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Air Conditioning Repair: HVAC Issues Making Circuit Breakers In Your Home Trip And How To Prevent Them | Dallas, TX

Air Conditioning Repair: HVAC Issues Making Circuit Breakers In Your Home Trip And How To Prevent Them | Dallas, TX

Heating equipment accounts for almost 44,210 home fires between 2014 and 2018, while 86 percent of all AC fires are due to mechanical failure or system malfunction. Circuit breakers can help reduce the prevalence of electrical fires and accidents in homes.

They protect families from dangerous circuits that can lead to adverse electrical issues. With proper installation, the circuit breakers trip whenever they detect an abnormal electric flow from your HVAC units. The tripping of the breakers, including AFCIs and the standard circuit breakers, indicates an issue that might need urgent repairs or intervention measures.

When you notice frequent tripping of the circuit-breaking receptacles whenever you switch on your cooling or heating device, it is best to call an air conditioning repair professional to check out the system for a proper diagnosis of the problem. The following are some of the HVAC issues that can make the circuit breaker cut power supply in homes.

Low Refrigerant Levels

Coolant in the HVAC unit should last as long as the system lasts to maintain temperatures. Having less than the factory-set refrigerant levels in an air conditioner implies a leak that can result from wear and tear, pin holes due to corrosion, and damage in the copper refrigerant line. The leakage makes the coolant insufficient and unable to complete a cooling cycle successfully.

A compressor with low refrigerant is undercharged and causes low cooling capacity that requires urgent air conditioning repair services. An undercharged unit struggles to cool the intended space and consumes a lot of electricity that exceeds the cut-off point of the circuit breaker, which eventually trips. The flipping breaker prevents fires, electrocutions, burns, and property loss due to overheating and an overloaded circuit.

Once the AFCI or standard breaker in your house trips when you switch your HVAC system on, it’s a sign of an electrical problem that needs prompt fixing by a technician from a well-known air conditioning repair company. The hired professional inspects the unit to find the leaking parts for repairs and replaces the lost refrigerant to the factory-set limit.

Preventing Low Refrigerant Levels

Since leaking the viscous liquid from an AC unit creates additional problems, it is better to invest in preventative measures that ensure the leak does not occur in the first place. The technicians should perform thorough inspections frequently to pinpoint a leakage on time before it worsens and causes multiple HVAC issues.

During maintenance, the air conditioning repair expert replaces the copper lines to stop possible leaks. In addition, the technicians in HVAC systems check the refrigerant levels to ascertain it is the same as at the factory-set level for the peak performance of the compressor and AC unit.

Dirty Air Filters

Clogged air filters are the root cause of many HVAC problems, including tripping a circuit-breaking device. It reduces the amount of air flowing into the air conditioner, depriving vital components, such as the fan motor, of air to operate efficiently. The limited airflow in the AC makes the unit struggle to meet the cooling needs of a family, spiking the electricity bills.

As the fan motor and compressor work harder to provide sufficient thermal comfort, the system overheats, creating a short circuit that makes the circuit-breaking device trip. The electrical short is dangerous and can lead to injuries, electrocution, or fatalities.

When you notice electric shocks from your air conditioner or heating systems, it’s wise to call an air conditioning repair company for thorough inspections to identify its root cause.

The professional can link the electricity shorts to your HVAC unit if it is not producing sufficient cool air during summer and the air from the unit is warm instead of the intended cool air. Other telltale signs of clogged air filtration systems are musty and dusty indoor air quality, increasing allergic reactions, and dusty vents.

Fortunately, HVAC contractors are highly-trained and qualified to handle dirty air filters as they can clean or change them, according to the type. The air conditioning repair technician can also charge to tune up and clean the entire unit to prevent more HVAC woes and electrical accidents.

Preventing Clogged Air Filters

The best way to maintain the air filters is by regularly changing and cleaning them. It is a process that prevents dirt, debris, mold spores, and other pollutants from accumulating and restricting air from passing through. The frequent tune-ups of the filters protect vital parts of the AC from failing or malfunctioning.

HVAC experts can also recommend high-quality air filters, such as the HEPA filter, a high-efficiency particulate air filter that filters more than 99.97 percent of contaminants. The professionals providing air conditioning repair services can recommend considering aspects such as selecting the filters in the Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values (MERVs).

Another way to protect your air filters from quickly getting clogged is to ensure other parts of the system, including the blower, are efficient to avoid blowing dirt 24/7 without stopping.

Damaged Coil Fan

Homeowners can also experience tripped circuit breakers due to a broken coil fan that air conditioning repair professionals can replace. The air conditioner has several fans, including low-efficiency, lower-cost, and variable-speed electric motors, that are vital to complete the cooling cycle.

Fan motors can move the air conditioning fan to blow air in the intended rooms. They direct warm air sucked from inside the house outdoors and blow the cool conditioned air indoors.

The fan motors blow the air over coil fans to remove heat from your house. When the coils are broken or damaged, they affect the cooling process, increasing discomfort. Contractors in charge of the air conditioning repair services can detect the root cause of the failing coil fans to wear and tear or broken parts.

