On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:41:26 -0400, mm
wrote:



i took a flat head to spread the wires apart but still

Did you turn off the fuse or circuit breaker before you did this?

I ask this because the 3 amp fuse that blew is not the fuse that
controls the 240 volts to the outside unit. Your AC uses much more
than 3 amps outside, and if a 3 amp fuse broke, it is just in the
control circuit, that powers the thermostat and the control of the AC,
including turning the compressor on and off. But even if that power
is gone, the 220 volts AC will still be there, and that can kill you.

If the 220 volts were on and you used a flat head to spread the wires
apart and there were no sparks or melting metal, iincluding the screw
driver, the two wires were probably at the same voltage and probably
connected to each other directly or indirectly.

If you dind't have sense enought to turn the 240 off before doing
this, you better damn well read some books and learn more before you
kill yourself. Or just stay away from 220 and 240 until you learn
what you're doing, and hope you don't kill yourself on 110. (which is
possible but harder to do.)

If you did turn the 220 power off before doing this, you should have
also measured the resistance between the two places after trying to
separate them. If it was zero, then they were meant to be connected.
It's unlikely enough that they would suddenly touch each other, but
much less likely that you couldn't separate them if they were meant to
be apart.

There is probably a circuit breaker or a removable connector in a grey
metal box near the outside AC. Did you turn it off/remove it? If
not, there are two circuit breakers in the house for most AC's. One
for the furnace part and one for the outside. Turn them both off.


Do you have a meter? Have you measure the AC voltage between these
two places (with the breakers on. BE careful, it may well be 220
volts, enough to kill you.)

Or the voltage may be zero volts AC between them, if they are supposed
to be connected together.

The control voltage is 24 volts AC. That's probably whatn the 3 amp
fuse is for. Turn off all the fuses and look for a short in the 24
volts circuit. You can't see electricity. Use an ohmmeter, part of
a multimeter, or VOM.