I have a 4 year old Lennox central air conditioner. It has run fine
until this summer.
Now after it has been running for about 15 minutes the circuit breaker
trips and the outside condensor fan stops. When running it does blow
cool air.

I have heard that it could be the compressor or something else with the
A/C unit or it could be a bad breaker. Since the unit is only 4 years
old I am thinking that it is unlikely that the compressor has gone bad.
If it were a bad breaker wouldn't it trip as soon as the unit turned
on?
Any thoughts?

wrote in message
I have heard that it could be the compressor or something else with the
A/C unit or it could be a bad breaker. Since the unit is only 4 years
old I am thinking that it is unlikely that the compressor has gone bad.
If it were a bad breaker wouldn't it trip as soon as the unit turned
on?
Any thoughts?


While it could be either, I'd call the AC guy. The electrician will say
"yep, overloaded, pay me $75 and call the AC guy" but the AC guy can
determine why it is tripping the breaker and fix it.

wrote:
I have a 4 year old Lennox central air conditioner. It has run fine
until this summer.
Now after it has been running for about 15 minutes the circuit breaker
trips and the outside condensor fan stops. When running it does blow
cool air.

I have heard that it could be the compressor or something else with
the A/C unit or it could be a bad breaker. Since the unit is only 4
years old I am thinking that it is unlikely that the compressor has
gone bad. If it were a bad breaker wouldn't it trip as soon as the
unit turned on?
Any thoughts?

Was this a new or replacement A/C system?

If it was a replacement, I would tend to go with the idea that they may
have used the existing breaker and it may be rated marginally for that unit.
You need to check the recommended protection for that specific unit or it
may just be tired and need replacement. That one you can do yourself IF
you are reasonable competent and careful. But you will need to know what
the new system calls for and if it is larger, you might also need to replace
some wiring.

On the other hand if it was not a replacement, I would tend to suspect
the compressor.

The electrician is not going to be qualified to check the A/C, but the
HVAC contractor should be able to determine that the A/C is OK and that the
correctly rated breaker is in use.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

It is a replacement and they did use the same breaker. If it were a
marginally rated breaker wouldn't it have started giving trouble before
this? Thanks for your input.

At any rate, I have called the A/C company instead of an electrician
to come look at it.

Joseph Meehan wrote:
wrote:
I have a 4 year old Lennox central air conditioner. It has run fine
until this summer.
Now after it has been running for about 15 minutes the circuit breaker
trips and the outside condensor fan stops. When running it does blow
cool air.

I have heard that it could be the compressor or something else with
the A/C unit or it could be a bad breaker. Since the unit is only 4
years old I am thinking that it is unlikely that the compressor has
gone bad. If it were a bad breaker wouldn't it trip as soon as the
unit turned on?
Any thoughts?

Was this a new or replacement A/C system?

If it was a replacement, I would tend to go with the idea that they may
have used the existing breaker and it may be rated marginally for that unit.
You need to check the recommended protection for that specific unit or it
may just be tired and need replacement. That one you can do yourself IF
you are reasonable competent and careful. But you will need to know what
the new system calls for and if it is larger, you might also need to replace
some wiring.

On the other hand if it was not a replacement, I would tend to suspect
the compressor.

The electrician is not going to be qualified to check the A/C, but the
HVAC contractor should be able to determine that the A/C is OK and that the
correctly rated breaker is in use.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 4 year old Lennox central air conditioner. It has run fine
until this summer.
Now after it has been running for about 15 minutes the circuit breaker
trips and the outside condensor fan stops. When running it does blow
cool air.

I have heard that it could be the compressor or something else with the
A/C unit or it could be a bad breaker. Since the unit is only 4 years
old I am thinking that it is unlikely that the compressor has gone bad.
If it were a bad breaker wouldn't it trip as soon as the unit turned
on?

Neighbors had a similar problem -- breaker for central A/C kept tripping. I
replaced the breaker with a brand new one of the same rating and the problem
went away.

