A/C Unit

texasman21

I was trying to get the model & serial number off my attic unit. Happen to notice the 2 breakers that are on the unit one is turned off and one is turned on. Is that normal?

Another question is my house is around 2k square feet. Is a 3.5 Ton unit enough to cool that? Cause lately its barely cooling off its been getting up to 80 during the day. Thanks for any input.

scottmcd9999

Not unusual for the system to have one breaker to handle the fan/controls (and maybe one set of electric strips), and a second breaker to handle another bank of strips. Hard to say whether both should be turned on without looking at the wiring, but in general yes, both breakers should be turned on.

It's impossible to know if your system is large enough for your home based solely on square footage. If the system had been working okay, but now seems to be unable to keep up, then you should probably have someone check it for you.

beenthere

Check your air filter.

texasman21

Thanks for the input ive got a call into a tech to come check it out. I know the system is 9 years old and still has another year of parts and labor warranty left on it so thats a good thing. I checked the filter out it wasn't that dirty but changed it anyway. Thanks for all the advice its greatly appreciated. Will write up what ends up happening.

scottmcd9999

Just an FYI: Unless you purchased a 10 year LABOR warranty, in many cases you'll have only a Parts warranty.

texasman21

I did purchase the 10 year labor warranty good through August 2013. So that saved me from spending tons.

turnermech

It is not the best proceedure, but the breaker that is turned off may not be powered from the pannel. they may have installed the wrong heater when new. if they did not have a second power supply to the air handler and it was a mistake to install that heater they may have left it off.

If you have two breakers you should in most cases have two line voltage wires running into the air handler. If two 60 amp breaker would have two wires #6 size. if you have a 60 amp breaker and a 30 amp breaker you would have a #6 wire and a #10 wire.

texasman21

Got an A/C tech coming tomorrow afternoon. Told him about the breaker he said it most likely been tripped for the heater and his tech will check it out. So hopefully get it all fixed up tomorrow.

texasman21

The tech came by today. He said it was 2 pounds low on freon and filled it up. Also said that the 3.5 ton isn't powerful enough for this size house need a minimum of 4 ton. Gonna see how the additional freon cools it and if not gonna get them back out.

turnermech

where you having a problem with the cooling? I only ask because your OP did not mention any problems only found breaker off. 2 pounds low should have been freezing the coil and stoping the air flow and a/c. Makes me wonder if you need refrigerant if you were not having any a/c problems.

ben's plumbing

being 2 lbs low on freon ..warrants check system for a leak ..not sure why he did not reccomend finding the source of the low freon......its leaking somewhere,...and should of had other symptoms ...like freezing up...

scottmcd9999

Did they do a load calculation? There's no way for them to know how much cooling your home needs without one.