Thread: Electricians ?
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nestork nestork is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy[_35_] View Post
I have a customer who has some window units installed, but they keep blowing the breaker(s).
Troll or not, he seems to be asking a legitimate question.

Andy:
Window air conditioning units draw a lot of power when the compressor motor is starting. That initial power demand only lasts for a half a second or so while the motor is coming up to speed. Once at speed, the current draw quickly comes down, but often the fuse will blow before the compressor gets up to speed.
To prevent the fuse from blowing during the initial power surge, you need something called a "Slo-Blo" fuse or a "time delay" fuse. This kind of fuse will allow overcurrent in the wiring for a short time... enough time for the motor to come up to speed and the current draw to subside. The overcurrent for such a short time doesn't do any harm to the wiring at all.

http://highfields-arc.co.uk/construc...iles/fuse1.gif

Slo-Blo fuses are expensive, costing about $5 each. I expect there's the equivalent of a Slow Blow fuse when it comes to circuit breakers, but I'm just not familiar enough with circuit breakers to tell you what to buy.

Also, you ideally want the window air conditioner on it's own dedicated circuit so that there's nothing else on the circuit that's also drawing power. To do that, plug the air conditioner unit into the convenience outlet on the kitchen stove. The two power cables going to a kitchen stove will handle 50 amps each but the convenience outlets are fused down to 15 amps each. Unless you've got some other things drawing power from that same convenience receptacle, then it'll provide a full 15 amps (or more) to whatever you plug into it.