New ac unit can be shall we say tight. have higher FLA (full load amps) to
start with then after some use.
an older breaker that has tripped a few times is the same way it trips at a
lower current than it did when brand new, were talking 10ths of an amp if
that. loose wires on the breaker will also cause tripping, seen that on our
AC unit, check the wires make sure they are very good and tight. Ours would
work fine for a while then when system had to work harder due to outside
temp, and longer running cycle would trip out, was only loose wires.

wrote in message
ups.com...
It is a replacement and they did use the same breaker. If it were a
marginally rated breaker wouldn't it have started giving trouble before
this? Thanks for your input.

At any rate, I have called the A/C company instead of an electrician
to come look at it.

Joseph Meehan wrote:
wrote:
I have a 4 year old Lennox central air conditioner. It has run fine
until this summer.
Now after it has been running for about 15 minutes the circuit breaker
trips and the outside condensor fan stops. When running it does blow
cool air.

I have heard that it could be the compressor or something else with
the A/C unit or it could be a bad breaker. Since the unit is only 4
years old I am thinking that it is unlikely that the compressor has
gone bad. If it were a bad breaker wouldn't it trip as soon as the
unit turned on?
Any thoughts?

Was this a new or replacement A/C system?

If it was a replacement, I would tend to go with the idea that they
may
have used the existing breaker and it may be rated marginally for that
unit.
You need to check the recommended protection for that specific unit or it
may just be tired and need replacement. That one you can do yourself IF
you are reasonable competent and careful. But you will need to know
what
the new system calls for and if it is larger, you might also need to
replace
some wiring.

On the other hand if it was not a replacement, I would tend to
suspect
the compressor.

The electrician is not going to be qualified to check the A/C, but
the
HVAC contractor should be able to determine that the A/C is OK and that
the
correctly rated breaker is in use.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

wrote in message
ups.com...

Yeah, that's what I was going to do too, but two electricians told me
that it was more likely to be an A/C problem

Why not do that first? If it doesn't work, you're out $10 and the 10
minutes it takes to replace a circuit breaker.

If it does work, you've saved a pile of money and the aggrevation of waiting
around all day for a service person.

I gotta agree with the folks that say it is most likely the breaker. If
there were problems with the a/c, they would usually show up in much
less than the 15min or so you say it runs before the breaker trips.
First question: Is the wire at the breaker aluminum? If so, you may be
able to just tighten the screws at the breaker, or you may need to take
the wire out, cut an inch or so off(assuming there is enough slack) put
anti ox paste on the wires and reinstall them. Also check where the
breaker plugs into the panel and see if the connections are stating to
get burned. If they are, hopefully you will have unused spaces where you
can install a new breaker, and just leave the original one empty.If the
connections look bad and all spaces are being used, maybe you can trade
spaces with another breaker for something that sees less use, like the
range. Forgot to ask another thing: Is this breaker in the main panel,
or is it in a smaller box at the A?C unit, and what brand of breaker is
it? Good luck Larry

I fix some machines for a living that use fuses or breakers rated 20
amp. Its pretty common for fuses to physically overheat and blow from
poor connections heating excessively. breakers trip the same way.

see switch wires melt from the same situation.

plus breakers are designed to become MORE sensitive as they age.
learned that westinghouse used to make breakers and I fixed machines at
their plant in beaver pa.

fascinating place

posted for all of us...
I don't top post - see either inline ort believe it. at bottom.

plus breakers are designed to become MORE sensitive as they age.

Oh boy, do not pay attention to this guy.
--
Tekkie

On 28 Jul 2006 08:21:13 -0700, wrote:

It is a replacement and they did use the same breaker. If it were a
marginally rated breaker wouldn't it have started giving trouble before
this?

When I fixed tv's, customers would ask me, Why did it break now?

I asked them, When would you have it break?

If you think it should give trouble before now, how much before now?
A year? 2 years? Why not before then?


Thanks for your input.

At any rate, I have called the A/C company instead of an electrician
to come look at it.

Joseph Meehan wrote:
wrote:
I have a 4 year old Lennox central air conditioner. It has run fine
until this summer.
Now after it has been running for about 15 minutes the circuit breaker
trips and the outside condensor fan stops. When running it does blow
cool air.

