It's hot, and you need your AC to run.
But the air conditioner keeps tripping the breaker, making it impossible to get comfortable. What gives?
This is a common problem that many homeowners experience during the peak summer months. As we'll see, it's even more likely to happen if it's been awhile since your last air conditioner tune-up.
There are three major possibilities for why air conditioners trip circuit breakers. Let's dive in and consider all of them!
First: Remember not to keep resetting the breaker.
If the AC is tripping the breaker and you keep resetting it over and over, you could cause an even bigger problem than the one you already have.
At best, you could end up cooking your HVAC system so that it's severely damaged. At worst, you could cause a fire.
The best thing to do is leave it alone, call a professional, and let them diagnose the problem.
Reason #1: Lack of air conditioner maintenance
The best thing you can do for your air conditioning system is keep it clean. This is best achieved through routine annual maintenance.
How does maintaining your air conditioner prevent it from tripping a circuit breaker? By keeping essential components clean.
When these components are really dirty, you could have issues with a circuit breaker:
- Condenser coil: This is the coil in your system's outdoor unit. When the coil gets dirty, it will struggle to move heat to the ambient environment. This forces the air conditioner to draw more power in an effort to transfer that heat. At some point, it might pull too many amps and trip the breaker.
- Air filter: Many people forget to replace their air filters. Did you? A really dirty air filter prevents air from entering the air conditioner. Once again, the AC will work harder and harder until it eventually pulls too many amps and the breaker trips. This will happen again and again until you replace the filter or, in the case of washable filters, clean it and put it back in.
Routine maintenance prevents these things from happening. During an annual pre-cooling season tune-up, we always clean the outdoor coil using a special solution so that it provides peak performance throughout the season.
We also change your air filter, although that's something you can do when we're not around! Most replaceable air filters are good for 90 days, but follow the manufacturer's instructions for replacing or washing the filter.
PV Priority Plan members get bi-annual system tune-ups, priority service, parts discounts, and additional benefits! Sign up today and enjoy total peace of mind about the AC and heating system in your Metro Atlanta home!
Reason #2: Air conditioner problems
Sometimes, an air conditioner keeps tripping the circuit breaker because a part is starting to fail or because there's an electrical issue somewhere inside the system.
Let's start with electrical issues. A common one is a short in the air conditioner motor that causes excess electricity to flow to the motor. The motor runs too hot, and the breaker trips.
The good news is that it's usually pretty easy for a technician to find a short and address it before anything terrible happens to the motor. But there are other potential problems that are… not so simple.
Or so cheap to fix.
Case in point: the AC compressor. The compressor in an older air conditioner might struggle to start, which causes it to pull additional power and trip the breaker.
Your options here are to…
- Replace the compressor, which is usually pretty expensive. You might find it's not worth it for a very old air conditioner.
- Let a technician install a hard start kit to help the compressor get going when the thermostat calls for cooling. This is essentially an additional start capacitor that lives inside the system.
An even more unfortunate problem would be a short inside the compressor itself. When this happens, not only will your circuit breaker trip but the compressor itself will probably be damaged beyond repair.
If the compressor is still under warranty, replace it! If it isn't, it usually makes more sense to either replace the outdoor unit or the entire air conditioning system.
Reason #3: The breaker is bad
Circuit breakers occasionally go bad! It's a fact of life.
Before concluding that the breaker is bad, your contractor should check to see that the wire connections at the breaker are nice and tight. If they are, and the breaker is still tripping (and we've concluded that the issue is not anything we covered above), then it probably makes sense to replace the breaker.
Make sure the air conditioning system has its own dedicated circuit breaker! Otherwise, it would be really easy to overload the breaker such that it trips continuously.
Conclusion: When an air conditioner keeps tripping the breaker, there's almost always a way to fix it.
Most of the time, this problem can be solved without replacing any major AC components.
Just be sure to avoid resetting the breaker over and over again. Call an HVAC contractor to address the problem ASAP so you can get your AC running!
If you live in Metro Atlanta and are having a problem with your air conditioning system, PV Heating, Cooling & Plumbing can help! Call us today at (404) 798-9672 or schedule service online!
