Turn off power to central A/C for winter?

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I get these occasional home reminder/advice tips from Manage My Life. Half of the time it doesn't make any sense to me. Today they recommend turning off power to central A/C for winter:

http://www.managemylife.com/mmh/articles/authored/off-the-power-to-your-ac

It says:
Quote:

Do one of the following:

- On your main electrical panel, locate the fuse or breaker marked "air conditioner." Remove the fuse or flip the breaker to Off.
- Flip the handle on the outdoor shutoff near the compressor to the Off position.


In my house, the A/C and heater is part of the same system and therefore I don't have a separate circuit breaker just for A/C. There is also no handle of any sort to be found on the outdoor units.

I've been in this house over 2 years now and never did anything to the heat/AC units apart from flipping the thermostats from COOL to HEAT and back and replacing air and humidifier filters. Is there something I need to be doing in addition to this?

Thanks.
 
While it might make sense to turn it off bc of say a lightening strike. Probably almost no-one turns if off.
Note..just an uneducated opinion.
 
It may save a few cents, or the equipment from an electrical storm during non-use. Though we always get a few freak days that make the inside humid so it's nice to have ac to dry the air.
 
Some central air units come with a heater built into the compressor to keep the oil warm in low temp usage. These do consume a fair amount of electricity over time.
 
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Hmmmmmm, never even thought of that. We get occassional thunder snow and ice, even here. With that question, I wonder if the AC unit even "pulls" a little juice when it's still connected.
 
Originally Posted By: Greggy_D
Yep....I flip over my outdoor fuse to OFF every Oct.

That's the thing. I don't see any such switch/fuse anywhere.
 
There should be an outdoor disconnect near the compressor. Look for a grey metal box. It isn't a fuse, rather a disconnect device that you pull out and flip over, then re-insert. The disconnect doesn't have an amperage rating so it shouldn't be called a fuse.

My Trane XL-14i outdoor compressor has an onboard warmer (or so says the literature than came with it). It states that if the power is disconnected over the winter, that in the spring I should apply power and give it a 24 hour period to warm the refrigerant/oil.

I just shut the breaker off inside over the winter months and don't mess with the disconnect, only when I am doing the spring checkup do I open the disconnect box and pull the plug out and check for cobwebs.
 
I was told that you can damage it if you switch it on under around 70 degrees. A good reason to disconnect the AC unit would be to prevent inadvertant damage over the cold months if someone decided to turn it on for some reason.
 
Originally Posted By: hemitom
Some central air units come with a heater built into the compressor to keep the oil warm in low temp usage. These do consume a fair amount of electricity over time.


exactly...
happy2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
I was told that you can damage it if you switch it on under around 70 degrees. A good reason to disconnect the AC unit would be to prevent inadvertant damage over the cold months if someone decided to turn it on for some reason.


BINGO!!!

That's the main concern, plus as other mentioned, some units have oil warmers and they will consume some electricity even when not used.
 
Haven't seen that kind before. Definently has 240 going into it, the black and the red lines, and 240 going out. There's no actual switch on that unit. Looks like I can see "on" on the bottom right of that red box, but don't get me to lying here. I say it's a fuse because you probably got the 240 lines coming from your circuit breaker from inside the house. I'd trip that breaker before even touching that thing.
 
Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Looks like I can see "on" on the bottom right of that red box, but don't get me to lying here.

Yup. The red piece with the handle pulls out. It has 4 metal tabs on the back end. When I flip it 180 degrees, it'll be in OFF position - the tabs will be in different places.

So, is the consensus to switch it off for winter?
 
You got enough wire to rotate it 180 degrees from current position? But yeah, turn it off for the winter. You just never know when someone might "accidentally" turn it on during the dead of winter and then you worry all the way up to spring. That's what I'm going to do when winter finally nails us, which is usually right after Halloween.
 
Originally Posted By: Schmoe
You got enough wire to rotate it 180 degrees from current position?

Only the handle piece rotates, not the entire red box.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
I get these occasional home reminder/advice tips from Manage My Life. Half of the time it doesn't make any sense to me. Today they recommend turning off power to central A/C for winter:

http://www.managemylife.com/mmh/articles/authored/off-the-power-to-your-ac

It says:
Quote:

Do one of the following:

- On your main electrical panel, locate the fuse or breaker marked "air conditioner." Remove the fuse or flip the breaker to Off.
- Flip the handle on the outdoor shutoff near the compressor to the Off position.


In my house, the A/C and heater is part of the same system and therefore I don't have a separate circuit breaker just for A/C. There is also no handle of any sort to be found on the outdoor units.

I've been in this house over 2 years now and never did anything to the heat/AC units apart from flipping the thermostats from COOL to HEAT and back and replacing air and humidifier filters. Is there something I need to be doing in addition to this?

Thanks.


Most home AC units have an oil heater (aka "clarifier") that consumes a fair amount of power all the time. Something like 5-15 watts. If you REALLY aren't going to run the AC for an extended period of time, turning off that heater can save you some money because it runs 24/7.

On the other hand, if you do need to run the AC you should apply power back to that heater AT LEAST 4-6 hours before you start the unit so that the oil will be up to operating temp. This is especially true in winter when the compressor can be REALLY cold and the oil thoroughly congealed without that heater.

And FWIW- every home I've lived in has a separate breaker for the air handler (indoor blower/furnace combo) and the condensing/compressor unit outside. It doesn't have to be that way, but it commonly is. Particularly if you have a gas furnace where the indoor unit is 110v and the condensing unit is 220V.
 
Luckily I don't have A/C, central or window or portable, to worry about turning on and off. I normally use mother nature to conditioning the house, open windows at night in summer to cool the house, close windows during daytime to keep the heat out. Open and close windows in opposite time during winter.
 
Good for you.

Some of us live in places where air conditioning and heating are required to get through all 4 seasons.

Imagine a person in Moose Lake, MN trying to get through the winter in their house without any heating.

Or a person in Las Vegas surviving the summer without a/c through another record summer in their west facing 1 bedroom apartment.

Just because you don't need a/c or heat, doesn't mean you're doing something right while everyone else is doing something wrong.

BC.
 
The "off power" consumed by the compressor crankcase heater on older AC units was quite high.... the one I installed in my rental property was 40 watts, my old Amana 30,000 btu central was 100 watts!!! 2.4 KWH per day, 75 KWH a month....

8 bucks a month when turned off...... yes I always turn them off for the winter. Impatient people playing with the thermostat in the dead of winter may also switch on your central when the outside temperature is well below zero.... no, they are not supposed to be doing that!! Yes, your renters will try everything, better safe than sorry.
 
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