220v or 110v?

Question

I've just purchased a 25k BTU air conditioner. Naturally an appliance of this size requires a 220v line with a 250v recepticle. I am an avid do it yourselfer who's intalled several 220 outlets so I was not concerned about running a new line. Per power requirements I ran a three wire 220 line to the outlet which has two hot lines (L1 and L2), one ground, and no neutral. However, when I plugged in the AC it did not work. So naturally I checked all of the wiring, voltage, breaker, outlet and anything else I could think of but it still will not work. For the sake of trying something different I rewired the outlet off of a 110v leg and created a neutral wire. All of the sudden the LED display lights up, the fan motor runs, and the compressor tries to kick in. Does anyone have any idea what's going on with this thing? It seems like when it's wired for 220v it's not completing the circuit. This is the third air conditioner I've tried within 48 hours after taking the first two back.

Answer 1

WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IS SUPPLY BOTH OF YOUR L-1 & L-2 FROM THE SAME LUG OF YOUR MAIN POWER BOX . EACH OF YOUR 110 VOLT LEADS HAVE TO COME FROM DIFFERENT LEGS TO MAKE 220 VOLTS . YOU NEED A DOUBLE THICKNESS BRAKER TO DRAW POWER FROM EACH LEG ----IF YOU ARE USEING A SINGLE THICKNESS BREAKER WITH 2 SWITCHS THEY BOTH COME FROM ONLY ONE LEG OF THE BOX  TO CHECK IT OUT MAKE A EXTSHION CORD STRIGHT TO YOUR BRAKER BOX WITH NEUTERAL TO GROUND  AND ONE 110 FROM A LEFT SIDE SINGLE BRAKER AND ONE 110 FROM A RIGHT SIDE SINGLE BRAKER AND IF THE UNIT IS STILL GOOD ( YOU HAVEN'T BURENT IT UP BY BAD WIREING ) IT WILL FIRE UP AND WORK . THEN REWORK THE WIREING AS I HAVE TOLD YOU ONE TO EACH OF 2 LEGS AND IT WILL WORK .

Answer 2

Sounds like one of the leads on the A/C is expecting voltage (120) but you don't have a corresponding voltage in the plug.

Answer 3

Try testing the voltage at the outlet.

You should have 240 across L1 and L2, and 120 from L1 or L2 to ground.

It sounds like one of the above is missing.