A/C tripping the breaker

[Rthomas61]

Tough question here...

Our 3 year old Coleman Mach air conditioner started tripping the breaker this week. It started Saturday. Breaker tripped. Reset, started and tripped again. This went on about 4 times. Shut it off, let everything "settle," cleaned the rooftop unit (some bugs and stuff in it, not overly bad) and reset. Ran for a day and a half. Wifey came back and breaker had again tripped.

We are on a seasonal site, it's been in the upper 80's lately and everyone is running their A/C's. Mind you, it's not the first time it's been this hot.

What could be tripping the breaker? Possible "spike" in the line doing this? Something I'm missing? No other breakers are being tripped, just the A/C.

Anything I can try before calling in a technician?

Thanks in advance!

Bob

[Rthomas61]

Well, it sounds like I have a bit of work ahead of me.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'm going to start at the screw, breaker, power and then technician. Hoping something corrects the problem as it's never happened before. Perhaps with the additional A/C units going in the block, my power is dipping. Haven't heard of anyone else having the issue, though.

Thanks again. Will report back...hopefully!

[BB_TX]

Make sure the screw holding the wire is tight. A loose wire can cause heat that can cause the breaker to trip.

If wire is tight, pull the breaker out and go to home improvement store, hardware store, or electric supply and get a new one. I had one on my A/C start tripping several years ago. Replaced it and never tripped again. They can go bad.

[TexasChaps]

Rthomas61 wrote:
Tough question here...

Our 3 year old Coleman Mach air conditioner started tripping the breaker this week. It started Saturday. Breaker tripped. Reset, started and tripped again. This went on about 4 times. Shut it off, let everything "settle," cleaned the rooftop unit (some bugs and stuff in it, not overly bad) and reset. Ran for a day and a half. Wifey came back and breaker had again tripped.

We are on a seasonal site, it's been in the upper 80's lately and everyone is running their A/C's. Mind you, it's not the first time it's been this hot.

What could be tripping the breaker? Possible "spike" in the line doing this? Something I'm missing? No other breakers are being tripped, just the A/C.

Anything I can try before calling in a technician?

Thanks in advance!

Bob

replace the run capacitor.. a failing run cap will cause the motor to pull more amps before it finally dies..

[Dick_B]

Breakers trip for two reasons: a short circuit and amperage draw too high. The A/C requires so much power which is Amps x Voltage. If the voltage is too low the A/C has to draw more amps and, in your case, it draws enough at certain times to trip the breaker on overload.
I'd check the voltage at the post and I would bet it is more like 100 volts instead of 120. Not much you can do about it.

[hohenwald48]

x2 on the A/C voltage. Sounds like it's getting low from all the air conditioners running all the time. You might be near the end of the wire run and that can be a problem too.

[Mandalay_Parr]

Might tighten the connection on the breaker.
Then replace.
Check voltage at the AC. Low voltage is not your friend.

[midnightsadie]

look at that breaker get the info, and buy a new one,at lowes,etc they do weak,en after they,ve been tripped a lot.

[Rthomas61]

Golfcart wrote:
If the breaker is hot when its tripping, Id climb back up top and give it a really thorough cleaning and try again. for some reason or another its drawing alot of unnecessary amps under its load.


also, do you have a line filter on your power coming into the trailer?

No line filter and I was wondering about that

My neighbor went up and cleaned the HECK out of it. Said everything is spinning fine, fired it up and didn't hear any bearing issues and said it sounded fine.

Yes, the breaker was hot to the touch (according to wife). I haven't been able to get down there to look myself but my neighbor is very tech savy and even he can't figure out what it is.

[Golfcart]

If the breaker is hot when its tripping, Id climb back up top and give it a really thorough cleaning and try again. for some reason or another its drawing alot of unnecessary amps under its load.


also, do you have a line filter on your power coming into the trailer?