![]() However, the compressor may be old or damaged and need to be replaced instead.Ī "grounded compressor" or "compressor short to ground" means that an electrical winding inside the compressor has broken and hit the side of the compressor. Solution: Have an AC technician install a "hard start kit" which is a capacitor that gives the compressor motor an extra electrical "jolt" to get it moving. Unfortunately, as the compressor ages, it has trouble starting (called hard starting) and pulls even more electricity, causing the breaker to trip as a result. It pulls tons of electricity when it starts up. The heart of your AC system is the compressor. Solution: Call an AC repair technician to find the source of the short. Of course, before the fire happens, the circuit breaker trips. This shortcut allows more electricity to flow than the wires can handle, causing the wires to overheat, melt and cause a fire. Solution: Have a tech tighten connections to the AC's breaker or replace the breaker.Įlectric motors in your AC can run for hours and hours and can take quite a bit of abuse. But if a motor runs hot for too long, the wire insulation can break down, leading to an electrical "short."Ī "short" is where electricity bypasses its normal path, (so it's taking a "shortcut"). Wires connected to the breaker may be loose or the breaker itself may be bad and needs replacing. The issue may not be with the AC itself but rather with the breaker. This blocks airflow over the coil and is just as bad as having the coil matted with dirt. Plus, cleaning it improperly could damage/flatten the fins wrapped around the coil. Well, you lack the cleaning equipment and cleaning chemicals to clean the condenser coil professionally (and buying the wrong type of equipment can do more harm than good to the condenser). You may be thinking, "Why can't I clean it myself?" Solution: Get an AC tech to properly clean the outside unit. So the AC runs and runs trying to disperse that heat outside until-click-the breaker trips due to drawing too much current. ![]() However, the outside unit can't disperse heat well if it's super dirty because dirt is an insulator. That refrigerant flows to the outside unit to disperse the heat. The inside unit absorbs heat from your air using refrigerant. Your AC system has an inside unit and an outside unit. This causes the blower to draw more electricity and trip the breaker. Hard to breathe right? That's what a dirty filter does to your AC blower the blower has to work longer and harder to circulate air through the filter. Now, on to the reasons your AC keeps tripping the circuit breaker Or you can schedule an AC repair with us right away if you live in the metro Atlanta, GA area. ![]() Read on to learn why these problems cause an AC to trip the breaker. You can fix the first problem yourself, but everything else requires an AC repair technician. Find the cause of the problem first.Ĭommon causes of an air conditioner tripping the breaker include: Constant tripping can harm equipment and cause a fire. So DON'T keep resetting the breaker and letting it trip. That's why breakers trip: to protect you from over currents that can damage equipment and cause fires (yikes). That is, if you have a 20-amp breaker and the AC pulls 30 amps, the breaker trips. ![]() ![]() Well, an air conditioner usually trips the breaker because it's pulling in more amps than the breaker is rated for. So, you've determined that your AC is tripping the breaker, but you're clueless as to why. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |