AC Keeps Tripping Breaker and The 10 Most Common Reasons Why
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- Is your air conditioner condenser tripping your AC circuit breaker immediately when you turn on your cooling? Or maybe the air conditioning runs for a while and then trips the breaker? In this video I go over 10 reasons why your HVAC can trip your circuit breaker. With this video you should be able to narrow down the possible reasons why the breaker is tripping.
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Excellent info and great job explaining everything.
May JESUS bless you and yours!! Take care man
I lost count of how many times I visited your videos to troubleshoot my HVAC issues. Its def a life saver!!!
A second comment. My daughter's system was tripping her breaker. A major AC repair company in town told her she needed a complete new system. Reason he gave was very vague. Something about a leak in the system causing rust in the Freon lines????? I told my daughter get a second opinion. This co. had just installed that system about ten years ago. Someone she knew from the office she worked in came and looked the system over. Turned out, there was a Freon leak. He fixed the leak, recharged the system, charged her 700.00 just for the gas cost. The co. wanted 14.000.00 to replace the entire system. Needles to say, that air conditioning company will never see another job from me, my family, or any of my friends.
Oh wow. Yeah, that is quite the difference in estimates! 700 to fix and recharge is a very good price. Usually it would go over 1000 easy. Glad to hear it all worked out so well! Thank you for sharing! Stay cool :)
You should put their name up to identify the rip off artists hacks and really let pay back come full bore should be put out of business hitting ppl like that trying to get by in life
I hope you went to Google Yelp and anywhere else you could leave a review on that company!!
What's the name of the company and what state is it in please. My breaker tripped and I want to make sure I don't call that company.
R-22?
This gentlemen is a real teacher... thks a lot.
Thank you, it may sound funny but I encountered this problem today and I didn't know what the problem was, I'm a technicians helper, the technician didn't troubleshoot the way you did he just said that the compressor was the problem, but didn't give me further explanation, so thank you now I know how to test the compressor and the possible problems, really appreciate it.
You have been an excellent huge help for two reasons. One my Subaru wrx has a faulty compressor and has been leaking and drawing to much power causing power loss in other areas. And two my rv compressor is tripping the breaker, so I will test some of the quality bits of info you described here and let’s see if I can get to the bottom of this!!! Thank you a thousand!!!!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I watch countless "AC tripping breaker" videos; most sucked. Your video was extremely helpful, thanks.
Good to hear :) Hope you get it fixed!
This guy is the HVAC whisperer! Genius, very informative and helpful. Thank You.
Amazing. You're a saint. A rare breed, to be so thorough and helpful. Thank you.
Wanted to make sure my home insurance was rejecting my claim for the right reasons. Extremely helpful video. Answered all my questions. Thanks!
I didn't know which solution from this video to try first for my AC, so I just blended a few of 'em together all in one go and it's somehow working again. Thanks for the super informative video man!
The best ac repair videos on TH-cam
I had dirty condenser coils. After a good rinse, I was up and running. This video was very helpful, thank you
Thanks jay I really appreciate your help with all your videos is a valuable information and you're sharing it for free, thank you so much and GOD bless your family and you.🙏🙏👌💯
Great video! It's also possible to have a wiring problem in the house that trips the breaker, that happened to me. When I installed my mini split last year I needed to install a dedicated circuit, so I ran 10 gauge Romex from the electrical panel to the disconnect box. The breaker tripped the second I turned it on. After realizing that it still tripped the breaker with the disconnect out, I realized that the new Romex I used was defective, one of the hots was shorted to ground and was tripping the breaker. No external damage to the cable. Weird. This could also happen if someone accidentally damages wiring in the walls or attic by stepping on it or hitting it with a screw or nail.
Your videos are very Professor you explain everything in great detail and I like that a lot keep the videos coming out..mike.👍
Hey thank you for this excellent video. My a/c has started tripping the breaker and I just had an HVAC tech come out. He believes that I need my breaker replaced because he said that when he went to turn it on and off that it's very loose, rather than firm. So the last reason you showed might be mine.
Wonderful infomation from the video and comments! I now know that because my condenser froze up, that's why the breaker kept tripping. Thank you so much everyone for your help!