I have heard that it could be the compressor or something else with
the A/C unit or it could be a bad breaker. Since the unit is only 4
years old I am thinking that it is unlikely that the compressor has
gone bad. If it were a bad breaker wouldn't it trip as soon as the
unit turned on?
Any thoughts?

Was this a new or replacement A/C system?

If it was a replacement, I would tend to go with the idea that they may
have used the existing breaker and it may be rated marginally for that unit.
You need to check the recommended protection for that specific unit or it
may just be tired and need replacement. That one you can do yourself IF
you are reasonable competent and careful. But you will need to know what
the new system calls for and if it is larger, you might also need to replace
some wiring.

On the other hand if it was not a replacement, I would tend to suspect
the compressor.

The electrician is not going to be qualified to check the A/C, but the
HVAC contractor should be able to determine that the A/C is OK and that the
correctly rated breaker is in use.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:43:34 -0500, "Howard Beale"
wrote:


wrote in message
oups.com...

Yeah, that's what I was going to do too, but two electricians told me
that it was more likely to be an A/C problem

Why not do that first? If it doesn't work, you're out $10 and the 10
minutes it takes to replace a circuit breaker.

If it does work, you've saved a pile of money and the aggrevation of waiting
around all day for a service person.

Got to agree with all you say. I had a GFI breaker that kept
tripping. Of course I suspected I had a ground fault in something,
but when I couldn't find anything plugged in all the time, I replaced
the breaker and that solved the problem. The house was 7 years old.
New one has lasted 20 years so far.

On 29 Jul 2006 05:51:08 -0700, "
wrote:

I fix some machines for a living that use fuses or breakers rated 20
amp. Its pretty common for fuses to physically overheat and blow from
poor connections heating excessively. breakers trip the same way.

see switch wires melt from the same situation.

plus breakers are designed to become MORE sensitive as they age.

This is -- am I correct -- because the only reasonably priced
alternative was that they become LESS sensitive as they age, and that
would be dangerous.

When cars first had turn signals, turning the switch on didn't turn
the light on until the flasher period had passed. In the 60's or 70's
they changed it so that the turn lights came on as soon as the switch
was turned on. That meant when the flasher failed, one could flash
the lights using the switch.


learned that westinghouse used to make breakers and I fixed machines at
their plant in beaver pa.

fascinating place

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 20:45:01 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

posted for all of us...

plus breakers are designed to become MORE sensitive as they age.

Oh boy, do not pay attention to this guy.

What do you think the truth is?

Tekkie® wrote:
posted for all of us...
I don't top post - see either inline ort believe it. at bottom.

plus breakers are designed to become MORE sensitive as they age.

Oh boy, do not pay attention to this guy.
--
Tekkie

Its INTENTIONAL more sensitive as age, by the design of the breaker
components. my very best friend used to design power transformers for a
living and he has talked about it too.

its the only safe way..........

High heat thermostats like cal stats are designed to have temps drop as
they age its all in the interests of safety

try replacing breaker FIRST its low cost and proves the problem is in
the AC unit.

if your afraid to tackle this ask around friends, its actually easy but
turn main off before opening cabinet

On 30 Jul 2006 09:19:07 -0700, "
wrote:

try replacing breaker FIRST its low cost and proves the problem is in
the AC unit.

if your afraid to tackle this ask around friends, its actually easy but
turn main off before opening cabinet


Agreed. I did it and I'm definitely no electrician. Not really that
hard to do. Just make sure you get a comparable circuit breaker, then
just pay attention to how you remove the old breaker and how it was
wired. Actually I'm making it sound harder than it is. The hardest
part is just getting the comparable circuit breaker.

// doug //
website: MyHomeRebate.com
"Buy New Homes for Less in Texas"

mm posted for all of us...
I don't top post - see either inline or at bottom.

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 20:45:01 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

posted for all of us...

plus breakers are designed to become MORE sensitive as they age.

Oh boy, do not pay attention to this guy.

What do you think the truth is?

