Air Conditioner Circuit Breaker Trips
It could be a number of things. Anything from a weak breaker to a nearly dead A/C. My guess is a basic service/maintenance call will take care of it. When was the last time you had it serviced?
Answer:
Depending on the age of the house (breaker box), breakers do wear over time and become more resistive. When you turn your AC on, it gets very hot and that's what typically causes breakers to trip. The breakers trip when they get hot due to overcurrent, or just old age. My personal experience was that my box was so old (1968), the busses feeding the circuit had corroded to about 1/2 the size and basically lit up like a lightbulb when the AC was on, causing the breakers to trip. I had to remove the box. First, a heat pump should have exactly the same cooling capacity as a regular A/C unit of the same tonnage. You should really have your unit serviced yearly to be sure it is working at maximum capacity and efficiency. As to the breaker tripping, it is hard to diagnose without being there, but from what you describe, it sounds more like a problem in the electrical service to the unit rather than a problem with the unit itself, but there are many possibilities, and unless you have some basic experience with electrical work, it is best left to a pro. Your best bet would be to call an A/C company, explain the problem to them, and ask that they send an experienced service tech out. Most larger companies will have techs with varying amounts of experience, and some with more expertise in certain areas than others, so it wil be in their best interest as well as yours to send someone out that can diagnose your system rather than guess at it.