Wait until you get one that's wired straight to the meter base, and you have to call the power company to come and pull the meter so you can service the unit.
does having a lower rated breaker (30 instead of 50) protect the device in the event of malfunction? i would have thought bigger capacity was better (not an electrician obviously!)
If your breaker is rated too large then your equipment will "break" before your breaker breaks. You need to size it appropriately where your breaker goes before your equipment. You also do not want the breaker to be too small.
Two ways to go at the disconnect; Option one, fused at the apec on the equipment or a breaker style switch apec to equipment. Then option two non fused disconnect, the breaker at the panel will be the safety. A non fused disconnect comes in two flavors 30 amps and 60 amp. You can use a 60 amp disconnect but the breaker at the panel must not go over the equipment spec. Usually 50 amp is max on residential units. Now what size wire to use is different than NEC tables and confusing for lots, so don't worried about wire size. If the equipment say 30 amp max then the breaker or fuses if the disconnect takes fuses must be 30 amp.
Wait until you get one that's wired straight to the meter base, and you have to call the power company to come and pull the meter so you can service the unit.
does having a lower rated breaker (30 instead of 50) protect the device in the event of malfunction? i would have thought bigger capacity was better (not an electrician obviously!)
If your breaker is rated too large then your equipment will "break" before your breaker breaks. You need to size it appropriately where your breaker goes before your equipment. You also do not want the breaker to be too small.
Maybe if you love watching your house burn down
The breaker should be the weakest link in the chain and is there to protect the wire and equipment.
Two ways to go at the disconnect; Option one, fused at the apec on the equipment or a breaker style switch apec to equipment. Then option two non fused disconnect, the breaker at the panel will be the safety. A non fused disconnect comes in two flavors 30 amps and 60 amp. You can use a 60 amp disconnect but the breaker at the panel must not go over the equipment spec. Usually 50 amp is max on residential units. Now what size wire to use is different than NEC tables and confusing for lots, so don't worried about wire size. If the equipment say 30 amp max then the breaker or fuses if the disconnect takes fuses must be 30 amp.