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5 year old A/C unit blows breaker every few weeks.
five year old Friedrich split A/C recently has started blowing the breaker once every 2 to 3 weeks, always at night. In the interim, it runs fine. In the morning I flip the breaker and it's good to go.
I clean the fins on the unit every 3 to 4 months because its in a dusty area. The fins are so close together that I'm certain large areas are clogged. I use a vacuum, air compressor, water hose and nylon brush to clean them. There's some corrosion on the fin edges.
I just had the plumbing insulation replace because the original turned into a slimy mess. What's there now is 1-1/2" wall Armaflex and the breaker blew again last night.
What could be causing this? The local contractor has no idea and there's little actual A/C knowledge on the island.
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When did this start? This year, last year? Did they install a new matched breaker when they replaced your unit 5 years ago? Do you have a 5 minute time delay on your system? May need to call a electrician to check breaker, wires to outdoor unit, breaker size is within manufacturers specifications.
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I failed to mention I'm an EE and I replaced the breaker the first time it happened.
This started about 2 months ago and so far it has tripped the breaker 4 times. The unit draws 9 Amps at full load @ 120V IIRC on a 20 amp circuit with 12 Gauge wiring. Because it's an inverter based unit, it draws about 2 amps continuously once its reached the desired temperature. It almost never shuts off because it's hot here year round.
There is a time delay on startup of about 3 minutes when the fan blows but the compressor is off.
I'll also mention, we have a dehumidifier running in the room and that helps keep humidity at 50%
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It's a long shot. But I have seen units that had a plugged split coil behave the same way.
The problem is until you get the covers off the unit you probably won't even know if it HAS a split coil.
Easy way to check is with the unit running hold your hand about 1/4 inch away from the coil where it's sucking in the air .
If you feel ANY heat you are dealing with a plugged coil.
However this happening in the middle of the night does not lead me to believe it's actually plugged.
But it's the one thing I tell homeowners to do before they pay for a service call
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Originally Posted by
RoatanBill
I failed to mention I'm an EE and I replaced the breaker the first time it happened.
This started about 2 months ago and so far it has tripped the breaker 4 times. The unit draws 9 Amps at full load @ 120V IIRC on a 20 amp circuit with 12 Gauge wiring. Because it's an inverter based unit, it draws about 2 amps continuously once its reached the desired temperature. It almost never shuts off because it's hot here year round.
There is a time delay on startup of about 3 minutes when the fan blows but the compressor is off.
I'll also mention, we have a dehumidifier running in the room and that helps keep humidity at 50%
Please post the model number for a 120v inverter split.
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The unit is an M12CJ 120V mini split.
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Interesting.
I didn't know anyone made 120v inverters, especially cool only.
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Restaurant Mech: I'll give your information to the guy that claims to know something about A/C units here on the island. There are no real A/C pros here.