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New 110v A/C Units, 220v wall sockets, breaker trips when both are on now.
durandal4532
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So my apartment recently FINALLY replaced some 25+ year-old wall AC units.
Great!
Unfortunately, these new units don't use the same voltage as the old ones, and are therefore plugged into the standard wall sockets at the moment instead of the 220v located near each. Because of this, they trip the breakers if they're both on at the same time, since the circuit setup was initially designed to have each A/C unit on a completely separate circut.
Not great!
Is there any way I can adapt these units to plug into the nearby 220v wall-sockets or otherwise take care of the breaker-tripping on my own, or is this a job for an electrician that I'm gonna need to contact my landlady about?
Great!
Unfortunately, these new units don't use the same voltage as the old ones, and are therefore plugged into the standard wall sockets at the moment instead of the 220v located near each. Because of this, they trip the breakers if they're both on at the same time, since the circuit setup was initially designed to have each A/C unit on a completely separate circut.
Not great!
Is there any way I can adapt these units to plug into the nearby 220v wall-sockets or otherwise take care of the breaker-tripping on my own, or is this a job for an electrician that I'm gonna need to contact my landlady about?
We're all in this together
durandal4532 on
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https://www.amazon.com/Voltage-Converter-220-240-110/dp/B001ES8YY6
I wouldn't be happy with that thing being a constant thing though.
After asking about it in early May.
You know, to make sure the units were ready for the summer.
Blurgh oh well time to start to the long march.
You've all winter! I'm sure they'll be thinking about maybe calling an electrician by next summer.
The product linked is rated for the equivalent of a bright light bulb. I'm quite certain the AC unit would be a much higher load.
OP, get your landlady involved and she should either buy the right unit or get an electrician involved.
Lots of equipment is made to run on dual voltages 110/220 or 220/480 but not all of it.
If the equipment is good for it, changing the plug is pretty trivial to do, but if you don't own them I wouldn't go cutting the plugs off.
Oh yeah I was hoping for like "buy a ____ and it'll adapt" as in you know Euro/American plug adapters. Clearly it's a more involved situation.
Just... dangit I was so hoping not to deal with this for a solid 6 months straight.
This is an Amps issue not a voltage issue. The circuit your AC is shared and is likely only 15 amp. Considering a reasonably sized wall AC unit uses between 8 and 15 amps. Also keep in mind that converting 220volt circuit into 110 will require twice as many amps for the same amount of power, so a conversion item may not be appropriate.
An electrician is best for this job. It'll cost about 300-450 depending on the area. See if you can have it done and have the Land Lady reimburse you or have it credited against your rent.
So if both are let's say, 10 amps on full power, and both kick on at once to cool down, you're now using 20 amps of a 15 amp circuit, which will trip the circuit breaker so you don't start a fire.
While it's on low they both may use less than 8 amps together, but the compressor probably kicks it on like you're running a hairdryer.