I think the truth can be found on the standards organizations or manufacturers
sites - notably Square D. Holler Butt has spread SO much rumor and conjecture
and opinion in his posts that the reasonable reader CANNOT BELIEVE ANYTHING HE
STATES. When presented with facts he either ignores or goes off on a different
tangent. Previous questionable statement have involved testing circuit
breakers by shorting wires and that faucets are designed to leak from the
factory.
--
Tekkie

On Sun, 30 Jul 2006 21:06:11 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

mm posted for all of us...

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 20:45:01 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

posted for all of us...

plus breakers are designed to become MORE sensitive as they age.

Oh boy, do not pay attention to this guy.

What do you think the truth is?

I think the truth can be found on the standards organizations or manufacturers
sites - notably Square D. Holler Butt has spread SO much rumor and conjecture
and opinion in his posts that the reasonable reader CANNOT BELIEVE ANYTHING HE
STATES. When presented with facts he either ignores or goes off on a different
tangent. Previous questionable statement have involved testing circuit
breakers by shorting wires and that faucets are designed to leak from the
factory.

Oh, it sounded like you were saying that that particular statement he
made, at the top, was false. Especially since you deleted everything
else but that one sentence.

I'm afraid you risk losing credibility when you post like that after
he says something which is most likely true. In this case I think it
is obviously, totally true. The only other affordable alternative
would be dangerous. So he was right and your criticism was
ill-placed. If he keeps gaining a point and you keep losing a point,
you won't be a position to contradict him even in cases where he's
wrong.

Tekkie® wrote:
mm posted for all of us...
I don't top post - see either inline or at bottom.

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 20:45:01 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

posted for all of us...

plus breakers are designed to become MORE sensitive as they age.

Oh boy, do not pay attention to this guy.

What do you think the truth is?

I think the truth can be found on the standards organizations or manufacturers
sites - notably Square D. Holler Butt has spread SO much rumor and conjecture
and opinion in his posts that the reasonable reader CANNOT BELIEVE ANYTHING HE
STATES. When presented with facts he either ignores or goes off on a different
tangent. Previous questionable statement have involved testing circuit
breakers by shorting wires and that faucets are designed to leak from the
factory.
--
Tekkie

I have indeed accidently tested a breaker by shorting it that led to
the discovery my FPE is a fire hazard. Breakers are by description
designed to be tripped.

In the office machine industry technicians are trained from day 1 to
TEST all safety protection devices by overloading or over stressing
them to CONFIRM they work as designed. Safety switches fail sometimres
and a critical one can cause a fire or injury.. bryyer the tech finds
and fixes it than a building burns down The only tst device I can
think of that isnt supposed to be tested is a thermal fuse since they
are one shot devices....

I have no doubt there are circuit breaker test devices.

If I get some links on these things will you quit being a PIA?

yeah NEW faucets are designed to leak under very high pressure, so a
frozen pipe doesnt mean a ruptured pipe, faucets leaks instead, its
actually a good idea.when things thaw no harm done. thats a new federal
law.

mm posted for all of us...
I don't top post - see either inline or at bottom.

On Sun, 30 Jul 2006 21:06:11 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

mm posted for all of us...

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 20:45:01 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

posted for all of us...

plus breakers are designed to become MORE sensitive as they age.

Oh boy, do not pay attention to this guy.

What do you think the truth is?

I think the truth can be found on the standards organizations or manufacturers
sites - notably Square D. Holler Butt has spread SO much rumor and conjecture
and opinion in his posts that the reasonable reader CANNOT BELIEVE ANYTHING HE
STATES. When presented with facts he either ignores or goes off on a different
tangent. Previous questionable statement have involved testing circuit
breakers by shorting wires and that faucets are designed to leak from the
factory.

Oh, it sounded like you were saying that that particular statement he
made, at the top, was false. Especially since you deleted everything
else but that one sentence.

I'm afraid you risk losing credibility when you post like that after
he says something which is most likely true. In this case I think it
is obviously, totally true. The only other affordable alternative
would be dangerous. So he was right and your criticism was
ill-placed. If he keeps gaining a point and you keep losing a point,
you won't be a position to contradict him even in cases where he's
wrong.

