First time for everything

[joemach]

Had a call that the condenser was kicking the breaker as soon as it came on. Customer called an electrician and was told it was most likely a shorted compressor. I was thinking maybe bad breaker. So I ask her what size and make and pick one up on the way to the call.

Get there and check condenser first. Pull cover and see capacitor bulging. Check Mf =0. Put in new cap and all is well.

Just never saw a bad run cap trip a breaker before.

Guess there is a first time for everything.

[R600a]

Maby its internal overload didnt trip quick enough. It seems that breakers blow a lot faster than fuses.

Had a call that the condenser was kicking the breaker as soon as it came on. Customer called an electrician and was told it was most likely a shorted compressor. I was thinking maybe bad breaker. So I ask her what size and make and pick one up on the way to the call.

Get there and check condenser first. Pull cover and see capacitor bulging. Check Mf =0. Put in new cap and all is well.

Just never saw a bad run cap trip a breaker before.

Guess there is a first time for everything.

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[joemach]

Maby its internal overload didnt trip quick enough. It seems that breakers blow a lot faster than fuses.

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No fuses. Non fused disconnects are popular around here, except if they are real old.

[R600a]

I mentioned fuses because it seems they dont blow as often from things like that. I see breakers trip much more often. I was thinking that a fuse would likely not have blown in a similar situation.
We have more fuses here.

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[ackid]

I have seen that one a couple of times this year. Strange though.

[safebustr]

How did the Capacitor ohm to ground?

[joemach]

How did the Capacitor ohm to ground?

That is a great question. I never even thought about testing that.

Thanks for making me think.

[theoldscroll]

Maby its internal overload didnt trip quick enough. It seems that breakers blow a lot faster than fuses.

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Intresting point but it seems that way to me also. 30 yrs ago we changed a lot more fuses, especially after a lightning storm. May be these HACKR rated breakers today, don't know. Strange because now we have widespread use of scroll compressors which seem to have a higher LRA rating than that of the old recips.

[Achso017]

Just had one 45 mins ago was the same problem. ~12 year old carrier with swollen capacitor and tripped breaker. It’s rare but I think I’ve had two others like it this year. I think the internal overload is taking too long to trip so the breaker steps in, or it’s a slightly weak breaker.

[Achso017]

Oh, and it had a fused disconnect with good fuses.

[R600a]

We had a trane snowball with a bad start relay that was drawing like 90 amps a second at a time till it would shut off on internal overload and it never blew the 30 amp fuses

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[Tay da tech]

Run across this maybe 5 times a year. Also run across the breaker tripping for no "apparent" reason sometimes. Both seem related.

[CircusEnvy]

I wonder if the plates inside the capacitor hit the wall, which would ground through the frame. If you still got it, check resistance between each terminal and the outside of the cap.

[joemach]

I wonder if the plates inside the capacitor hit the wall, which would ground through the frame. If you still got it, check resistance between each terminal and the outside of the cap.

Sorry tossed it. Wish I saved it.

[frankhvac]

That was my first thought, shorted cap. I’ve seen it a few times. Other things I would look at too are wire size to unit, tightness of electrical connections, condition of contactor points. Is the breaker properly sized according to MOP on nameplate with properly sized conductors. I always look for stupid stuff