I am in a situation where I called out an HVAC disconnect being oversized. The unit label calls for a 20-AMP max, 14-AMP minimum OCPD. The outside disconnect is a 60-AMP breaker. The breaker in the panel is a 15-AMP (this one is fine). The electrician that went out to make the correction. Said…”As far as the AC breaker sizing is concerned, the breaker in the panel is correct. It is very common to have a MUCH HIGHER fuse outside or just a pullout for disconnecting means. All that breaker does is provide a disconnect for the AC technician to service the unit” The electrician did not want to fix it as the electrician works for the seller on a team that rehabs homes. The correction is needed for both the home inspection report as well as a Florida Citizens 4-Point inspection form. Keep in mind the Citizens form has a box to check indicating oversized breakers as part of electrical hazards.
I understand the electrician’s logic about the pullout, but in this situation there is not a pullout there is a breaker for disconnect means.
99% of the time when I call this out it gets corrected. This time the seller does not want to correct it. I am afraid the insurance underwriter not bind a policy with an electrical defect on the 4-Point form.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. This is for a high-volume agent of mine.
Perfectly fine as-is. The outside breaker is just a switch since the breaker in the panel is only 15 amps.
The breaker in the panel will trip first. The outside breaker is just a disconnect for service. Overkill actually as a simple switch would do.
What Ryan & Bob said…
Yes, agree with the above^. EDIT and Robert’s comment below 
The electrician is 100% correct. In this scenario the fact that the other 99% of the time they’re corrected means that someone was wasting someones money.
So if you just had a knife switch, what ampacity do you think it might withstand? How about a pullout, those are typically rated at 60 amps? You’re hung up on disconnecting means being a breaker and you shouldn’t be.
I’m just going to pile on the “it’s just fine” pile.
Perfectly fine. Exterior disconnect. 60 amp is typical.
Like everyone else has noted, it’s perfectly fine. 98% of the AC disconnects around here are 60amp non-fused.
Thank you all for the responses. Many, many, many years back when getting AHIT certified (before NACHI) AHIT was big on both the disconnect matching the panel breaker. I have always had that mindset. I will still be noting it on my inspections, just in the information section on my reports, not a defect. It certainly won’t be noted on a 4-Point form. Thanks again all!!!
It’s worth noting that for disconnects like the typical cheap A/C pull out types you see on AC units there are standard sizes 30, 60, 100 amps, etc. so it’s likely that the disconnect ampere rating will not be the same as the branch circuit breaker. As long as the disconnect is greater or equal in size to the branch circuit amp rating there is really nothing worth mentioning.