You can believe what you want, it's not a points race and his statement is BS.
You find in any standards or manufacturers statement breakers are designed to
get weaker with age - HIS words. They are not; along with the other BS he
spews. He is dangerous and a hack.
--
Tekkie

posted for all of us...
I don't top post - see either inline or at bottom.

snip

I have indeed accidently tested a breaker by shorting it that led to
the discovery my FPE is a fire hazard. Breakers are by description
designed to be tripped.

That is not what you stated before. It was a deliberate short you caused to
make certain a circuit was off.

In the office machine industry technicians are trained from day 1 to
TEST all safety protection devices by overloading or over stressing
them to CONFIRM they work as designed. Safety switches fail sometimres
and a critical one can cause a fire or injury.. bryyer the tech finds
and fixes it than a building burns down The only tst device I can
think of that isnt supposed to be tested is a thermal fuse since they
are one shot devices....

I find this extremely hard to believe because most of these devices are one use
therefore you are padding the bill for your lack of knowledge. If there is
such a reference post it!

I have no doubt there are circuit breaker test devices.
There are...

If I get some links on these things will you quit being a PIA?

The economics of it are that the real testers are expensive and it's not
feasible to test a $6 breaker with it. Deliberately shorting it is NOT the way
to test it and you should know it.

EVERY TIME you make a false, unsafe or an assumptive statement I will counter
it by asking for the facts.

yeah NEW faucets are designed to leak under very high pressure, so a
frozen pipe doesnt mean a ruptured pipe, faucets leaks instead, its
actually a good idea.when things thaw no harm done. thats a new federal
law.

This is PURE bull**** because I contacted MOEN Co. and talked to their
representative named Phil whom stated: Faucets are NOT designed to leak under
very high pressure = your words (whatever very high pressure is anyway) and
there is NO NONE NADA Federal law to do so. If you would read the follow ups
to your whimsical posts you would have read where I repudiated your babbling.
If you can find in the manufacturers literature this is true POST IT!
If you can find this "Federal law" POST IT!

Once again, IF you get your facts straight and provide references to what you
post I will leave you alone.
--
Tekkie

On Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:19:40 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:


EVERY TIME you make a false, unsafe or an assumptive statement I will counter
it by asking for the facts.

That's baloney, because in this thread and the one maybe 20 threads
down, you just insulted him and told the OP to ignore him.

You didn't counter it by asking for facts.

Even if you had that would be silly, because he usually gives "facts",
just facts you don't believe or don't agree with. So if you want to
counter something, why not give your own "facts". Now you attempted
to do that this time (in parts I have snipped, because I didn't think
I'd need them) but that was not your first post in this thread. YOu
certainly don't meet the "EVERY TIME" standard, and if we apply the
same standards you use in judging hallerb, you come off pretty bad.

BTW, I read the later thread first tonight, and you say he enlisted
someone to help him. I presume you mean me. He didn't enlist me at
all. He's never written to me, nor I to him, and I don't know him.
He may be wrong about some facts -- I do not know -- but you were
posting in a way that made your statements unbelievable, and in all my
earlier posts, that's what I tried to explain to you.

Also, I'm not going to waste my time looking for sources to contradict
you. The problem from my pov is not whether you are right** or wrong,
but the way your insults, especially when he's right, destroy your
credibility. I'm trying to do you and the group a favor.

**You seem to think that if you and the people you know do it one way,
no other way is correct or acceptable. That's another problem. It's
a big country, with millions of technicians. Don't assume yours is
the only right way to do things.

On Mon, 31 Jul 2006 20:54:40 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

mm posted for all of us...
I don't top post - see either inline or at bottom.

On Sun, 30 Jul 2006 21:06:11 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

mm posted for all of us...

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 20:45:01 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

posted for all of us...

plus breakers are designed to become MORE sensitive as they age.

Oh boy, do not pay attention to this guy.

What do you think the truth is?

I think the truth can be found on the standards organizations or manufacturers
sites - notably Square D. Holler Butt has spread SO much rumor and conjecture
and opinion in his posts that the reasonable reader CANNOT BELIEVE ANYTHING HE
STATES. When presented with facts he either ignores or goes off on a different
tangent. Previous questionable statement have involved testing circuit
breakers by shorting wires and that faucets are designed to leak from the
factory.

