Heat Pump Not Blowing Cold

RB101011

Hi. Let me start off by saying I did try to do some searches but didn't really find any straight forward answer to my problem. So my problem is when I turn on my heat pump to a/c the air is not blowing cold like it should. I noticed that my fan on the unit outside was not on. So I opened my breaker box and the breaker for the outside unit was popped. So I popped it back and turned on the a/c again only to find the breaker popped again (not right away I don't think but when I checked it again a little bit later). So I reset it once again and had my wife turn on the a/c while I stood outside to see if I could hear anything wrong. When she turned it on I heard a popping noise come from the unit and a slight hum sound but then nothing else happened. Now the house is only about 5 years old so I don't know that the unit should have went bad by then. I have not had the heat on any and haven't ran the a/c in a week or so due to mild weather not needing it. It was working fine a few weeks ago when I was using it everyday. Any suggestions on what might have happened?

Doc Holliday

One thing and one thing only causes a condenser breaker to trip.

~You might want to tearfully get out your check book.~

Compressor is shot.

hvac122

Could be a number of things causing a direct short......contactor, capacitor etc......

RB101011

Ok, If it makes any difference it is the main breaker box inside my house that is tripping. And also when I reset the breaker I can just tap the switch and it pops to the off position. Could it be that my breaker is bad?

beenthere

Main breaker as in, all your lights and everything else don't work when it trips?

Master of Cold

Lol..
Im sure there is something in a can to fix this right??

Master of Cold

To the OP, (now that I got my jokes out of the way).
With the condenser breaker off, go to the thermostat and turn on the emergency heat, and turn the temp up. Then run hot water out of the bathtub. If your main trips, you will need to call an electrician. If it doesn't trip, your compressor has bit the dust. I wouldn't recommend trying to run the condenser anymore. You might not the results of blowing the fusible plug out..

Doc Holliday

Yup, buy a new compressor.

You can unwire thecompressor completely and then flip the breaker back on. If it doesn't trip then, then you know for certain.

Doc Holliday

Hey, I thought that was op. Master, you-know-that already..

Chaingang

Another way to check to help pinpoint the problem is to pull one side of the contractor coil wires off. This is the wire that is usually 24 volts that comes from the thermostat. Now apply power by having your wife reset the breaker. See if the breaker trips. Now attach the low voltage wire that you removed, the contractor should pull in assuming it is calling for cooling. Now if the breaker trips, it could be the compressor, or capacitor, or condenser fan motor. In order to find out which of these could be the culprit, you will have to isolate the fan motor wires and try this over again. Be very careful around high voltage wires. If you are not familiar or comfortable do not try this and call a professional. It shouldnt take him but a few minutes to check these and find just what is causing the tripping.

RB101011

Not the main breaker as in the whole house cuts off. Just the breaker in the house panel. The breaker don't trip right away when I turn on the a/c but after a while it will. I am replacing the capacitor because after doing more searching this seems to be the most common problem. Cost me $16 and will be here in a day or so. Will let you guys know how it turns out.

Bteezy

I had the same problem. Electric bill was ridiculous. I was previously told it was "just hot" outside. I had a heat strip pulling some amps while it was set to cool. It was a bad sequencer and was actually warming the cooled air. If your freon is okay, this is probably your problem.

Master of Cold

Hmm T3eezy's cousin.

beenthere

lol...

Doc Holliday

I can tell you right now it's not the capacitor. The compressor is trying to start and overamping while doing so thus tripping the breaker. If the cap was bad it wouldn't even attempt to start. What you might try buying is a 5-2-1 Compressor Saver a.k.a Hard Start Kit. What this is is a super boost (extra large capacitor) that ties into the normal capacitor and assists in the starting ONLY of the comrpessor. It will come with a relay that is already wired together to the super capacitor. All you need to do is plug in the hard start, one side to each side of he contactor or run and common rather and then the single yellow striped wire to the herm side of the normal compressor capacitor. The relay closes the cap off on start up and then the compressor runs on it's normal cap.

Google it: 5-2-1 Compressor Saver and then buy it online somewhere. I think it's around $43.

Granted you will need to know the tonnage of the condensing unit which would most likley be stated in numerals in the model number. Get those numbers and post them here and we'll tell you the size. Those hard start kits come one size for 1-3 ton systems and one size for 3.5-5 ton only.