Electricians- House wiring

[jay79cj7]

Hi guys-
I'm selling my place and the buyer's inspector came the other day. In his report he says my wiring is not sized properly for the 20 amp 230V breaker for the A/C circuit. I figured he meant the wires were too small and needed a heavier gauge. (I've never messed with it, worked fine for 5 years.) I called to figure out what gauge I needed.
He told me that actually the wires were too large for the breaker. He says I need a 30 amp breaker b/c the wires are 10 gauge. This defies all logic to me. There's nothing wrong with using wires that are too big... They might be a waste of money, but they will work just fine. He says that the bigger wires will allow more current and the breaker will trip when the A/C comes on. The breaker hasn't tripped in 5 the Illinois summers that I've lived here. If its working fine and I put in a bigger breaker, its just going to be slower to trip if something goes wrong. That means less safe to me.
So... Am I wrong? Can anybody explain to me why bigger wires are bad? His report says its a safety problem. I guess I'm just going to spend $20 and put in a new breaker so this goes away, but it just seems stupid.
thanks.

 

[jps4jeep]

Makes perfect sense. Your breaker is designed to trip when there is too much load in the wire, if your wire guage is more than the intended amperage rating for the breaker, should that wire ever require a load in it that is over 20 amps it will unneccessarily trip the breaker.

Kinda like if you run a microwave, fridge, vaccum, blender and airconditioner all on the same 15 amp curcuit and then start up your hair dryer, your demand is more than teh breaker is designed to safely allow, and it will trip.

 

[jay79cj7]

Yes, I understand that if the wires are bigger than the breaker, the circuit could carry more current if the breaker was bigger. But if the standard needs of the circuit are met by the 20 amp breaker, there is no issue. The wires don't determine the load, the appliances do, and this is devoted to the A/C. Therefore unlike a normal house circuit, the load won't change, b/c there won't be that extra hair dryer plugged in. If a 20 amp breaker works without tripping, then there is no functional issue. Putting a 30 amp breaker would just allow an extra 10 amps of current to flow through the circuit before tripping, and the only time there would be an extra draw would be during some sort of malfunction.

 

[88Wrangles]

I've never heard of wires being TOO big. The only time wire size should be an issue is if it's too small.

 

[TerryMason]

Did he find any other issues? I imagine that if you pay a home inspector to inspect a house, you'd want him to find something.

 

[Ggg]

I will bet this was a "certified home inspector" they are a huge scam.
AFAIK There is nothing in the NEC that says you can't under size a breaker for a given wire size so long as that breaker can handle the load for that circuit. Yes I do happen to own a copy of the NEC and took a quick look. Now having said that, if the wire is physically too big to fit into the breaker (10 awg isn't) it is not permitted to cut away several strands of wire so it will fit.
Merely upping the breaker to a 30A would be a safety issue because it will no longer protect the a/c unit from an over load.
In IL home inspectors do not have the credentials or authority to make code or safety violation determinations, only state their opinions. Now if this is a licensed electrician and or village electrical inspector then it would hold more water. But none the less the damage has been done, the "fear" has been put into the seller's mind. You will have to either reject the inspectors report and insist on another inspector (usually at your cost) or make provisions or concessions for repairs. Personally I would just give a $100 credit on the purchase price and have them sign an agreement absolving you of any responsibility and accepting the credit for said repairs. I do sympathize with your position and have ben there myself. But it will cost more to make a stand on the principal than to just pay it off so to speak. I am of course assuming you don't have the luxury of rejecting the offer in today's market.

 

[spyder873]

I second the above, There is nothing wrong with the set up you have. It would be different if you had a 14 awg somewhere mixed up with a 20 amp breaker but the wire doesnt draw the current, the ac unit will.

 

[Ggg]

I meant to say the "fear" has been put into the buyers mind, not the seller.