HACR breaker verses fusible disconnect

[Nelson electric]

Does an air conditioning/ heat pump unit require a fusible disconnect or will a HACR breaker within 50' and line of sight suffice for the disconnecting means?

 

[electrofelon]

Does an air conditioning/ heat pump unit require a fusible disconnect or will a HACR breaker within 50' and line of sight suffice for the disconnecting means?

A breaker is fine. Non fused is fine too - unless unit specifically requires fuses. I haven't seen that in a long time however.

 

[Buck Parrish]

The fuses were to protect the motor from an overload. The HCAR Breakers have that built in. I'm told...

A lot of HVAC guys still use the fusible. But as stated above not required. If you did use a fuse , you might want to use the dual element type .

 

[electrofelon]

Also FYI all breakers are now HCAR type

 

[retirede]

30+ years ago, almost all HVAC condenser units specified fuse protection by the manufacturer. As stated previously, that’s rare if at all today.
Follow the manufacturer’s instructions and you should be fine.

 

[kwired]

The fuses were to protect the motor from an overload. The HCAR Breakers have that built in. I'm told...

A lot of HVAC guys still use the fusible. But as stated above not required. If you did use a fuse , you might want to use the dual element type .

Not so. The fuse/breaker setting is anywhere from 175 to 250% of rated current, to allow starting without nuisance tripping.

Overload protection is separate, with smaller capacity single phase units usually already integrated into the compessor. Three phase may be a separate overload unit attached to or adjacent to the motor contactor.

 

[Nelson electric]

Thank you.
That's what I thought, but I had a HVAC guy tell me that they all have to be fused. I told him the HACR breaker protects the same way.
Thank you all for your input.

 

[texie]

While not very common these days, if a condensing unit label says "max fuse" you must use fuses.

 

[jim dungar]

That's what I thought, but I had a HVAC guy tell me that they all have to be fused. I told him the HACR breaker protects the same way.
Thank you all for your input.

FYI
For almost 20 years now all breakers tested to UL489 are 'HACR' by default, so no special labeling is required by UL. If your local AHJ requires HACR to be shown on the breaker some manufacturers offer it as a special request.