Unit disconnect has no supply voltage?

HvacNewbie91

Hello everyone let me start by saying awesome site, i look forward to learning and trying to help anyone I can. I just got into the HVAC field about a year ago, so I'm still kind of green to it, but I feel pretty confident with some stuff, forgive my question if it seems kind of dumb, but I came up on this condensing unit today to find it dead, so I started at the basics.. I opened up the disconnect panel and checked it for supply voltage at the supply end and there was none present. (theres a breaker in there not the pull-type disconnect... weird huh?) Anyways I double checked myself like 3 times, no power at the disconnect. I figured I might have not been making a good connection, the contactor was indeed closed (it had 24 volts calling for cooling) But no supply voltage to the contactor at all.. Does my duty as a tech stop at the disconnect? Do you think its a circuit breaker before the disconnect in series with it that's open? Or am I missing something? I did go ahead and replace the capacitors in the unit because they looked old and crappy. yet and still it was pointless because there's no supply voltage at the supply end of the disconnect and I will add i checked it at the wire itself.. to be 100% positive.. any responses, greenhorn bashing, *cough* constructive criticism is welcomed

beenthere

That disconnect that looks to have a breaker in it. Thats not a breaker. Its just a switch, with its 30 or 60 amp rating on it. It was a square D right.

Next, you can look to see if the breaker in the panel box is tripped. If it is, then before resetting it, check the unit for shorts, and take the appropriate action if you find any. Then reset breaker and test system operation.

__________________
How many times must one fix something before it is fixed?

HvacNewbie91

thanks for your input beenthere.. turns out there was a breaker inside the apartment wired in series with the disconnect.. the breaker inside was bad. I feel stupid now

beenthere

School of hard knocks teaches lots of things.

__________________
How many times must one fix something before it is fixed?

refermadness

don't beat yourself up so easily,you have plenty of mistakes ahead in your career.

SULTINI

Wait till you have compressors chasing you down the street in your dreams.

spinfisher

LOL!! It's always the most obvious fixes that we overlook!

REP

Just a note here.If someone calls you for no cooling,he don't care if you have to climb the pole to get his unit running.How in God's name if you got called out for no cooling could you charge him if you didn't get his unit running.The only place I have ever seen anything like what you are discribing is on a union job and you are not union.

HvacNewbie91

just to clarify i was on schedule with many calls after him. also the guy wasnt staying there at the time he was gone for the week, so he wasnt worried if it was running right then..