Very informative video. Gives me some ammo when the tech comes out so I know he is doing everything he is supposed to be doing. Thanks for the demonstration along with the explanations as well.
hey man,
thank you for doing such a great job and making complete sense ...
my fau was working but things weren't cooling down...
went out side compressor/fan
not turning...reset breaker and compressor buzzing but no fan spin.....gave the fan a push...it spun but very solwly...so i shut off.....
removed cover and discharged/removed capacitor (mounting strap was covering voltage/cap specs)
my cap is 60 and 7.5 uf
i could only find a 60 and 5 uf)
local hvac parts houses would not sell to me without license... replaced capacitor, used tinfoil to shim the stap so it would be tight around cap..and everything is working great.....
im going to order the right cap from you (60 and 7.5) and keep the 60 and 5 uf as spare... .
first real hot week in socal desert so techs were swamped..90 degrees inside by noon..so you saved me on this one..
your a great teacher....
best wishes to you
Your videos are great, man. Very helpful. Just graduated from HVAC school and I wish I had found your videos sooner.
Glad I could help with furthering your knowledge! It's a great career, good luck!
Thank you very much for informative and educational AC repair video. Your vidoe is easy to understand. You are savvy on the subject, especially, you are a very generous AC technician. I hope you have lots of customers. I am near 70 years old, and I can't do most of AC repair. I am not an AC repair man, so , most my AC issues, I call an AC tech. May God bless you.
Did resi installs for 8 yrs and made the jump to service about a yr ago and you videos are really helpful. Can you do a few on Air Handlers and heat pumps? Im in K.C and they are super common here
My AC breaker kept tripping. Found out the capacitor was bad... replaced it and working like a charm.
I hope everything goes well for you to move to Hawaii... I picked up a lot of good things from your videos J, I hope you continue to send out the videos I'm sure there's a lot of people like me that enjoy them I can't wait to see your next one when it comes out thanks for all you do...mike.
Great video and excellent in explaining.Thanks for your time and knowledge,sir.
Great clip !
All we need to know about quick check AC
Thank you
LIKE it
Very good and informative info. Thanks.
Thanks for the tips, I'm going to try them to figure out why my breaker is tripping.
Missed a couple of things. One of the major causes of "hard starting" is a bad run capacitor. This will not allow the compressor to start and it will draw "locked rotor power "which can kick the breaker .Same with the fan motor. A permanent split capacitor fan motor with a bad capacitor will run slowly or not at all, increasing the head pressure and amp draw. Another thing is short cycling, which is not allowing the pressure to equalize by having the compressor off for at least 5 minutes. Real common in the mercury stat days before electronic stats became popular with their built in time delays .Another one is loose wiring at the AC breaker in the breaker panel. A loose wire creates heat, and a breaker will falsely interpret this as excess amperage and kick the breaker. I have never heard of a dirty filter kicking a breaker. Normally this will freeze up a unit with ice but will drop the amp draw . Could be possible under these conditions to flood liquid back to the compressor and slug it (trying to compress a liquid instead of a gas) but this will generally mechanically destroy the compressor and is rare. Also this unit that you are using as an example already has a start relay and a start capacitor installed by the factory. This does the same thing as a hard start and you cant have both of them hooked up at the same time.
Good job. We'll explained.
And start and Run Capacitors going bad is way more common than this!!! In my heat, they go bad about every 3 years!
Good looking out big dog. Got it fixed thanks to you, saved me a couple hundred dollars.
One thing I'd like to add; I've noticed, some, not all, outside units are located near, if not right next to the clothes dryer vent which really loads up the condenser with lint causing problems. Excellent videos; very helpful.
Lol... yes mine is right next to it, I’m cleaning it tomorrow hopefully fixes my issue.
Always good explanation my friend, keep it up!!
Very informative! THank you!
ohhh man thank you very much for your informative video i recently have the same problem with my ac system im glad i find your video here
Hey just wanted to say great video!! I believe I’m in the cooling zone now! Thank you
Lot of good information, thank you!
Thanks for the info.great video
Clear and concise information right on point for the average diy'er very helpful subscribed I did thank you much appreciated..
Great teaching the best make so simple
Good information. Thanks for sharing.
This is a very, very good and useful video! Thank you for posting this. I am subscribing right now.
Hard start or soft start? Which one to use?
The best advice I ever have thanks
great video sir, very straight explanation, thanks a lot!
You do a great job with explanation.... your videos are a lot better than others... BTW what state are you from?
Great video, it's about time you cleaned your ac.
Thanks for the video. My ac just tripped the breaker out of the blue, I’m about to go through your list starting with the easy stuff first.
Good luck :)
Scareface
Great video brother. Thank you.