Worn-out coil fans use more electricity when working extra hard to cool your home. The higher electricity usage due to broken coil fans makes them burn out, tripping the breaker. An experienced technician is what you need to ensure the coils are replaced or repaired for peak performance of the HVAC unit.

How to Protect Coil Fan from Breaking

Periodic tune-ups of the entire AC system are vital in detecting potential problems before they cause adverse effects. Experts in air conditioning repair services can thoroughly check each part of the unit to identify issues that need quick fixing, cleaning, or lost parts that need tightening.

Dirty Condenser Coils

Unclean or clogged condenser coils can make the circuit breaker trip. The copper condenser coils allow condensation of the gaseous coolant to change into a viscous liquid. The condenser coils eliminate heat from the refrigerant, making it a low-temperature and high-pressure liquid before moving to the expansion valve. They transfer the heat to the outside of the system, leaving your house with optimal thermal comfort.

When the condenser coils are clogged, it becomes impossible to suck the heat from the gaseous coolant and drive it outside, affecting the cooling cycle. Without the condensation process, the air conditioner burns out, leading to a short circuit that the circuit breaker detects and trips to prevent electrical fires and accidents.

A qualified and certified technician offering air conditioning repair services can skillfully and professionally address the issues arising from clogged condenser coils. Since the root cause of the dirty condenser coils includes dirt, debris, leaves, and dust build-up, the contractor can clean the condenser coils to keep them clean to facilitate the condensation process. The cleaning also helps prevent additional problems that can make the system fail.

Preventing Dirty Condenser Coils

Luckily, issues arising from dirt and dust build-up in the system are preventable by an air conditioning repair professional through routine clean-ups and tune-ups. It is also best to have a maintenance plan with a trustworthy HVAC company to ensure the entire AC is thoroughly cleaned twice annually.

Keeping the outdoor environment clean can also prevent too much debris and dirt from entering the outdoor unit, which protects the coils from clogging and failing. In addition, the AC installers should also install the outdoor systems in a place that does not allow water and other dirty substances to enter the condensing unit.

Loose Wiring

In addition to the above causes of tripping circuit breakers in homes is loose wiring. It is a problem that arises due to poor installation services from a quack with limited experience in installing air conditioners. The unskilled air conditioning repair and installation technician can leave loose wires in your HVAC system, causing an arc fault or short circuit that accounts for 43 percent of AC fires.

Another cause of loose wiring in the HVAC systems and connections is the wear and tear that happens over years of service, tripping the circuit breaker repeatedly. Whichever the reason behind the loose wiring, a professional in air conditioning repair services can recommend rewiring the circuit if the wires or cables are worn-out and frayed.

The expert can also recommend replacing the aging HVAC systems with more advanced appliances to reduce the risk of electrical fires in old homes.

How to Prevent Issues Loose Wires in HVACs

It is prudent to avoid hiring quacks to install any of your electrical systems, including air conditioners and heaters. So, you should always be ready to research the best contractor in the air conditioning repair and installation field.

You can ask your trusted friends and relatives for referrals, visit HVAC companies in person, and read comments and reviews on Google to find the best technicians. In old houses, you can prevent the frequent tripping of the circuit breaker and issues from the ACs due to loose wiring by hiring a pro to rewire your electrical systems. The technicians can also tighten all loose electrical connections in your unit.

Compressor Issues

The compressing unit, the heart of the HVAC unit, is not an exception in making the circuit-breaking receptacles trip in homes. It tends to overheat due to low or excess refrigerant levels.

An air conditioning repair expert can also identify damaged internal parts in a compressor, including the electrical windings, failed capacitor, and a malfunctioning compressor as other causes of tripping breakers. They are susceptible to overheating, causing a short circuit, and multiple electrical hazards if your home does not have a working circuit-breaking device.

Preventing Compressor Issues

Fortunately, all the problems homeowners can experience in their compressing unit are preventable. An air conditioning repair professional can suggest maintenance of the compressor bi-annually.

The tune-up entails cleaning dirt parts, tightening loose components and connections, replacing worn-out parts, and refilling liquid coolant to the factory-set level.

Get Expert Air Conditioner Repairs

You can call One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Dallas for prompt repairs if you are experiencing HVAC electrical problems that trip the circuit breaker.

We are a cooling and heating company that ensures our clients get the best air conditioning repair, replacement, and installation services that meet their thermal comfort needs.

Conclusion

A well-maintained AC system operates efficiently during the hot and cold seasons without issues that can make the circuit breaker trip. It is also vital to ensure the circuit-breaking devices are operational and can promptly turn off the power when they detect any dangerous electrical current from your HVAC units.

Since most reasons behind the tripping of the breaker lead to an overheating system, it is wise for an air conditioning repair contractor to ensure the unit is not overworking and consuming massive electricity that leads to an overloaded circuit and electricity shorts.

Short circuits, arc faults, and malfunctioned HVAC units are the primary cause of circuit tripping in homes and can lead to dangerous electrical hazards, especially if the standard or AFCI breakers are inefficient.

Therefore, keeping the air filters and condenser coils clean, tuning up the coil fan and fan motors, and servicing the compressor and other electrical components of ACs can stop the frequent tripping of circuit-breaking receptacles in households.

For professional AC services, contact us at One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Dallas

See our recent blog on this topic here.

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