B-Line BQL230 Eaton BAB thermal magnetic circuit breaker

The BQL230 is a two-pole, 30 amp breaker rated 120/240 volts. Two-pole means it lands on both legs of a single-phase panel and gives you a 240V circuit, which is what you want for a water heater, dryer circuit, small compressor, or a 240V condensing unit. If you need 120V only, a single-pole is the wrong-to-right swap, not this one.

Yes. The BQL230 is HACR rated, which is the marking required for breakers feeding heating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment with multiple motor loads. At 30 amps, two-pole, 120/240V it covers a typical residential or light commercial condensing unit, provided the unit's nameplate maximum overcurrent protection is 30 amps.

Thermal magnetic gives you two trip mechanisms in one device on the BQL230: a bimetal element that responds to sustained overload with an inverse time delay, and a magnetic element that trips instantly on a short circuit or ground fault current. It is not a GFCI or AFCI, so if the circuit needs personnel or arc-fault protection you need a different device.

No. The BQL230 is rated 120/240 volts and two poles only. It has no place on a 277/480V system or as a three-phase device. For a 208Y/120 three-phase panel you would need a three-pole breaker rated for that system, and for 480V a breaker carrying the higher voltage rating.

For openings fed at 120/240V single phase, a two-pole 30 amp BQL is one of the most-used sizes in the panel: dryers, water heaters, small HVAC. Stocking the BQL230 covers those, and the HACR rating means the same part works for condensing unit circuits instead of keeping a separate HVAC-rated breaker on the shelf. Verify each panel is labeled for BQL type breakers before standardizing.

Roughly 3 inches wide, 2 inches high and 5 inches deep, at about half a pound. As a two-pole unit it occupies two adjacent stab positions in the load center, so you need a contiguous pair of open spaces, not two scattered singles.