Very nice . I fixed mine by replacing fuse. Thanks
One word of advice, if your condenser is tripping your breaker remember to ALWAYS restore power from the breaker. If you take out the pull out switch/disconnect, then reset the breaker and then put back the pull out switch you risk sparking and burning the contacts in the pull out switch if there is a short in the condenser. Then you may need to also change the disconnect box on top of fixing the condenser. I am used to cutting power/restoring power to the condenser using the pull out switch so I learned that lesson the hard way.
Man all the lessons that I’ve learned the hard way.
Had "guys" out 3 times, still not fixed. VERY hard to find someone with knowledge. Las Vegas area.
@@lvgirl9405 You are NOT lying. A/C guys who really know their business are few and far between. A lot of them know less than I do about electricity, and that is scary.
@@lvgirl9405 I have a guy here in Vegas, he's pretty good and knowledgeable regarding ac's among other things.
Same arcing and damage occurs to the circuit breaker when you close it on a shorted circuit. Best to locate and clear the fault using your meter, before you energize the circuit at all. Circuit breakers are designed to clear overloads and faults, not as a tool for locating them.
Wow thank you soo much. I was so afraid to even touch my outside unit... But i am a handy car guy. Your video helped me to look and see that mice or chipmunks have chewed wires causing a short to the compressor.
It is always good to hang out with you friend,,, thank you for this good information.
That's good to hear! Thank you for watching my videos!
@@WordofAdviceTV On this clip, Who is doing the video, maybe your wife or your kids. ??? Thanks for your help and sharing instructions and teaching.
God bless you and your family 👍👍👨👩👧👧
What would have been cool was if you had demonstrated the amp draw before cleaning the coil vs the coil caked in dirt and fluff. I wasn't aware until watching your video that amp draw would increase with a dirty coil. I knew it effected the condensers ability to remove heat from the refrigerant, but not how it effects the electrical aspect. Thanks for sharing!
Excellent information
Excellent job brother thank you
Hey this really helped me out. I suspected the breaker was crapping out and your note in here made me try swapping it out. Works great now. I'm also going to look into that hard start kit. Thanks!
Great video, thanks
excellent video. Will try to work on everything you suggested. Thanks.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching, good luck!
Excellent video! I'll be looking at a few of these things tomorrow.
One thing I'll add is that you might have shown how the disconnect paddle works rather than pointing to it. Many will not know anything about that item. I think the fear of the electrical box it is in will scare them but the troubleshooting you describe is safe for even novices, once they realize how to safe the equipment.
You are the best thank you For Sharing your knowledge
Very good information bro thank you blessings
Thanks for video. I know its old but basic system never changes
Wooooo
Nice man thank you
So much it was very helpful
👍 Thanks, bro! AC tripped is breaker then my main, I thought it was toast for sure. Following your lead I checked for catastrophic failure first (seemed easiest) and I had a burnt out spade connector that worked loose and sparked itself into a grave - right on the compressor. I didn't know where to start but you saved me an emergency elec-chicken call.
Haha happy to hear that man! :) Thank you for commenting, stay cool!
@RoseMarie Hogan I heard it from AVE. He's got a lot of good ones.
Bruh. UEI is garbage. I should know, I’ve been using them for years. Fluke>fieldpiece>anything else>UEI 🤣
I learn more whit your videos than school buddy exelent videos
Wow! Another great video
thank you much for the advice!! awesome information
You're welcome! Thank you for watching and leaving a comment!
Thanks amaizing teaching😊
I just got useful tips from this video. I wasn't working on a large unit, but rather a portable unit. The principle is the same. Turned out breaker (20A!) Was tripping due to compressor not being cooled adequately. I added a fan blowing on the out side of the housing, near the compressor That brought the total current under 10 amps, even after several hours continuous use. I have a feeling the thermal switch at the top of the compressor is not working.
Great Video Thanks! What if breaker trips, if there is two controller, and when both of them turned on, and works fine individually?
Thank you Brother good help
great video best explanation i seen
You are amazing smart young man and I really appreciate you lot. Thanks
excellent video
Great job!!!
Great video man.
Thank you! :)
Thanks man . I do have a shot compressor . Awesome video .
Thank you for helping @ this time people just can not aford paying all the labor costs.
Great advice. I wish you were in Sacramento.
Great video ty
I know fluke meter are great but those UEI are underrated. I bought one back in 1995 when I first started AC work and still use it today. Unbelievable its lasted this long. Back then it was about half the cost of a fluke multimeter and I didn’t have to buy a separate clamp on amp meter.
