants to replace a stove with a toaster oven is because the building is only wired for 120/110v not 240v/220v. All of the other units have the same toaster oven/hot plate set up for this reason. 

I don't think they've made stoves with 120v plugs for ages now. Anyone know where I can get one? I've scoured Kijiji and can't find a thing.

I have taken this upon myself to get a stove for this apartment. It is ridiculous that they are giving people freaking hot plates and toaster ovens!


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## johnnyspade (Aug 24, 2007)

You know, I had a feeling this might have been the reason when I read the OP. This apartment is legal, right? I'll assume it's either cheap, fantastic otherwise, or there's some other reason that prevents your nephew from moving.

You'll be able to find a hot plate just about anywhere. They probably have a few at Canadian Tire, ditto for toaster ovens. I have a toaster oven that I really like from Breville. I think we bought it at Future Shop. For small stuff it's better than our regular size oven as it's convection so cooks really quickly. he won't get his Christmas turkey in it though so you'll have to invite him over for the holidays. You may also want to look at one of those microwaves that functions as a regular over as well.


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## johnb1 (Aug 6, 2006)

*120 v?*

hm-I thought stoves n' washers n' dryers were all 240 v

anyways, apparently, GE makes a free standing 120 range
but it's about $1800, so I don't think that'd work too well for you

jb


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

johnb1 said:


> hm-I thought stoves n' washers n' dryers were all 240 v


 
I believe washers are 120v, dryers are 240v. Washers don't need to heat anything, which is what the energy is required for.

And johny's right about a hotplate. You should be able to find a 2-element hotplate at Canadian Tire.


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## johnnyspade (Aug 24, 2007)

I didn't know they still made full ranges for 120v, maybe they don't? You may be able to find a 120v cooktop or a 120v wall oven, but not both together. You could try searching used.


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## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

I kind of thought it might be something like this, which is why I qualified the answer with "Unless there is a good reason why he can't put in a stove." 

This would probably be a good reason.

Your nephew might be able to argue for a slight reduction in rent, but honestly? Best thing he can do for himself is move.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

There are tons of double-burner hot plates available - some of these I'm sure in Canada as well:
Double burner hot plate - Shop sales, stores & prices at TheFind.com

I remember years ago we had a unit at the cottage which was basically one unit - a toaster oven with two hot plates on the top of it. You could only run the toaster oven at a time or one hot plate at full or both hot plates at half power but I doubt they make that any more.

The OP needs to decide exactly what he needs and buy accordingly.
Another thing to consider is a Microwave/Convection oven - a bit more expensive but you get a much bigger oven cavity which will do a small turkey.


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

Adrian. said:


> Everyone remembers my nephew's apartment saga from last week I trust.
> 
> Well, it has come about that the reason the super wants to replace a stove with a toaster oven is because the building is only wired for 120/110v not 240v/220v. All of the other units have the same toaster oven/hot plate set up for this reason.
> 
> ...


I don't know about 120v stoves, but I know it's easy enough to convert an outlet to 240v. It took me around 5 minutes to change the voltage on my breaker, and then another 5 to rewire the outlet. That only works if you have circuit breakers though, instead of fuses.


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

Sonal said:


> I kind of thought it might be something like this, which is why I qualified the answer with "Unless there is a good reason why he can't put in a stove."
> 
> This would probably be a good reason.
> 
> Your nephew might be able to argue for a slight reduction in rent, but honestly? Best thing he can do for himself is move.


Everything else about the place is fantastic. I mean, he is paying $670 excluding hydro for a nice big bachelor at Yonge & Lawrence. It's a steal of a deal. Everything else is fine. Would asking for a rent reduction screw him over with the super and the owner? Would they ride his ass for everything and anything after that? He talked to the super and they agreed that he could choose a toaster oven as long as it was under $200. Which is reasonable. I found him a really big one with convection. It might work out. They are being flexible.


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## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

Adrian. said:


> Everything else about the place is fantastic. I mean, he is paying $670 excluding hydro for a nice big bachelor at Yonge & Lawrence. It's a steal of a deal. Everything else is fine. Would asking for a rent reduction screw him over with the super and the owner? Would they ride his ass for everything and anything after that? He talked to the super and they agreed that he could choose a toaster oven as long as it was under $200. Which is reasonable. I found him a really big one with convection. It might work out. They are being flexible.


You know what they say--you get what you pay for. It is a steal of a deal, and consequently there's usually a catch. You just found the catch.... or at least one of them.

If he's just asking, it may not hurt; depends on his people skills, depends on the landlord. 

If he tries to enforce this request legally... you think anyone _likes_ being taken to court? And if your nephew wins... you think anyone _likes_ losing in court? If the landlord is trying to be reasonable and make accommodations--and it sounds like he is--that will look well on him at the Board so unless you get a real winner of an adjudicator, enforcing this might be an exercise in futility. 

If your nephew can make do with a hotplate and a toaster oven, that would be best. If he can't live with it, he should move. If he really doesn't want to move he can of course fight it, but I'm generally a pragmatist about these things... pragmatically speaking, I don't know that it's worth it.


