1

After I turn on my ac, about an hour or two later it will make a noise and trip the breaker. Could this be a short in my fan motor? The fan does run.

Doresoom
  • 15,713
  • 31
  • 80
  • 118
dallas
  • 11
  • 1
  • 1
    What makes a noise, and what does the noise sound like? Is the A/C running nonstop for the whole hour? Is the temperature in the house going down? When was the last time you cleaned/changed the filter? When was the last time you cleaned the condenser? – Tester101 Oct 03 '14 at 18:19

1 Answers1

1

If the a/c runs for the better part of an hour, it is almost certainly not a short circuit.

More likely, the air conditioner is slightly overloading the circuit. Or possibly the circuit breaker has "derated itself." Fix the latter by replacing the circuit breaker.

Always choose a replacement circuit breaker based on the wire capacity, not the devices connected. For example, replacing an appropriately sized 20 amp breaker with a 30 amp could easily start a fire from inside the walls.

Addendum: see the time-to-trip for a line of GE circuit breakers here. Note that it is normal for slightly overloaded breakers to take hours to trip.

wallyk
  • 12,339
  • 3
  • 23
  • 50