As it got warm, I turned on my A/C to "cool" down a little. The fan came on, but it did not cool the house down. For whatever reason, I went to the garage to check the fuse box and saw the breaker was tripped. I turned it all the way off and then back on and it tripped as soon as I turned it own. This is the first time I have had this problem and I am the only one that has ever lived in this house. Why is it tripping and what can I do? I am burning up!!

Most commonly that would tell me either your compressor has a problem or may even be shot... there could be a short some where in the outside unit. How old is the system?

Unless a wire has rubbed through its insulation or something, there is little you can do yourself. If you have an ohmmeter, you can disconnect the incoming lines and check each for being grounded or shorted to each other. If not, go to the load side. Each pole will have several wires. Remove all the wires from one pole and check to see if any of them are grounded. Also check for a short to the other pole. Note, the motor leads will have a fairly low, but not zero ohms reading to the other pole. If you find a bad reading, trace the wire to see where it goes. If you can't see a problem with the wire, chances are whatever it goes to is shot. If it is the compressor, you must call a pro. If the system is very old, it may be time to replace it.

If you can't find a problem, there is some chance the breaker is bad.