Every once in a while, I drag out my soap box and get long winded. Here we go:
When I first entered the trade in the late 1970s, I was fresh out of high school, in fact I even worked for an EC after school learning my way around. I always had an interest in the trade, so I didn't have a hard time getting my job. I already knew a lot for a kid.
My first days were in northern NJ. My boss seemed to capitalize upon the use of the allowance of the shared neutral and EGC being permissible for these appliances. I knew that it was more of an allowance when using type SEU cable for these applications, however he also allowed us to use 10/2 or 6/2 Romex or even BX (type AC) to accomplish this. We would just run a jumper between the base of the box or receptacle to accomplish what should have been a "neutral". Since he was in cahoots with the local inspectors as they shared "a coffee-dark and a buttered roll" regularly, I suspect that much of the work that we did was wrong. Who was I to question them, right?
To move along, I moved to northern Virginia a few years later and engaged in more new construction. It didn't take long to realize what we had been doing in NJ wasn't permissible down south. The problem is that it became even more confusing for a rookie.
The norm in Virginia was to run 6/3 SEU (AL) for ranges, but that was just fine. It was perfectly acceptable. The problem was with dryer circuits. It was standard to run 8/3 SEU (AL) for dryers.
Again, no big deal, except that the standard practice here was to put the dryer on a 40 amp breaker and place a 50 amp receptacle for it. This meant that there was always the confusion factor as to whether the dryer needed a 30- or 50-amp pigtail. It was a huge PITA for people moving into homes having to deal with the type of receptacle that they had in place. I suspect that since we had so many national builders here, they were trying to up-sell their homes by having a "bigger/better" dryer circuit than their competition. I have no clue as to the real reason.
Over time, the local norm has converted to the 3P4W 30 amp circuit for dryers. I am sure that this had a lot to do with NEC 1993.
Now that I've told you how to build the watch after you asked me to tell you the time of day:
I have come to expect that an electric range goes on a 50 amp circuit and a dryer is on a 30 amp one. That's the way I always thought that it should be. I live in a fairly-newly constructed home now where the range is once again on an unconventional circuit. It is wired with 8/3 Romex and on a 40 amp breaker. Full-sized range, no compact model by any stretch of the imagination.
I've also seen 40 amp circuits for ranges as being the "semi-norm" in North Carolina forever.
I know that local trends seem to last forever, but am I wrong for questioning these practices? I know that what went on 35 years ago would be best just brushed under the rug, but why does such inconsistency still consist with these circuits? They seem to be a no brainer to me.
