Happy memorial day!
A three-pole breaker was being used to supply an AC condenser. Only two conductors were attached. The breaker was labeled 50 amps.
The condenser technical details label said max 30 amp breaker.
Thoughts? I’ve never seen a three-pole breaker.
The breaker is oversized, even though there are only 2 conductors attached, correct?
Is this a 3-phase panel? I’m wondering if they didn’t have a 3-phase air conditioner in the past and when they replaced it, no longer needed the 3-phase connections.
I believe so.
Was there an additional breaker at the panel for the AC? What size?
You have not provided sufficient and necessary information to be able to answer your question.
It looks like they replaced a three-phase AC with a single-phase AC. Then they repurposed one of the conductors (orange tape) into the neutral or ground. If the service is still three-phase, then I am betting the replacement AC is not very efficient running unbalanced on only two-legs of a three phase service. If there is not another breaker or fuse/disconnect rated at 30-amps next to the AC, then the unit is also over-fused at 50-amps.
I believe so. It’s a commercially zoned property, although at the moment there isn’t much difference from a typical 1960’s residential home (other than the three phase)
I believe it was just a pull box, but thank you for the reminder that there may be two breakers with one superceding the other.
Thanks guys!!
I agree that it appears that they switched from a 3Ø branch circuit to a 1Ø branch circuit probably after replacing the unit. Due to the nameplate MaxOCPD size the protection cannot be larger than 30 amps.
