Hello, I'd appreciate anyone's advice. Today, I realized that one of my condensing units isn't working properly. So I was turning the breakers to both the A/C downstair and upstair units on and off periodically during the day to figure out the problem. Nothing has been solved on that end, but that's not the point of my concern.

So, the circuit breaker to my downstairs unit will not turn back to "on" no matter how many times I go from extreme "off" to "on". Is this a problem beyond my expertise or is it possible to reset everything? Any help? Thank you.

tkrussell

Well depends on how the breaker is acting. Is it just the handle wont click to reset , or is the breaker actually tripping from a short or overload.

If the switch handle "feels" mushy or just wont "snap" or click when thrown to OFF, then it is a defective breaker.

If your feeling the click and it is tripping off quickly, then sounds like a dead short.

mcw

Thank you for your reply. What do you mean by "dead short"? I really can't tell what it's doing. I take the switch from the off position and switch it to the on and it just falls back onto the off position. I do hear a slight "click" when going over to the "on" position. Sounds like a dead short. Thank you.

Accent Lighting

Your problem could need a certified A/C specialist. The condenser may be bad and has gotten to the point where it will flip the breaker to stop the unit from getting too hot and burning up.

Another reason is that the breaker is old and weak. This does happen frequently to older homes or when A/C units have been recently replaced.

It sounds to me like the condenser.

mcw

Thank you for the reply. I'm having someone come to look at the A/C system with attention to the condenser. But the odd thing was that the next day I woke and went out to check the circuit breaker, and it clicked into the "on" position. So now it leaves me wondering exactly why it wouldn't turn on in the first place. Any ideas? Could the short fix itself?