My husband installed a 18000 btu window unit and it is cutting off and will only run when the test button on the cord it pushed. He did add a double pole 30 breaker and i'm told it's 12 gauge wire. I'm not sure whether to get a new unit or call an electrician! The unit is only a few years old and It does blow cold when it's on.
Not Sure if it's an electrical problem?
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A test button on the cord?
If it's 12 guage wire, that's too small; you need 10/3 w/ground.
Try and find out from the metal or paper nameplate on the unit what the Current (amperage) requirements are.
Also, if you can, take a pic of the receptacle and the cord and post it here.
yeah the wire going to the outlet is to small, needs to be 10 AWG but that's not why the pigtail GFCI is tripping, could be a few things, but the one i found most common is a reverse polarity in the receptical, if you have a plug test, make sure the the black and the white aren't reversed any where on the circuit.
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The Deez is correct in the cause. I've never seen a pigtail GFCI on a cord, but then I'm not that experienced either. Would these connect similar to a GFCI receptical in that the HOT (Black) wire would be attached to a BRASS clip, while the NEUTRAL (White) would be on a (SILVER)? At the very least, it should indicate which is HOT and which is NEUTRAL. ??
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I'm with sparksalot: You will need to know/determine the actual amperage draw on this unit under load then determine if you have the actual correct wire size. The GFCI unit on the cord may be determining a slight high amperage draw on the present 12 gauge wiring and shutting this A/C unit down.
Window air conditioners these days have pigtail AFCIs. I think it's rather pointless, but it seems to be a new UL listing requirement or something because they're all doing it. It may be tripping due to an internal problem with the air conditioner. Not sure what external wiring problem could cause the pigtail AFCI to trip. However, as others have mentioned, you need have at least one problem with the circuit: #12 wire cannot be used on a 30A breaker.
Double pole refers to the circuit breaker type, not to polarity in the DC +/- sense. A double pole device (switch, breaker, disconnect, relay, etc.) is one that has two separate sets of contacts. All 240V circuits in a 120/240V panel require a double pole breaker, since there are two hots.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_(electrical_circuits)#Contact_terminology
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I'm not the one who said the polarity may be wrong. Read post #3.
i missed the 2 pole. in which case reverse polarity obviously isn't the issue. all i can't really think of, it's check the grounding
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Or the pigtail AFCI could be bad. It isn't tripping the breaker.
Yeah, now I get what you mean.
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