Bought a "non-auto" circuit breaker (60A, 2 pole) from eBay. Now that I have the unit, I realize that it isn't an overcurrent device, but just a switch that fits into a breaker box. Oops.
Oh yeah, and the damn thing doesn't even work (intermittent "on" when I jiggle the stab connectors). Fortunately it wasn't that much money.
Is a "non-auto" circuit breaker covered for any use approved by current NEC?
Thanks,
Jon
They're used for disconnects. Often for AC condensers
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If it's intermittent, I'd take it back. You have to remove it anyhow to put in what you want.
Does that mean the breakers next to my outside AC unit will never trip unless I trip them by hand!
If they're circuit breakers they can trip, if they're just switches that look like circuit breakers, they won't. The switches usually have a sticker on them that says something like "no overcurrent protection"
That'll teach you about buying stuff from ebay. Never ever buy anything electrical from ebay. Buying books on ebay is about the only thing that's relatively safe. Better yet, block ebay in your browser. I did.
Now call and email that seller about 20 times a day to piss him off, do this for a week, then give the worst feedback you can.
I didn't see a sticker. I'll go look again for whatever there is. Thanks.
Ebay. I missed that.
Nothing wrong with ebay. I get tons of good deals off ebay. Just about everything can be researched with a few google searches. Or ask the seller. There are bargains on ebay and there is junk on ebay. You need to make sure you know what you are buying.
Same here. I've done over a 100 transactions on Ebay and only had one bad experience. On all the rest I got excellent deals and saved a ton of money. And I've sold items with no problem that I would never have been able to sell without Ebay. You just have to use due diligence, which includes looking at how many transactions the seller has done, their feedback rating, and carefully read the description of what you are buying.
In fact, when looking for something, I often go to Ebay first, because it can be easier to find the item there and get better descriptions of it quickly, etc.
You don't need a circuit breaker next to your AC condenser. The circuit breaker is at the panel.
Aye, I have learned. Fortunately it was only a $12 mistake, so I'm just going to call the thing a $12 lesson and move on.
In hindsight, I should have known what a "non-auto" breaker was, and noticed that the seller did not mention that he had tested the item. Live, learn, repeat.
Jon
Ah, gotcha, thanks.
Jon
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You can't say that arbitrarily. Majority of the time you don't need one. But there are various wiring solutions and I have seen breakers at the ac units. We have a number of houses on my street with a "main" panel at the ac units and the panel most of us consider a main installed as a sub elsewhere.
Thanks. Yes. Regardless of whether I need one or not, regardless of what I have, I want to know what I actually have. It might come in handy some day. It's always good to know what the facts are.
I should have said: What I meant was that when I said to return it, I had missed that it was ebay. It's more effort and money to return something to ebay than to a store that's in town.
I buy from Ebay too. Maybe the only non-starter was a phone machine that didn't switch from playing to recording**, but the vendor didn't claim to have tested that. And that was just what was wrong with the machine I bought new 15 or 18 years earlier.
**Even though they both would record when I pressed the Memo or the other button, that directly called for recording. He would actually have to hook it to a phone line, call and leave a message to test that, and he didn't bother and didn't say he had.And there was the transaction that Paypal messed up, refusing to pay because I was out of the country shipping it to myself, out of the country where I live, the US. And they didn't bother to email me to tell me they cancelled the payment (after the screen said it was paid.) but the vendor's product probably wasn't bad. I never got it.
You can't say that arbitrarily. Majority of the time you don't need one. But there are various wiring solutions and I have seen breakers at the ac units. We have a number of houses on my street with a "main" panel at the ac units and the panel most of us consider a main installed as a sub elsewhere.
If there is just a single device in the box, for the one condenser only, there is no need for it to be a circuit breaker. If you have a panel or sub panel at or near the location of the condenser, usually feeding more than just the one condenser, it would most definitely need to be a circuit breaker.
Why did you jump to the assumption that the seller wouldn't accept the item back and refund the purchase price?
Why not advise th OP to wait and see if and how the seller responds before giving him the advice you did?
I've been using eBay for nearly 10 years now and only got screwed once, back when eBay let ivory carvings be listed. I bought a carving from a guy in Brooklyn which turned out to be plastic and the seller wouldn't repond to me. Shortly after that the seller was no longer on eBay.
Jeff
He bought an inexpensive item. It will be his responsibility to pay to ship it back, and probably not worth the money or effort.
Unfortunately, that is the situation. It was a $12 item which cost me $6.00 to have shipped to me, and would cost me another $6.00 to ship it back.
The seller was careful not to describe the item as being tested by him, only describing the item as being "fully functional" from a "working service".
If this actually had been a circuit breaker (and not just a switch, aka "non-auto breaker"), I would return it for replacement, but as it is, I'll just write it off.
Jon
Same here. I've done over a 100 transactions on Ebay and only had one bad experience. On all the rest I got excellent deals and saved a ton of money. And I've sold items with no problem that I would never have been able to sell without Ebay. You just have to use due diligence, which includes looking at how many transactions the seller has done, their feedback rating, and carefully read the description of what you are buying.
In fact, when looking for something, I often go to Ebay first, because it can be easier to find the item there and get better descriptions of it quickly, etc.
I too, love buying stuff on Ebay. I even sold a thirty year old tractor and got way more that it was worth, at least to me. But, one thing I found out first hand, if things go horribly wrong, Ebay sucks. I don't care if you're the buyer or the seller, they're worthless. Their "buyer protection" is just a total farce. You're on your own.
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