Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ??

   / Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ?? #21  
On mine the main tag has the unit amps listed (on 30 amp panel breaker) Inside the unit is another tag with the backup electric heat listed (on 60 amp panel breaker). On this unit backup electric heat is optional and variable and why separate tags.

I don't think your type is stated but this is heat pump heat/cool setup.
 
   / Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ?? #22  
Pictures are worth a thousand words... ;)
 
   / Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ??
  • Thread Starter
#23  
MossRoad said:
Pictures are worth a thousand words... ;)
Click to expand...

Three pics, the two 60 amp breakers , showing the 60 amp rating
the inside showing large, and small wiring
a pic showing how the aluminum is transitioned to two sizes of copper.
 

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   / Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ?? #24  
CADplans said:
Is there EVER a situation where it is legal to run a 10 gauge wire into a 60 amp breaker?
I am not a NEC guru, but intuition would tell me that the answer is ,,,NO!
But, I am guessing, please help!

My heat pump air handler has two breakers on the front panel, they are rated 60 amps (both 220 volt single phase)

The installer wired from the electrical service with 10-2 wire to one of the 60 amp breakers.
(He did use larger wire to the other breaker, I could not find the wire size on that wire.)

Now, maybe, the incoming panel may have a lower rated breaker, which will protect the 10 gauge wire,,
but, if the breaker on the air handler is meaningless, I would assume there would be a disconnect, not a breaker.

The old air handler had fuses, so it had protection, I assume the manufacturer wanted the breakers on the air handler to provide protection?

So, is the 10 gauge wire, in this case, acceptable, or does the installer need to come back, and increase the wire to some size that is rated for 60 amps?

Thank you,,
Click to expand...

Umm...not to be rude, but NFW.

#10AWG is rated at a max of 30A, and must be fed by no more than a 30A breaker. What you have described, and shown, is unsafe in my personal untrained opinion, although I'm not an electrician and I don't play one on TV. Per the NEC tables, and depending on the insulation type you need a 6AWG copper or better. 4AWG copper would be great. LouNY posted the 2002 NEC ampacity table in another recent thread.

All the best,

Peter

Personally, I think that your toaster/fuse wire concerns are valid. You should have whoever did this rewire it. For free. Like before the next use. Do not pass Go, and do not collect $200.
 
   / Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ?? #25  
What you have at the AH appears to be okay. I would never run aluminum service entrance cable to feed those 2 disconnects but it the cable and copper wire are sized properly and he used Noalox on the terminations of the AL wire it should be okay. The smaller wire is for the AH fan and controls and the larger wire is for the heat strips. Probably 30KW or so. Thee issue I see is in the panel. 2 60 Amp breakers. Those need to be sized properly.
 
   / Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ?? #26  
workinonit said:
What you have at the AH appears to be okay. I would never run aluminum service entrance cable to feed those 2 disconnects but it the cable and copper wire are sized properly and he used Noalox on the terminations of the AL wire it should be okay. The smaller wire is for the AH fan and controls and the larger wire is for the heat strips. Probably 30KW or so. Thee issue I see is in the panel. 2 60 Amp breakers. Those need to be sized properly.
Click to expand...

As long as the breaker in the wall panel is sized properly for the smaller wires, the larger breaker in the air handler will just act as a switch/disconnect. Sure, it will never trip because the wires would melt first, but they would only melt if the breaker in the wall panel doesn't trip. What's the breaker in the wall panel rated for?
 
   / Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ?? #27  
It would also be helpful to draw out the circuits on paper, label all the wires, panels and breakers, and post a picture.
 
   / Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ??
  • Thread Starter
#28  
MossRoad said:
What's the breaker in the wall panel rated for?
Click to expand...

The heat pump has a totally dedicated panel,, fed off of the meter, with no disconnect.

The main panel has a 200 amp breaker, I can flip that and the panel is dead, except for a little up at the top.

So, I am hesitant to even look in the box,, like I would with the main panel for the rest of the home. :confused:

So, I do not know what breaker protects what,,,
 
   / Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ?? #29  
The breakers in the main panel feed the AH. One for the blower and electronics and the other for the heat strips. This is common on heat pump air handlers. The breaker in the panel that feeds the AH blower motor circuit needs to be replaced with a 30 AMP breaker. That is if there is 10 gauge wire in the circuit. If the wire is 12 gauge the breaker needs to be a 20 amp.
 
   / Wire Size For A 60 Amp Breaker ,.According To The NEC ?? #30  
If those two grey boxes in the picture are wired directly into the meter, they are probably service disconnects, and don't have breakers inside of them.

Only way to find out is open the covers. If you don't feel comfortable, don't do it. However, it's most likely just a handle in there that you pull out and that disconnects the power downstream of the box. The upstream side is still hot.
 
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