minimum circuit ampacity

Hello, quick question:

My outdoor condenser unit for my heat pump is on its own 30A breaker. I'm not sure what gauge the wire is. On the condenser unit it says that the minimum circuit ampacity is 32.1A. In the past few months the breaker has been tripping randomly and when I reset it, all seems to be in working order again.

My question is... is it possible that the breaker is tripping because the current requirements of the condenser are too much? Aside from the gauge of the wire, is it against any electrical codes to have a 30A breaker on a circuit that is supposed to have a minimum ampacity of 32.1A?

Thanks for any help!

I don't believe there's any such word as 'ampacity'?.

But if it's rated at 32.1A, then you need a larger circuit, and breaker, to feed it.

They should stick a 40A one in there

On the condenser unit it says that the minimum circuit ampacity is 32.1A.

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Then the device should be on a 40 Amp circuit as mentioned but also the wire to the device should be able to safely carry 40 Amps. You don't mention a location? Here in the US a 40 Amp breaker and subsequent load wire size would be AWG 8. You need to rate the wire size based on ampacity to the breaker. You can't for example have a 30 Amp breaker with AWG10 or smaller gauge wire going to the load.

When the breaker trips it is likely warm to the touch and running at or exceeding its limits it will eventually fail.

Ron

Thanks... that answers my question perfectly. I am indeed in the US. I had the heat pump system replaced a few years back and I suppose the new ampacity requirements went "unnoticed." I will have to see what I can do to get the wiring updated...

Nigel Goodwin said:

I don't believe there's any such word as 'ampacity'?.

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Ampacity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia