I recently bought a Rofco B40 Bread Oven from Pleasant Hill Grain. Like any home oven, or a large appliance, it uses 220V power. I didn’t have an extra 220 outlet so I needed to run one.
I searched online before I ordered it but there was zero information on how to wire a Rofco in the US, that’s why I figured I’d drop a quick post for those of you fellow DIY types to save you some head-scratching time.
By the way, Rofco is made in Europe and originally has that funny looking European plug with a US adapter added later.
I assume if you are reading this, you are already familiar with wiring basics so I will spare you from ‘turn power off’ and ‘consult a professional’. Although this is a bit dumbed down for the likes of me.
ROFCO BREAD OVEN NEEDS A 20 AMP DOUBLE-POLE SINGLE OUTLET AND 20 AMP TWO-POLE CIRCUIT BREAKER
I used Leviton 20-Amp Commercial Grade Double-Pole Single Outlet, available at any hardware store, or on Amazon.
You will need a 20-Amp double (two-pole) circuit breaker. It looks like two breakers connected with one switch. The brand would depend on your type of circuit panel, it’s fairly easy to figure out, just look at the other breakers. Keep in mind that some breakers of different brands are not interchangeable. Although some are.
You cannot use a tandem breaker, the kind that takes one spot but has two skinny breakers, those are single-pole breakers and for this application you need a double-pole one.
If you are short on space in your panel, you can combine two rarely used single-pole breakers into one tandem breaker, like I did at the bottom left of the photo below.
ROFCO BREAD OVEN OUTLET NEEDS 12 GAUGE WIRE – USE RED SINCE BOTH WIRES ARE HOT
I ran two red 12-gauge wires for hot and one 14-gauge green wire for ground, no white (neutral) is necessary. You should use 12Ga green wire also but I used 14Ga since I had it on hand and it’s such a small run back to the panel that if we do get a ground fault – green wire won’t have enough time to get hot.
Note: the higher the number, the smaller the gauge of the wire, i.e. 14Ga is smaller than 12Ga. Another note: 12Ga wire costs as much as a golden chain, eye roll.
Each 12Ga red wire needs to be connected to each breaker of the double-pole breaker, see highlighted above. The green wire should run to the bus bar, where all the white and ground wires are connected. There should be plenty of space for you.
I used a two-gang metal junction box but you can easily use a single-gang box, I just think the double looks cleaner.
IF ROFCO OVEN DOESN’T HEAT UP PROPERLY, CHECK THE WIRING
I had a 220V outlet in my house that acted funny. I actually tried to connect my Rofco to it but it never registered temperature above half of its potential. So frustrating! I started digging in and discovered that even though it was a 220 outlet, it had hot wires going into a single breaker.
My point is don’t get discouraged if you plug your new Rofco into an existing outlet and the oven doesn’t work or works only partially, the odds are it’s not the oven but the wiring in your home. These Belgian machines are really high quality and very unlikely to arrive faulty.
