Why Does My Air Conditioner Circuit Breaker Keep Tripping?

Have you had an issue with your air conditioner lately where the circuit breaker at the main panel keeps tripping? Have you gone over to the side of the house and tried to flip that breaker back on only to have it flip right back off? The trip switch in the electrical panel is a safety switch that prevents damage to your home or business. Also called a residual current device, a high current event will trip the electrical breaker and cause you AC not to work. If there is a blown fuse near the condenser that can also warn you of a major electrical event that is occurring at the air conditioner. Kill switch, cutout, trip switch are other words for a circuit breaker too. In this video, I wanted to tell you what could be going wrong with your AC system when this happens.

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[cjohnson]

85 in the house isn't cool, but your video is. Thank you !!!

[ramchillarege]

Very good. Thank you. I am a licensed hvac tech and glad to see you put out this video.

[btomas]

"It takes a licensed contractor to order them from a local distributor"...Well in some areas this is true however one DOES NOT need to be licensed to order HVAC parts other than perhaps refrigerant, online. There are some distributors that voluntarily refuse to sell parts to locals so as to protect their customers, the local yokels that call themselves HVAC techs and the businesses they work for (by the way, plumbing suppliers, electrical suppliers used to do this too) however, it has become a practice that does nothing more than force the consumer away from their business to businesses on the internet that indiscriminately sell to anyone. Frankly, when I moved to Florida 15 years ago I was forced to maintain my own system because of the incompetence of the HVAC techs I dealt with back then having realized that I knew more than they did! I once asked one tech what superheat he measured on my system and he didn't have a clue what I was talking about! Subcooling would clearly be over this guy's head too...

[pashapash]

my upstairs ac kept tripping after 10min of being on. a handy man had told me to change my air filters first. im a new homeowner so i havent replaced the filters since owning the home..about 2 years. xD. anyway that fixed the problem. dirty filters cause high pressure and make the ac over work so change ur filters every 6 months.

[chazbOE]

Bryant/Carrier Tripped Breaker Due to Faulty( Contactor) at outside unit, replaced with new part , FIXED THE PROBLEM

[heut]

It sounds like you have really good information that I need, but some of us are either deaf or have neurology issue, and we are not able to hear what you're saying. It would had been great adding "CC."

[afghvacr]

Solution for compressor and fan drawing more amps install Hard Start

[CharlesMaryHardy]

If the unit has not been cleaned in a while, it may just need cleaning. Make sure the current is off before cleaning. Cleaning is a very simple process. I just paid $260 for a cleaning, when I could have cleaned myself.

[Mr_GreenLungs_TXMade]

What can cause breaker to melt? Condenser motor was changed, contactor, and turbo 200. Original cap was 45/5 and bearings were giving out. So switched out.

[gladysmendes]

When you say wiring problem do you mean the house wires or the AC wires?

[ggua]

Hahahaha “Not cool”. Good one hahaha. Thank you for sharing sir. This is really good info.

[ronkirkham]

Thanks, I have a brand new "ox box" hp, just dis a change out and the compressor will run, but I get no cold or hot suction line.. seems like it's stuck in the center which is rare especially brand new.. curious what you think

[chriscjongeneelen]

Just checked with an heat detector that I got from an Ex-csis worker who used to come to visit an elderly person in my building an the areas around the circuit breaker was coming up blood red around the breaker unit…so it’s possible that it’s an electrical issue in my building…ie. possibly an bad circuit breaker …..

[coffeeblack]

Its about 92 in my house right now... tried to ask multiple "friends" and not only getting no input.... I'm not even gettin a response! FINALLY. i decide. I'll try to figure this out and/or what i should do via YouTube and simply asking The Lord for guidance.... and little by little I'm now figuring some things out!

[blaster-zyxx]

Mine trips immediately. Could that be the capacitor or the contactor? Hoping it is not the compressor.

[AnnetteHollander]

Can you recommend a good AC guy in Northern NJ?

[Warguy]

Our ac is tripping our breaker 1week have past and it's still the same, ac works on fan setting but when in cold setting it immediately trips. What cause this problem? The electrician came but still the same issue happens he can't fix.

[colleensgotcha]

Do these things you talk about also relate to a swamp cooler?

[onlyulee]

How do you wire size and breaker for air handler

[jimtalor]

Good info on the video. Now what if the breaker doesnt trip but by turning off and then on will the AC start working. Happened to me twice this week, AC shuts off no power to control panel (no lights) no humming outside unit, overflow switch good, system dead so I go to the cb box, cycle the ac circuit breaker a min later system is running.I really dont want to call a tech if the system is working for now, might get a tech just like you mention. Any suggestions? Liked and sub.Thanks