carrier air handler power requirements

Cysnake · 05-17-2012, 09:55 AM

Im having a new system installed and to save some cash i have removed the old furnace and heat pump and im going to be doing the wiring from the breaker box to the new unit. The installer has given me power wiring documentation, however im not certain how to interpret what he wants. Can anyone tell me in "laymans terms" what size breakers and what gauge wires i should run? Here is the system being installed:

1-Carrier model FB4CNF036, “Comfort” air handler.
1-Carrier 15 KW electric heater package.
1-Carrier model FILCCAR20 media air cleaner.
1-Carrier model TP-PHP” thermostat and control wiring.
1- Carrier model 25HBC336A003, 3ton, up to 13 SEER, “Comfort” heat pump unit 1-New copper refrigerant tubing package to run from the new air handler to the new heat pump unit. This will also include a TXV refrigerant flow meter.

1-New 220 volt rain tight disconnect for the new heat pump.

This is the wiring document he provided me with:

Doc Holliday · 05-17-2012, 12:21 PM

Ask the electricians. What you're going to need to know is the wire size and two 120 volt circuits. One will be a 60 amp for the main and one a 20 or 30amp for the heater kit. I think those are the average amps. You connect the main 60 amp 120 volt circuit to the main breaker of the air handler (inside the air hanlder) to run the blower and the other smaller amp circuit to the elctric heaters. Yes, there will be two sets of breakers in the air handler. Many times though we simply use the main 120 volts hooked to the main breaker and simply jump to the electric heat kit from it, one leg to one leg respectively.

You may already have done more damage than good, though. You will be spending three times as much on resistive heat (electric) versus a gas furnace.

For savings we try and sway people to get gas or a heat pump and lose electric.

Doc Holliday · 05-17-2012, 12:28 PM

There's a member of this forum, an hvac contractor, known as beenthere. DoOd is smarts times 10 and he lives up in Pa if I'm not mistaken. Hopefully he'll chime in and give you his thoughts.

Cysnake · 05-17-2012, 12:46 PM

UNfortunatly i dont have gas where im at. Oil was costing me over 2k every year, and to top it off my oil furnace was over 50 years old, so even with electric i should be saving a great deal of cash. we are installing a heat pump as well

Doc Holliday · 05-17-2012, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cysnake

UNfortunatly i dont have gas where im at. Oil was costing me over 2k every year, and to top it off my oil furnace was over 50 years old, so even with electric i should be saving a great deal of cash. we are installing a heat pump as well

Ah, so it's a heat pump with electric heat back up...? Normal and good. Again, BT will hopefully chime in. I'm in Texas so not too familiar with what happens up north.

Yoyizit · 05-17-2012, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cysnake

This is the wiring document he provided me with:

This ^ tells you how to do it but for me it's illegible.