A/C power supply

[Andrew Cox]

I have always assumed there is supposed to be a disconnect within reach of the outdoor unit, as a safety issue. On this house I inspected yesterday, there isn't one, it is hard-wired into the home, and the only breaker is the one inside the panel.
This is the first time I've come across this. Isn't there a requirement for this to have a disconnect close-by? And as this buyer will be financing with FHA, would this be something the FHA inspector would call out? Thanks.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

The panel-breaker can be used as the disconnect, as long as it is within sight of the appliance.

[Andrew Cox]

Jeff, thanks. However, there is no breaker for it within sight. This is outside, and the panel breaker is inside the garage.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Then it needs to be corrected. There must be a disconnect within sight of the appliance.

It's very unlikely that the FHA inspector will recognize this issue, but you should report it as a defect.

[Andrew Cox]

Thanks Jeff.
I've already written it into my report and showed it to the client during the inspection. It's a bank-owned property, so she'll pay for it anyway, but I'll recommend it be repaired immediately.

[David A. Andersen]

You assumed right, but you should never assume.

[John Allingham]

Hi Andrew
I quite often see older A/C units with no disconnect in sight . It wasn't in the code back then.
If this is an older installation you may want to check that out.

[David A. Andersen]

If you look at the picture of the building and the HVAC, it is quite obvious that an HVAC disconnect was required at the time of construction.

It really doesn't matter if it was building code at any time because it's not our job to interpret or enforce these building codes.

We are here to simply report there is no disconnect at the outside unit and it can kill your HVAC technician if he can't turn the power off!

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by jallingham

Hi Andrew
I quite often see older A/C units with no disconnect in sight . It wasn't in the code back then.
If this is an older installation you may want to check that out.

This may be true for Canada - I don't know Canadian Codes.

[Charles L. Harper]

Hey Jeff,
I saw your response concerning an ac disconnect. I had the same issue this morning. AC units were hardwired into main disconnect on outside of house. SO if you have to disconnect the ac unit for any reason than you will also shut off ALL power to the home. This doesn't seem right.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Well, the "required disconnect" is effectively in place, however, there are rarely any instances where the direct tap would be compliant, regardless of the equipment it serves.

It certainly isn't the most preferred method, however, if wired properly and not double-tapped, it may well be compliant.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Actually, I think I may have given a bit of misinformation.

In your case, the service disconnect for the house must not exceed the maximum circuit rating for the condenser unit(s). So it's very unlikely that what you had was compliant.

[Charles L. Harper]

Jeff, you are 100% correct. Why I didn't think of that I don't know. This particular builder has done all of the houses in this sub division like this.

[Terry B. Clayton]

The only way I know this would pass would be if the interior disconnecting devise is capable of being locked out by the servicing tech. Hope they never have to replace the sealtite

[Brian K. Doles]

Originally Posted by dandersen

If you look at the picture of the building and the HVAC, it is quite obvious that an HVAC disconnect was required at the time of construction.

To help educate me, what makes this so obvious in the picture?