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kide

kide

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Gerry Ide
Sunny Florida has turned cool...36 degrees this morning. Next door neighbors asked me yesterday to check the odor coming form their fusebox. The A/C breaker was warm, the buss bar was hotter. 50 amp 220 breaker and it stunk (hot phenolic/bakelite). I used an amprobe, showed 44 amps one side, 43 on the other with the heat strip in the A/C heating. I thought that was pretty close to the breaker rating and this was a 20+ year old breaker and suggested replacing it. Then I went out to the A/C and checked the breaker there - it was a 60 amp. Looking at the wire, it was 4AWG stranded copper. Wire good for 70 amps in a 2 conductor config (220 volt, with ground). I replaced the in house breaker with a 60 amp. Why the A/C guy/electrician would feed a 60 Amp with a 50 amp is my head scratcher, as that would turn the 60 amp onr into basically a disconnect switch.
 
the unit probably required a 50 amp hvac/r breaker to protect the unit- it may be weak due to age, and the part that clips on the busbar may not grip anymore. your heaters might also be shorting out internally due to age, causing them to dray more. if the unit' compressor specs a 50 hvac/r breaker then you should run one. it protects the compressor while letting the comp start with higher momentary inrush current.

the thick wire it there because of the length of the feed. you want to minimize voltage drop
 
You need to check and see what the max fuse/breaker size is on the unit tag and go no larger.

A lot of companies (here in Georgia) do not use a fused disconnect or breaker at the unit but only a service disconnect.

Is it a heat pump or straight electric heat?

Probably a good idea to check the buss bar with an infrared temp gun if you have one after it runs a while.
 
It's a 60 amp breaker installed on the unit and checked a few days ago by the regular service guy. He never looked at the one in the house, where the 50 Amp breaker was that stunk. I did check the breaker and buss bar with a IR gun, before changing and after. With heat strip on for about 3 minutes the breaker was showing about 100 degrees F and the bus bar at the top where the breaker was snapped in showed about 170 F. before and afterwards the bar and breaker showed the same temp as the other breakers . I'll have to pull the panel off to check specs, but if they put in a 60 amp at the unit and it called for less than that, it wasn't good for anything but a disconnect as far as I'm concerned.... If it's an aging problem with the strips, they're aging pretty even as both legs showed within an amp of being the same..and from what I know, they go up in resistance as they age, which lowers the current draw..
 
The heaters are probably fine. Volts X Amps / 1000 will give you the KW rating(which you probably already know)

I like to use a fused disconnect switch at the unit with the largest fuse rated from the unit tag.

Sounds like you saved you neighbor from a house fire.
 

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