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parotman
Dec 30, 2008, 12:35 PM
I had a furnace "expert" come in because I kept blowing a fuse in the furnace. He by passed a common wire. The furnace is an American Standard and it is brand new. It is an electric furnace. I only run it about 3 to 4 hours per day. I received my first power bill it was extremely high. I was curious why something would have to be bypassed. I figured everything, if hooked up correctly would not need to be bypassed. And would this affect the amount of power the furnace is using. Any opinion would be helpful. Oh, by the way it was not hooked up by a licensed furnace guy. Thanks

hvac1000
Dec 30, 2008, 04:01 PM
A electric furnace runs on 220/240 volts and does not need a common wire BUT it does need a ground wire. On a 220/240 volt appliance you only need a common or as many call it a neutral when the unit uses 120 volts to power something. The elements/blower motor/transformet are all 220/240 volts in a electric furnace so a common/neutral are not required BUT as I said before the unit does require a GROUND for safety purposes. Electric furnaces are 100% efficient so the high electric bill will be normal if the furnace caused the bill to go up.

Since the work was performed by a person who may not know how it is supposed to be wired for safety you might have it checked out by someone who does.