heat pump Service disconnect

[Kenneth R. Brittain]

Need some help with a service disconnect. Is a handle tie required for the two outside breakers? The hot lines feed the bus bar on each side. and the wiring is such that one line to each unit is tied to the center breaker which has the handle tie?

[Jim Port]

I don't understand what is going on in that box. The disconnect would only need to be a 2 pole. What are the outside poles feeding?

[Kenneth R. Brittain]

there are 2 units, one unit is connected to an outside breaker and on side of the double pole breaker in the middle. The other unit is connected the remaining outside breaker and the other side of the middle breaker.

[Jim Port]

In that case both legs would need to be disconnected at the same time. The easy solution would be to use 2 two pole breakers. The existing breaker would need to go left or right one space.

Correction, with this panel, shifting the breaker would not work.

[Kenneth R. Brittain]

Yes but that would put both lines feeding the heat pump on one incoming line. do they need to be on alternate incoming lines to be in phase?

The blue wires are for a power company load control

[Sean Fogarty]

Originally Posted by kbrittain

Yes but that would put both lines feeding the heat pump on one incoming line. do they need to be on alternate incoming lines to be in phase?

The blue wires are for a power company load control

The blue wires were also double tapping the connections. Which should be corrected. A wire nut and pig tail would correct the issue. As for the connecting bar, I would think it should not matter if the wires are sized properly. All panels work this way so installing two breakers side by side should be fine. The tie bar may prevent tripping if it interferes with the center breaker.

[Kenneth R. Brittain]

The Homeowner call an electrican. They said the breakers could not be moved over one position and installed a new box, problem solved.