Oh, it sounded like you were saying that that particular statement he
made, at the top, was false. Especially since you deleted everything
else but that one sentence.

I'm afraid you risk losing credibility when you post like that after
he says something which is most likely true. In this case I think it
is obviously, totally true. The only other affordable alternative
would be dangerous. So he was right and your criticism was
ill-placed. If he keeps gaining a point and you keep losing a point,
you won't be a position to contradict him even in cases where he's
wrong.

You can believe what you want, it's not a points race and his statement is BS.
You find in any standards or manufacturers statement breakers are designed to

You're the one who has made an issue of this and insulted him because
you claim he is wrong. It's up to you to find a standard or
manufacturer's statement that breakers either don't change or get
harder to trip with age.

get weaker with age - HIS words. They are not;

You claim you give facts, but again, you don't.

along with the other BS he
spews. He is dangerous and a hack.

Because you said so, I believed he was wrong the first time I saw you
say he was wrong, but you've ruined it. Now I don't trust you
anymore. You have to realize that not everyone has read all his posts
or all of your replies, and you have to give facts to prove your
position at every stage of the game. Otherwise, you will just sound
like a crank. (For me, you already do. Sorry, nothing personal. I
have had standards for years for judging who is a crank, and you fit
the standards.)

mm posted for all of us...
I don't top post - see either inline or at bottom.

when he's right,

And when is that? You don't make much sense but just go in circular
references. Listen M&M I don't give a crap what you or he post - except when
it's outright dangerous or deceptive. If I see it and it's wrong I'll point it
out. All you have to do to prove me wrong is backing up your erroneous
statements with facts. At least most of your posts have "I don't know anything
about this" - funny, it doesn't prevent you from posting either... See ya
later - maybe.
--
Tekkie

wrote in message oups.com...
I have a 4 year old Lennox central air conditioner. It has run fine
until this summer.
Now after it has been running for about 15 minutes the circuit breaker
trips and the outside condensor fan stops. When running it does blow
cool air.

I have heard that it could be the compressor or something else with the
A/C unit or it could be a bad breaker. Since the unit is only 4 years
old I am thinking that it is unlikely that the compressor has gone bad.
If it were a bad breaker wouldn't it trip as soon as the unit turned
on?
Any thoughts?



Your A/C works harder and draws more energy (RLA) when the
outside temperature is warmer.

Short cycling (on-off-on) is a common cause of those symptoms in
warm weather.

A 30 amp circuit breaker that has been tripped a few times should
really be replaced.

GL
Dan

Pull the breaker from the panel and check it. Sometimes the breakers will
"burn" at the buss and not be noticable right away. While the air condenser
/ air conditioner is running, it will overheat the breaker [bad connection
on the buss] and trip while there might be nothing wrong with the air
conditioner itself.

--
Zyp
wrote in message
ups.com...
It is a replacement and they did use the same breaker. If it were a
marginally rated breaker wouldn't it have started giving trouble before
this? Thanks for your input.

At any rate, I have called the A/C company instead of an electrician
to come look at it.

Joseph Meehan wrote:
wrote:
I have a 4 year old Lennox central air conditioner. It has run fine
until this summer.
Now after it has been running for about 15 minutes the circuit breaker
trips and the outside condensor fan stops. When running it does blow
cool air.

I have heard that it could be the compressor or something else with
the A/C unit or it could be a bad breaker. Since the unit is only 4
years old I am thinking that it is unlikely that the compressor has
gone bad. If it were a bad breaker wouldn't it trip as soon as the
unit turned on?
Any thoughts?

Was this a new or replacement A/C system?

If it was a replacement, I would tend to go with the idea that they
may
have used the existing breaker and it may be rated marginally for that
unit.
You need to check the recommended protection for that specific unit or
it
may just be tired and need replacement. That one you can do yourself
IF
you are reasonable competent and careful. But you will need to know
what
the new system calls for and if it is larger, you might also need to
replace
some wiring.

On the other hand if it was not a replacement, I would tend to
suspect
the compressor.

The electrician is not going to be qualified to check the A/C, but
the
HVAC contractor should be able to determine that the A/C is OK and that
the
correctly rated breaker is in use.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit