The 24 Volt Transformer Reduces The Voltage From 240V to 24V For Furnace ControlsĮlectric furnaces are feed from the main panel to the furnace with 240 volts. You should contact your electrician or hvac expert and get it examined. If it feels warm or hot it’s a sign of a loose connection or an overload. Some breaker manufacturers label the breaker on the face instead of the switch toggle.Ī little safety tip to use on your breakers is to hold your hand on the outside surface of the breaker. Those are the skinnier or thinner breakers in the panel and rated from 15 or 20 amps on the toggle of the breaker. The breakers that feed your lights and plugins throughout your house will be 115 volt or single breakers. Your main service panel will have two types of breakers. Those breakers, according to code, should be plainly labeled “furnace” so that anybody could identify them. If your furnace has two 60 amp breakers then your panel should have two 60 amp breakers. When you look into your main breaker panel you should see breaker ratings that match the breaker ratings in your furnace. This list is not complete but will give you an idea of the principle behind wire size and breakers.
Wire size is also important to each breaker. The 60 amp breaker usually feeds power to 2 elements which draw about 20 amps each. Or, a 30 amp and 60 amp would feed three elements adding up to 15 KW furnace and a fan motor. One 60 amp would feed two elements at 10 KW each and a fan. In our area I’ve seen a few 90 amp breakers fed from one circuit. You could have a few combinations of those breakers. Fortunately the breakers tripped and saved the wires from overheating and possibly the house from a fire.īreakers in electric furnaces are generally rated at 30 or 60 amps. Then when they turned on the heat that night the elements overheated, drooped down onto the elements frame to ground and the element wire burned in two. So they ran their AC during the day and ice formed on the coil which dramatically cut down the flow of air across the elements. This was one of those times in the high desert when you want some cooling in the day and some heat in the night. The filter wasn’t installed correctly and lots of stuff collected on the indoor coil. I have a perfect example out in my shop where a customer let his maintenance get behind. Their has been some argument about the breakers in a furnace being just a switch, but if that switch has an amp rating on the toggle then it’s a breaker and it can trip.īreakers are an automatic switch that detect heat, excessive current or shorts circuits to a ground. What Would Cause A Furnace To Trip A Breaker? Turns On Fan Motor From Thermostats Fan On/Auto Switch. Turns Elements & Fan On In Sequence Upon A Call For Heat.ĭisconnects Element From Power When Air Flow Is Reduced. Reduces Voltage From 240V to 24V for controls.
Protect Wires Feeding Furnace From Main Breaker Panel.