Cord and plug HVAC, Wet location, Ground Fault protection

C

CherokeeXJ

Member
Location
North Carolina
Occupation
Licensed Electrician
A cord and molded plug window hvac unit is going in a greenhouse for temperature control. The plug has a ground fault device similar to a hair dryer with a test and reset button.

It will need a 20 amp 240 volt receptacle to run on.

This being a wet location I will be installing a weatherproof box and weatherproof in-use cover and that brings me to the question of ground fault protection.

Ground fault protection is needed for a receptacle in a wet location, but has anybody had experience with how a window hvac unit and ground fault breaker agree?

It’s a $150 breaker and I don’t want to buy it to find out the breaker trips on start up. Thanks for any help or suggestions.
 
I Have no idea. It shouldn't trip initially but my concern is a window A/C being used in a wet location. The outside obviously can get wet, but the controls on the inside aren't intended to. I suspect that water and moisture in the inside half will cause leakage and trip the breaker.

-Hal
 
I didn’t think about it that way, but a ground fault device actually on the plug end should remedy that no matter where it’s installed which is similar to the plug end of a hair dryer for example. So I would think it would be acceptable in any “indoor” location, but I will definitely look in the manufacturers instructions on that.
 
You can be indoors, but be in a wet location.

I’ll be checking on the environment the unit can be exposed to, but it does have a ground fault device on the cord end like a hair dryer does.

My original question was has anyone had experience with running a window hvac unit that is cord and plug connected in conjunction with a gfci breaker?
 
CherokeeXJ said:
The plug has a ground fault device similar to a hair dryer with a test and reset button.
Click to expand...
Let's clear this up. The A/C plug is not a GFCI. It called an LCDI and only protects against damaged cords. We've discussed this before:

Anybody want to discuss that LCDI thing on window A/C cords?

Don't normally get involved with window A/Cs but my mini-split crapped out in one room and I borrowed a window A/C until I can replace it. So, I put it in the window, plug in the cord with that thing on the end as a plug and nothing happens. I notice that there are buttons on the side of it like...
forums.mikeholt.com

-Hal
 
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