2 Ton 13 Seer amp draw.

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nizak

Senior Member
Does anyone here have specs on single phase AC compressors. I'm looking for the FLA and LRA for a 2 ton 13 seer unit. I do not have a specific brand or model to reference, but am looking to put together a load calc for a new build and have been told 2 of this size unit will be installed. I would think that the amp draw would be fairly consistent on any model as long as the seer and tonnage are the same. I googled that info but could not pull any specs. Thanks.
 

Gregg Harris

Senior Member
Location
Virginia
Occupation
Electrical,HVAC, Technical Trainer
Does anyone here have specs on single phase AC compressors. I'm looking for the FLA and LRA for a 2 ton 13 seer unit. I do not have a specific brand or model to reference, but am looking to put together a load calc for a new build and have been told 2 of this size unit will be installed. I would think that the amp draw would be fairly consistent on any model as long as the seer and tonnage are the same. I googled that info but could not pull any specs. Thanks.

Average MCA is 10 amps
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Does anyone here have specs on single phase AC compressors. I'm looking for the FLA and LRA for a 2 ton 13 seer unit. I do not have a specific brand or model to reference, but am looking to put together a load calc for a new build and have been told 2 of this size unit will be installed. I would think that the amp draw would be fairly consistent on any model as long as the seer and tonnage are the same. I googled that info but could not pull any specs. Thanks.

You can try using information at this page, enter some known data and come up with a compressor, may not be exactly what you will have but probably close, and maybe figure a little extra just in case. Don't forget you need to factor in blowers or any other loads your unit may have.

I came up with about 12.2 amps for a 200-240 volt single phase scroll compressor rated 2 tons.

Edit to add:

Same compressor was also rated 9.10 amps though with different refrigerant specifications, so this still only gets you into a certain ball park.

Add more: The SEER factor is likely the difference in the values I listed above, you would need to know a little more about refrigeration to come up with the right value to get the most accurate result.
 
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nizak

Senior Member
Greg, would it be safe to assume that LRA is 5-6 times that value? BTW, is "MCA" the same as FLA?
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Greg, would it be safe to assume that LRA is 5-6 times that value? BTW, is "MCA" the same as FLA?

MCA is minimum circuit ampacity, and generally already has the 125% continuous load factor included in the value. FLA would be Full Load Amps, and is what a motor draws at its rated voltage/frequency/and output load, in the refrigerant compressor industry this is usually called RLA (Rated Load Amps or something very close to that) and is very similar but not necessarily exactly the same thing as FLA for other motor types.
 

GoldDigger

Moderator
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Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
Minimum Circuit Ampacity (MCA) is normally 1.25 times FLA if there is only one motor in the unit.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 

suemarkp

Senior Member
Location
Kent, WA
Occupation
Retired Engineer
Are you installing just a compressor or an outdoor HVAC unit (that has the compressor and fan)? Here's a link to a unit from Goodman. Not everyone's will be the same, but should be in the ball park: http://www.goodmanmfg.com/Residenti...mpSystems/13SEERGSZ13/tabid/1335/Default.aspx

Kwired's link didn't work for me...

If you look at the specifications (click on the Product Specifications link) on page 3, the compressor RLA is 13.5 and the LRA is 58.3. The condenser fan motor is pretty puny with a FLA of 0.7A. The required circuit MCA (a.k.a. Branch Circuit Selection Current) is 17.5A and that's the value to use in a load calc if you have only one unit or if you're using the Optional calculation.
 
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