Outside unit tripping breaker

[joerockt]

I've had the AC on in my home as needed for the past month or two. Just recently, I went to turn the AC on discovered that the 30 amp circuit breaker had tripped. So I reset it, when inside to turn the AC on again, heard the unit start up for about 2 secs, then shut off, breaker was tripped again :(

So, I reset the breaker again and went to take a look at the unit. Oddly enough, the fan was spinning at a very low speed??? :confused: Almost like it had a small trickle of power running to it. I confirmed Tstat was off, it was. I stood outside while my wife turned the tstat on and same thing, started for a second, then tripped.

Im going to replace the easy things first like the circuit breaker and tstat. Good news is that my unit is only 4 years old and still under warranty, bad news is that the company that repairs them is 3 WEEKS OUT :wall: I called another place, but they said unless they installed the unit themselves, they couldnt help...

The unit is a Comfortmaker. I checked their website and no numbers to contact, so I have no idea who else is an authorized repair company

Any help would be appricated...

[Grady]

Unless you got some sort labor warranty, only parts would be covered. You might want to check the yellow pages for other dealers. Comfortmaker may have a dealer locator on their web site.

[hiltontech]

Could have a bad fan motor or capacitor,
Turn the power off at the disconnect that powers your unit, remove side cover and check to see if you have bad or loose wires going to and from the contactor and to the capacitor, look at the capacitor and see if you notice if it's oily or if it's swollen.
Also, can you hear if the compressor hums before it trips the disconnect.

Hiltontech

[joerockt]

Could have a bad fan motor or capacitor,
Turn the power off at the disconnect that powers your unit, remove side cover and check to see if you have bad or loose wires going to and from the contactor and to the capacitor, look at the capacitor and see if you notice if it's oily or if it's swollen.
Also, can you hear if the compressor hums before it trips the disconnect.

Hiltontech

Yes, I do hear the compressor kick in as soon as I turn the power on and right before it trips.

[Ed Imeduc]

If you dont have a meter and know electric. Id say call a hvac tech to look at it.

ED ;)

[hiltontech]

Does the cond. fan also come on (outside fan)


Hiltontech

[RogerK]

When that happened to me, I found a spider had made a nest on one of the contactor points during the off season. Turning the unit on for the first time in the spring resulted in contact on only one of the two points (the spider got squashed, but was still acting as an insulator). This caused the unit to try to run on 120V instead of 240. The result was one of the two fuses in the outside disconnect box got blown.

I replaced both fuses, cleaned the contactor points, and all was well.

[joerockt]

When that happened to me, I found a spider had made a nest on one of the contactor points during the off season. Turning the unit on for the first time in the spring resulted in contact on only one of the two points (the spider got squashed, but was still acting as an insulator). This caused the unit to try to run on 120V instead of 240. The result was one of the two fuses in the outside disconnect box got blown.

I replaced both fuses, cleaned the contactor points, and all was well.

Is the disconnect box the black box attached to the wall just outside the ac unit? If so, that box says there are no fuses in it. There is just a bar that will pull out that has copper prongs on it.

Well, I went and cleaned it anyway. Plugged the bar back in, reset the circuit breaker and turned the thermostat on. This time, the fan was spinning at full speed, but it didnt sound like the compressor was running?? Then after about 2 mins, the breaker tripped again. Hope this is a clue for your guys. Thanks for the help so far...

[Ed Imeduc]

If you dont have a meter and amprobe to look at it call a tech. Are all wires good on everything there. All capacitors good? Is it the fan or the compressor??? :wall:


ED