What in the heck is wrong with A/C?
Question:I have central heat and air. I have a double-pole 30 amp breaker that trips occasionally outside by the unit. I have had compressor issues in the past. I assume the compressor is drawing to many amps at start up and the breaker trips. The kicker is, I can go outside, reset the breaker and everything starts up fine. My neighbor says there is a "hard start" kit that is available that will kick start the compressor on. My compressor did quit running a few months ago, but I think it was just the brushes on the motor getting stuck. This unit is about 6 years old and were installed on evey house in our neighborhood. Over the past 6 years, a compressor has gone out on somebody living around us. If my compressor is going bad, why does it kick on fine after the breakers are reset?
Answers:
Another cheap trail and error would be to replace the breakers with new ones.
Weak breakers have been know to do this.
Do not go with a larger capacity breaker!
Typically in home installation it is not taken into account the start up amps for the compressor. The circuit and breaker may be sized for the full load but does not provide for the start up amps. You can by code increase the breaker size to allow for the inrush of current on compressor startup. The hard start kit may do the trick as well but you may have to have a tech install it where you can change the breaker yourself.
What size unit do you have ? The rating plate on your unit will tell you what size breaker/ fuse to use. What size wire did they feed to system, THe hard start is a possible answer but I would highly recommend you find a reputable service tech to check the whole thing out, you could have loose connections weak capacitors, improperly installed systems, especially if it is common problem in a development.
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