no power to breaker

[gloria]

Hi! I'm new here and desperately seeking help with a wiring issue. We have an old a/c window unit made by Friedrich's. It has a 3 prong 220 cord. We have an empty breaker box that we know has power coming into it. We put in a 60 amp breaker and 12/3 wire to run to the a/c. We tested the wires, hot to white and hot to ground, and the test was fine. When we ran hot to off the breaker to the others and got no juice to it. Tester was barely dim. Could this be a faulty breaker? We can not get juice to the a/c at all. What could we do doing wrong? Should the breaker be that high of amp? The outlet for the a/c says 20A. Is this also important?

[CJT]

Don't you mean TWO breakers?

[dpb]

First, are you sure there is 220V not just 110V in the (formerly empty?) box? What was/is the purpose of this box and why was it empty?

For 220V, there are two "hots", each 110V from ground and a ground, _not_ a "hot to white" which would imply to me 110V, not 220V.

I have no idea what "ran hot to off the breaker to the others and got no juice to it." means--you'll have to be far more precise in what you did and what you saw.

As for whether it could be a faulty breaker, anything is _possible_ but unless it's an old or salvaged breaker from somewhere else, it would be far down on my list of suspects.

Lastly, but MOST IMPORTANTLY, IMMEDIATELY remove the 60A breaker!!! A

12 ga conductor isn't rated for more than 20A and you're seriously over sized for any protection other than a dead short. This is a dangerous condition even if it were working and should not be allowed to continue for any time at all.

As for recommendations, first you need to find out whether there is

220V available from the box to begin with. Then you need to determine whether the feed to that box is capable of supplying the additional load. Then, if both those conditions are met, you need a 20A two-pole breaker specifically designed for the box.

Given the level of inexperience indicated by the post, I strongly recommend getting an electrician to do this for you--that you would place a 60A breaker on a 12ga circuit is a very dangerous thing to do.

[T Shadow]

If your not a troll, call an electrician immediately. What you don't know can kill you or start a fire.

If you are a troll, find the correct voltages with one finger of each hand.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Did yo run 12/3 or did you run 12/3 with ground? When you say hot to white, are you doing both the black and the red? Getting 120V on each?

When we ran hot to off the breaker to the others and got no juice

Yes

You should be using a 20A breaker (a double for 220V) for 12/3 wire.

[hallerb]

use the 20 amp breaker!

you MUST straddle the 2 incoming main lines to get 240.

you are just getting 120 twice.

move some breakers around.

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its easy to do my neighbor was ready to return his new 6 HP compressor.

I walked over took one quick look and told him what was up. he thought me a miracle worker:)

Only thing I had done the exact same thing years ago setting up my 240 volt compressor:(