The compressor wasn’t running. I called the guys who sold it to me a couple of years ago. They replaced the compressor fan, (the bill says compressor motor) added a hard start kit and a capacitor. It ran for a while. In the afternoon in the 90’s there is no cool air and the compressor circuit breaker throws. Upon paying attention, I notice that it quits cooling before the breaker trips. If I throw the breaker and wait five minutes, it will run again. It ran all night, turning off at the thermostat setting about 5:00 AM. They suggested that the breaker was bad and I replaced it this morning. When I got home at 6:00 PM, the compressor fan wasn’t turning. I turned the thermostat switch off for ten minutes, and all is well.
What gives?
Hard to diagnose the problem over the web, but a hard start kit is a last ditch effort to me. We only put those on while waiting for a replacement compressor to get to us. Tripping the breaker may be the hard start kit, if the compressor is trying to start loaded the kit will give it a boost that will trip the breaker at the panel. Sounds to me like you need a timer to offset the compressor startup by 3-5 min. When the compressor tries to start shortly after a shutdown, it is trying to start against maybe 300 psi head pressure. Even industrial units pop off safeties when that happens. It needs to rest for a few minutes to give it a chance to equalize the pressure.
If it’s tripping the breaker when it starts up after being off for a short while, you may just be seeing the normal condition of what happens when you try to re-start a compressor before pressures have equalized. Most decent thermostats now have a “compressor guard” feature that forces a few minutes wait before it will turn on. You may also find compressor guards being built into the compressor itself. But… a compressor guard simply prevents the thing from attempting to start - it’s not going to trip the breaker.
If it’s running along, then eventually stops cooling and then trips out, your evaporator coil or the refrigerant line may be icing up and clogging. This sometimes happens when a system runs non-stop for too long, but other things to investigate are air flow in the air handler (Blower running fast enough? Filters clean? No blockage in ductwork?)