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

Place sounds like a fire trap. A disaster waiting to happen.

...but hey, the pad is to die for!


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

John Clay said:


> I don't know about 120v stoves, but I know it's easy enough to convert an outlet to 240v. It took me around 5 minutes to change the voltage on my breaker, and then another 5 to rewire the outlet. That only works if you have circuit breakers though, instead of fuses.


I don't really know what you actually did, but why would this only work with circuit breakers and not with fuses?
If there are split outlets in the kitchen, and all Ontario households should have split outlets there to meet the electrical code, one can just pick up 240 volts by connecting from hot to hot of the split receptacle - no rewiring required of anything.
I did that to use a European food processor.

Doesn't help with the problem though since that wiring is normally 14 gauge and that needs to be fused at 15 amps, no higher.
The 240 volt stove receptacle is fused at 30 or 40 amps with the appropriate gauge wiring of course.


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

krs said:


> I don't really know what you actually did, but why would this only work with circuit breakers and not with fuses?
> If there are split outlets in the kitchen, and all Ontario households should have split outlets there to meet the electrical code, one can just pick up 240 volts by connecting from hot to hot of the split receptacle - no rewiring required of anything.
> I did that to use a European food processor.
> 
> ...


I didn't mean to say it wasn't possible with fuses, just that I didn't know how to do it. I bonded two breakers together, for my European dishwasher.


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## Lichen Software (Jul 23, 2004)

*Possibly some real safety issues here*

Both a toaster oven and a hot plate should be isolated on their own circuit. I would think that each would pull in 1500 watts which is the maximum on a 15 ampere circuit. 

Unless this place was originally put together as a motel or something, efficiency living only, I find it hard to believe that it was originally wired with no stove outlets and passed any sort of inspection. That would make me greatly suspect the wiring of any recepticals in the kitchen. Either of those appliances, or a toaster with any other load, could cause a fire.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Lichen Software said:


> Unless this place was originally put together as a motel or something, efficiency living only, I find it hard to believe that it was originally wired with no stove outlets and passed any sort of inspection. That would make me greatly suspect the wiring of any recepticals in the kitchen. Either of those appliances, or a toaster with any other load, could cause a fire.


My guess was that this was a large apartment or flat that was split into two and the original kitchen part with the proper stove receptacle is in the other half.
But who knows.
Probably wouldn't hurt to check the wiring at least of the receptacles where this toaster oven and hot plate is supposed to be plugged in.
And as you said - each one needs it's own circuit.


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

John Clay said:


> I don't know about 120v stoves, but I know it's easy enough to convert an outlet to 240v. It took me around 5 minutes to change the voltage on my breaker, and then another 5 to rewire the outlet. That only works if you have circuit breakers though, instead of fuses.


There's something not right here? Doesn't a 240v outlet have to be on it's own breaker? Don't 120v outlets usually have more than one outlet and/or light on a breaker or line? Or was this the only outlet/light on that breaker? I find that hard to believe.

I would think to properly do this you would have to add a new 240v outlet, run a new line to the breaker box and a new 240v breaker.


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## Optimize (May 7, 2005)

<snip>


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

John Clay said:


> I don't know about 120v stoves, but I know it's easy enough to convert an outlet to 240v. It took me around 5 minutes to change the voltage on my breaker, and then another 5 to rewire the outlet. That only works if you have circuit breakers though, instead of fuses.





krs said:


> I don't really know what you actually did, but why would this only work with circuit breakers and not with fuses?
> If there are split outlets in the kitchen, and all Ontario households should have split outlets there to meet the electrical code, one can just pick up 240 volts by connecting from hot to hot of the split receptacle - no rewiring required of anything.
> I did that to use a European food processor.
> 
> ...





Kosh said:


> There's something not right here? Doesn't a 240v outlet have to be on it's own breaker? Don't 120v outlets usually have more than one outlet and/or light on a breaker or line? Or was this the only outlet/light on that breaker? I find that hard to believe.
> 
> I would think to properly do this you would have to add a new 240v outlet, run a new line to the breaker box and a new 240v breaker.


I strongly suspect that the basic wiring in this fire trap is the underlying problem. Yes, with ad hoc wiring it is possible to convert a 120v circuit to 240v but you do need the proper breaker. I converted my well circuit this way, but you do need to know what you are doing. Interestingly, 240 can use thinner wire to carry the same current as 120 and a 15 amp circuit, say, can deliver double the wattage at 240v (in round numbers 3000watts) than at 120 (approx 1500watts to be safe). Also it is true that you can jump the two sides of the same split to get 240 and the split actually (should) runs off a 240 type breaker.

I suspect that there are no splits in this place but this is fairly easy to check if you know how to use a multi meter.

*Doing ad hoc wiring in someone else's property (without specific written permission) is simply insane - the liability, particularly in a multiunit building, is just too high.*

If this were my nephew, I'd do what I had to do to get him the hell out of that place, ASAP.


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