On Jun 28, 10:13*am, ransley wrote:
On Jun 28, 8:50*am, mm wrote:





On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:22:42 -0700 (PDT), ransley

wrote:

Im no electrician or AC pro but I would use a clamp on amp meter at
the panel and if load isnt about what is stated on the unit I would

Don't I have to somehow separate the black and white wires to measure
current with a clamp-on? * So I can go around just one of them.
Woudln't that be a lot of work?

call a pro now, if the breaker was cutting out at a low load I would
put in a new breaker and hope its a bad breaker. I would not feel safe
running it until I knew the issue. Just last night the fire dept was
called to my neighbors house for the AC system smelling like smoke,
alot of components could be in question on a system, you shouldnt be
guessing.

Thanks for replying. *I turned off the outside breaker and the inside
one reset with no problem.

While I'm outside, the young wman next door has guys there replacing
her compressor. *They have to go to their next job and won't look at
my unit, but tell me it's the compressor. *

They're going to give me an estimate for a new AC and furnace.

My next door neibhor also has original AC and furance from 31 years
ago, and I believe all the families who lived there used their AC a
lot. Carrier, fwiw. *Though that's not the brand they're replacing it
with. * She's keeping her furnace.

On your circuit panel its the one wire that goes to each circuit
breaker, it shouldnt be a problem with the large spacing and extra
wire in there to get a meter on a wire. As motors and the compressor
near failure they can draw alot more amps than rated. When the tech
comes out and checks my AC he checks for amp draw at the units to
check all components individualy, doing it at the circuit panel will
give you an idea as long as you read the units running load. At 27
years Im sure it could use service, have you ever looked at the air
handler coil, I saw my neighbors that was so clogged he couldnt get
heat one winter, we pulled the coil for the winter, it was caked shut.
Maybe a full service call would get you through the summer and save
alot in electricity- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I don't see how he's gonna measure current with a clamp-on amp meter
when the breaker trips as soon as he tries to reset it. To answer
some of the other questions and issues along the way:

You can prevent the AC from starting while you reset the breaker by
moving the thermostat to the off position or setting it to temp above
the actual room temp.

Given the symptoms, it does not sound like it's low on refrigerant, as
I don't believe that woud cause it to trip a breaker on reset. It
does sound like a short somewhere, either in the wiring or the
compressor could be toast

Running it constantly for 3 days should have nothing to do with
destroying it, provided it was running normally to begin with as they
are rated for continuous duty. However the fact that it ran for 3
days without ever reaching desired temp would indicate that something
was already wrong and letting it continue to run like that I would
think could have finally resulted in the compressor failing.

If it were my unit, I'd verify that nothing is shorted in the wiring
up to the unit. You could do that by disconnecting the two incoming
wires from the AC that are connected to the relay in the condenser.
Then, with the wires not touching anything, the breaker should
reset. If it does, then you could inspect the wiring inside the
condenser going to the compressor, fan etc. If no shorts are found,
then it's time for a service call.