Snag wrote:

I know it's kinda OT but ...

My son called last night to say his central AC wasn't cooling . Went
over
early this am and found that the fuse had seriously overheated , to the
point that the contact has lost tension and no longer grips the tab on the
fuse carrier (he's calling a 'lectrician today to replace it with a
breaker panel) . I rewired the AC over to the stove fuse , and neither the
compressor or fan will come on . Meter checks tell me that when he turns
it to "cool" the relay engages , and there's power to the motors - 247V
unloaded , drops to 230+- when the relay closes .
I suspect that due to poor contacts , the voltage drop at the unit has
burned up both the fan and compressor motors ... anybody out there with
experience in the field that can shed more light on this ?

As far as my two bits, this is one of the times that you want to call the
pros, unless you already are one.

When a fuse blows, especially something like the AC to an A/C (heh), you
first must fix what blew the fuse in the first place. If the socket
overheated, then there's some other problem, but I'd still call for a
pro.

Good Luck!
Richh