On Sep 15, 6:22*pm, arkland wrote:
On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 08:43:39 +0000, arkland wrote:
Now I'm really mad at the company - but first - I have to see if the new
circuit breaker (30 amp x 4, in two gangs) will fit on the bus bar which
is thicker than the opening.

I'm steaming mad. Either the company I sent out was incompetent, or,
worse yet, they're lying cheats!

They tried so hard to sell me on a new A/C unit for $4000, I should have
known. They 'said' it was the 'compressor'. They 'said' the voltage "was
within 5%". Guess what?

The problem had NOTHING to do with the air conditioning! The problem was
merely that the 30-amp quad ganged circuit breaker was broken. Of the
four 30-amp 120v circuits, one was 0 volts.

When I replaced the breaker (it wasn't easy to find a 30-amp quad
breaker), everything worked just fine.

What steams me is I can't for the life of me figure out whether the air
conditioning company was lying or if they were simply incompetent!

But, I'm so mad, I want to write them a letter! What else do you suggest?

For what it's worth, that is more commonly called a ganged breaker and
you do not need all 4 to be ganged if two are for your hvac and two
are for your dryer. You can use the much more common two ganged
breakers from lowes or home depot. They are ganged so that a short on
either leg causes both legs to disconnect. You don't need a short in
one appliance taking the other off line.

In your case I'm guessing the electrician had a 4 gang breaker handy
and used it.

Glad to hear your compressor was not bad. If you mentioned that he
fan was not starting either earlier in your post many of us could have
told you that does not suggest the compressor. Both are powered from
the contactor. It's unlikely that both would have failed at the same
time.

While it was a learning experience had you known a reliable service
guy you could have got it fixed on a single call for less than you
have spent. It might be worth your while to talk to your neighbors
about who they have had good results with.