Good job bro
Very good video..you the skills
Thank you, i was able to solve my daughters problem with her compressor being bad. Now my unit is acting up. Lol. My outside unit has a seperate breaker than the unit in my attic. unit in attic runs fine until it gets hot outside and trips breaker. Runs all night, until temperatures climb.
Thank you for this video. Had already replaced my capacitors and the contactor. Breaker has been tripping. Fan has also not always been running though I can hear the compressor humming. Added the rapid start and waiting to see if that helps. Hoping not to have to replace the fan, though it seems to run smooth. Maybe it is getting overheated. Going to clean the condenser coils also.
I ended up changing the fan motor on the condenser and ruined the fan blades trying to remove. Had to get a new fan too along with the hub. Then I put the fan blades on upside down. Cooling well now and not as well when the blades were the wrong way. They should mark them somehow.
Very informative thank you sir..
You're welcome! Thank you for commenting! :)
When all else fails @Word Of Advice TV, check the main breaker box. Just had to replace a ladies main breaker box, because the lugs the breakers slide on, were melted like welding. Just another tool for the box.
very good video great help thanks
Glad I could help, thank you for watching!
Hi. Great video..wanted to know about the hard starter kit. Do u have a separate video on it? I have two units, one larger and one small, can I install on both? Does the size and electrical spec matter?
Very helpful video
Glad to hear it's helpful, thanks for watching!
Thank you greatly 😃
Loose connections will also trip the breaker. Check them all. Especially the low voltage from the air handler to the condenser, if that is loose the contactor will start and stop the compressor with no delay. The connectors on the run cap and contactor sometimes are too loose, even brand new units. If they pull off easily, they are too loose. Squeeze them(just a little) with pliers so they will grip the tabs on the contactor and run cap.
Great advice. Thanks
Ditto on that response Mike.
Good Advice. Add one more thing. Check the wire at the breaker if it is Aluminum. If it is Aluminum, it may have oxide layer causing contact resistance heating. You have to disconnect the wire and sand with emery cloth keeping the wire strands covered in no-ox lube. Uncovered aluminum oxidizes instantly. Reconnect the wire and make sure it is a tight connection.
How do you check the low voltage from the air handler? Is that wiring checked in the a/c unit or at the air handler?
@@bhampton1969 Check the wires that are connected to your contactor in the condensing unit. Make sure they are making good connection and the contactor is opening and closing with out chatter.
Can tell you're a "Professional" by the UEI Meter. I trust my Life on my tools!
@Tim Jacuzzi how is uei overpriced garbage lol. I use a field piece hs36 but uei is probably the best bang for your buck. Checks everything you need and you can get em on eBay new for 100 or less.
love your videos
Sounds like you watched more then one :D Thank you! Glad to hear that!
Great guy ..👍
Best AC video I have ever watched!!! A+++++ Are you in Texas?: Lol.
I could be wrong but I thought that having an under charge unit should not trip the breaker but trip the overload in the compressor since it's overheating due to high superheat. Great video by the way!
Undercharge drops amps so yes you are correct
Great videos!! Would you make videos for new technicians please
I watched your capacitor and contactor video, replaced them and ran all summer great so thank you. Now in heat pump mode (which it did okay all winter until Feb 25th 2020)when the outside unit fan comes on I am hearing a light fluttering noise (the only thing I can reference) and compressor would not start after numerous times it did this, so the outside unit would shut down and then the outside unit would restart and then the compressor would come on immediately. Now it is blowing the inside fuse and when you try and reset a huge spark inside the fuse box. I am now running on the emergency heat from the inside unit. I don't know any companies I can trust to look at it. Help please. Have not tested anything yet as I do not have a ohm tester.
I watched your video and it’s very educational and informative. I believe I have a short in the compressor. Whenever I turn on the unit a spark flies out of the compressor Junction box, tripping the breaker, I’ve replaced the wire twice which burned out, so my analysis concluded that the compressor wiring must be shorted out. My question, my unit is 18 years old ,good men, should I replace the compressor? Or should I replace the entire unit? Mind you, I’m in New Jersey and a complete new unit is roughly $2300. Don’t know how much a new compressor will run for with labor.
Typically if a unit is over 15 years old, it is not worth replacing the compressor. And if it's an R22 system, you may not even be able to find a new compressor for it since that refrigerant is getting phased out. If you have a multi-meter, I have a video on how to check the compressor if you want to double check it. (I don't remember if I go over that in this video) th-cam.com/video/0aAj0iqP95A/w-d-xo.html