AC condenser power whip colors

[justsam]

I just had a 5 ton condenser installed at my home. The home was prepped with power, line set, thermostat wire, disconnect, panel breakers, etc. Work was done by a licensed professional HVAC company.

The whip is Sealtite, and the conductors used, 6ga I believe were red, black, and WHITE. The white was used as EGC, there is no neutral involved, and runs from the metal disconnect box where it is tied to the bare EGC from the house. The white conductor is then connected to the chassis ground at the condenser.

I have no issue with it electrically, just color code wise. Is the whip exempt from standard practice? Can I green tape it so no confusion? Do I just need to redo the professionals work, since they seemed not interested in fixing it when I called them on it.

All else is fine, and good workmanship.

 

[Aceman]

No, it is not exempt. It should be green in color. There really is no excuse for them to be using the wrong color wire. Prefabbed AC unit whips come with a black, red, and green so I'm not sure where they are buying ones that have a white instead?

However, if you taped it green at both ends along the whole length that was visible, on the code violation scale, it's pretty low. You would get called on it if inspected, but electrically your system doesn't know the difference between a white ground and a green ground as long as it's sized properly.