Your air conditioner was installed to meet your Apache Junction home’s cooling needs and power infrastructure. However, ACs use more power when they malfunction or need maintenance. If your AC power consumption goes too high, it will trip the circuit breaker, and you’ll need to reset the breaker before your AC works again.
So if your AC keeps tripping the circuit breaker, the problem could continue and may worsen. Superstition Cooling can help you diagnose your AC breaker problem and provide the tune-up, repairs, or replacement you need to reduce the electricity your AC needs to cool your home reliably. Read on to learn more about why your air conditioner keeps tripping the circuit breaker.
Most Common Causes of AC Tripping a Circuit Breaker
Air conditioners tend to trip the circuit breaker when something is causing them to work less efficiently than usual. Your AC keeps hauling electrons to meet your cooling needs until it becomes too much for your power system, and the breaker trips. Let’s look at the most common causes for your AC to lose efficiency and overuse power.
A Dirty Air Filter
The single most common reason is that your air filter is clogged. This means that dust and contaminants have packed into your air filter, into no air can get through the intake. When air can’t get through the intake, your blower fan pulls and pulls, trying to pull enough air to provide cold air to your house and meet the demands of your thermostat. Always start by changing your air filter out for a fresh one. Then wipe down the dust that has built up on your vent cover for the best performance. Your AC might stop tripping the AC breaker soon.
Dirty Condenser Coils
If you run with a dirty or no filter, dust gets into your AC unit. That dust will be attracted to condensation moisture on your coils, forming a blanket that keeps the air from getting to the cold coils. This can not only cause warm air to blow from your vents but also cause your coils to ice over and trip your breaker.
Broken Coil Fan
If your AC’s internal fan is broken, then it can’t pull air through the intake or blow it out your vents. But your AC doesn’t necessarily know that the fan is broken, so it will keep generating cold because the thermostat says the house isn’t cold enough yet (no cold air) until the circuit trips. You will need an internal AC repair service to replace the broken fan.
The Compressor is “Hard Starting”
If your compressor keeps stopping and starting, it may go through a “hard start,” which uses much more power per start than usual.
Loose Wiring & Aging AC Parts
Older ACs need regular tune-ups and maintenance and may experience more repair issues than newer units. If you can’t find an apparent cause, the problem might be a loose wire or just aging AC parts. When this happens, replacing the entire air conditioning system is sometimes more efficient.
Professional Heating & AC Repair & Maintenance Services in Apache Junction
Superstition Cooling can help you find and fix the cause if your air conditioner keeps tripping the circuit breaker. Whether it’s a clog, a power issue, or your old AC needs to be entirely replaced, our expert team can provide the insight and skills to find the solution. A tripping circuit breaker is also a matter of energy efficiency. Once the problem is solved, you may see your power bills go down, especially with a new system designed to hum and far lower power consumption than older units.
Contact us today if your Apache Junction air conditioner is tripping the circuit breaker.
image credit: fizkes, shutterstock