Currently our household water softener outdoor unit is plugged into the A/C's outdoor unit, drawing electricity from it rather than from its own socket.
I didn't know this and just found out from the workers who are here installing a new A/C system. I called my husband about it and he knew... he says he was told about it by the water softener company and that previous A/C repairmen have also advised him that the softener doesn't draw much power and that it won't affect anything.
But it just sounds iffy to me to have such a large appliance piggybacked onto another one like that.
Please let me know if you're an electrician or work with major appliances! Thanks in advance. :)
2007-09-14 06:33:39 · 5 answers · asked by ceci9293 5 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
I would change that and install a new receptacle and wire to run the water softener 14-2 with ground and a 15 amp breaker...I am sure that nearly all water softeners are 110 volts and all outdoor ac units are 230 volts...this means whoever connected your softener to the electric panel is using the frame ground for your hvac unit as a neutral for your softener....this is very illegal and dangerous...and needs to be changed as soon as possible.....
2007-09-14 11:22:45 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The softener will not draw any more electricity than a light bulb, the only thing that runs all the time is a timer motor, like whats in an elect clock, then it trips a solenoid to run water Thur the softener,
2007-09-14 15:16:33 · answer #2 · answered by William B 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I do HVAC I have found building lights outside neon signs all kinds of things tied into disconnects on roof of buildings the only problems is these are 120v. All condensing units or roof top package units are 240v or 480v. there is no neutral pulled to these units whether single phase or 3 phase.On 240v you use 1leg to neutral to get 120v but you can use 1leg to ground you get 120v this is not to code and is illegal to do. You cant do this on 480v if you do you get about 290v nothing runs on this voltage. I have never seen it cause a problems but it just isnt right and illegal.
2007-09-14 17:06:51 · answer #3 · answered by alan s 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Your A/C disconnect has what is called lugs and by law the lugs are only supposed to contain one wire. If they are splicing into the load side of the unit that is I think lawful but poor quality work. The proper, lawful and decent way to do it is to add a dedicated GFCI outlet by the A/C disconnect and plug the softener into the outlet.
2007-09-14 14:01:15 · answer #4 · answered by Kris_B 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋
it would be a good idea to remove the softener from the a/c circuit.
if you have a problem with the softener you would not want to have to shut off your a/c to service the softener
2007-09-14 13:47:18 · answer #5 · answered by RUSSELLL 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