On Sep 17, 11:17*am, arkland wrote:
On Fri, 16 Sep 2011 07:33:21 -0700, jamesgangnc wrote:
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.

Actually, Home Depot and Lowes only had 20/30 "ganged breakers" and they
do work exactly as you noted. Since every other position on the main
panel is the other hot lead, the two inside breakers are ganged with a
metal clip (for the AC) and the two outside breakers are ganged with a U-
shaped metal (for the dryer).

I had 30/30 breakers, which are much harder to find. But they're replaced
now, one for one, and it's all testing and working fine. If only I hadn't
trusted the LICENSED technician, I would have solved this problem ten
days ago as soon as I figured out that the 120V reading of the fan and
compressor was not correct (it should have been 240 volts).

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.

Now, embarrassingly, I realize that's an obvious sign that it's NOT the
compressor!

I'd say the embarrasing thing here is that you did not check
for voltage at the unit as the first step. It doesn't get any
more basic than that. Outside unit not running, first things
to check are if it has voltage and if the contactor is closing.

Also, while from what you've described I think the compay
is crooked, I don't see how they did anything to damage your
compressor.



But remember, I TRUSTED the LICENSED technician (and spoke to
him for 40 minutes about it). He couldn't explain why the fan wasn't
working; but he was positive the compressor was the culprit. How can I
possibly second guess a LICENSED technician, especially when he's the
ONLY ONE allowed to fix the problem (I'm not allowed to fix it, by law!).


I second guess every contractor that I don't have a good deal
of personal experience with. Also, you are legally allowed to fix
some
of the system. You just can't work on the refrigerant section doing
anything that could possibly result in the release of refrigerant. In
your case, the problem was something perfectly legal for you
to fix, ie it not getting power.





had you known a reliable service guy
you could have got it fixed on a single call for less than you have
spent. *

My real estate agent referenced this company, Comfort Energy. She has
been my savior with MANY problems, so I had every reason to trust the
recommendation! Also, I must repeat, these people are LICENSED by
someone. And, I'm not allowed to work on this unit. So, I have to trust
them.

Of course, in hindsight, that trust was badly misdirected, but, all this
time I had trusted their very definite opinion. In fact, the VP called me
when I complained that the licensed technician's explanation made no
sense to me, and he attempted to prove that the compressor was bad also
as he said the voltage was "within 5%" and provided other details (saying
the thermoswitch inside is bad because it didn't click) convincing me
that the compressor was bad. That's when I went on my ten-day journey to
find a good compressor to replace the 'bad' one.

PS: I use one nym per unrelated thread when I have more than one at the
same time; but accidentally used the other nym in the previous post.
Sorry for the confusion.