My Ruud AC unit is 14-15 years old. This past summer it was tripping the circuit breaker 1-2 times a day. I tried to schedule an inspection a couple weeks ago but they say it needs to run for them to check it out and there's plenty of time to schedule an appointment. In the meantime I had an electrician over for a different job and he says if the breaker is tripping it most likely is the compressor and the unit has to be changed.
Is there a way I can check this myself? What's the typical cost for such a unit? The gas furnace is Ruud also. My ranch house is 1800+ sq/ft.
Could just need a new start/run cap or hard start kit. When it trips, is it always when it's trying to start? A simple thing to check is to make sure the breaker corresponds to what's required on the plate and/or install instructions. Could be the breaker was undersized and as age catches up, it's being pushed over the edge. Could be a bad breaker too. I had a Ruud that needed a hard start kit at 10 years old because it was blowing the fuse, it ran another 15 years, no problems after that.
Cost depends on what gets replaced. If it's more serious than above, you can change just the compressor or the whole condenser unit. Or that plus the evaporator and lines. Or all that plus the furnace. It's probably $1000 for the low end of the above. Just a couple hundred if it's a hard start kit.
Big problem is finding someone honest, not someone that wants to sell you the works.
I had problems years ago running the dryer and ac simultaneously. It turned out a connection in the incoming power supply was hinky. It was an intermittent problem. A bad connection is at least a possibility. It wouldn't hurt to loosen and retighten whatever upstream wiring you can get to.
With the above, if you're comfortable working on it, taking the cover off, looking for a start/run cap for the compressor and replacing it would be an option. They are pretty cheap, readily available online, including Ebay, maybe $20. I'd also check the fan on the condenser, make sure it's running, the coils are not plugged with dirt, etc. Low air flow will make it struggle and more likely to trip. I had the fancy ECM fan fail on mine when it was about 3 years old. A new one was $350, I opted to replace it with a standard fan motor for $90.
Yea, like I was ripped off a few years ago. The service man was very good and spotted the bad capacitor as soon as he took off the cover. Took him maybe 5 minuites to do the repair. The bill was about $ 350 for a capacitor that should cost less than $ 30. I do not blame the service man, but the company as they have a set rate to replace certain things. I doubt that I will ever call that company again.
I did get a good education on the system while he was here and I had him do a few other things.
I've certainly heard ones that were a lot worse, so I wouldn't feel too bad. If he checked it all out, correctly diagnosed it, put the part in, you're lucky compared to really getting shystered.
I have a good friend who's living with his GF in a condo. During the big freeze, their gas furnace would not maintain the desired temp, it would come on, run a bit, but leave the place at like 60 instead of the desired
So they called the service guy, he diagnosis it as a bad control board. 0 estimate. Next day he puts in the board and a new igniter, says it's all fixed. My buddy say, but the furnace isn't running! Repair guy says yes it is. My buddy convinces him it's not running, no air coming out. He goes back into the crawlspace, comes back and says it was a loose wire, it's fixed now. He leaves, furnace still doing the same thing. To shorten the story, this same company also put in a new control board a year ago when the AC was not working. And the guy told him this time that all kinds of lights were flashing on the board, it was bad, etc, etc.
So, my buddy logged what it's doing. When it's real cold, it runs for almost exactly 20 mins, then shuts off for exactly an hour, then repeats. This is when it's set for say 75 and it's only 65. He had tried new batteries in the thermostat. I suggested he listen to the thermostat for a click when it turns on and off, to see if it's the thermostat. Low and behold, he hears a click when it goes on and off! So, I told him to try hooking the heat and power wire together, to force it on, verify that the furnace then runs continuously. He won't do it. It's also one of the programmable ones that also has installer settup parameters, I offered to help him see what all the parameters are set to and do a full factory reset over the phone, but he won't do it. I think part of the problem is it's the GF's condo and he's afraid he'll burn it down. Instead he's going to buy a rthermometer and monitor what it's doing. He's 400 miles away or I'd go over there and fix it. He doesn't seem much interested in at least trying to quickly solve it so they can try to get their money back. It sure looks like it;s the thermostat. And it was $800 they just paid and presumably some similar amount for replacing the same board a year ago. Now I'd say that is getting really hosed big time.
I would throw a capacitor at it before I did anything. They do go bad and will cause it to trip the breaker. Just be sure the one you get has the same MFD rating and equal or higher voltage rating. Since you are in no big hurry. order one on line. Next step is a "hard start kit" if you don't already have one.
Before doing anything, he should get one of the clamp on amp meters and check to see how much current the AC is drawing. If normel, change the breaker, if too high, change the capacitor for a quick mostly inexpensive check or cure. Harbor freight has some for less than $ 20 and Lowes has some for around $ 50 that should be good enough for a rough check.
Most motors will draw a lot of current when first started and as they speed up the current goes down. A good breaker will take a high overload for a second or three while the motor is starting even though it is more than the value listed on the breaker.
I put a whole house protector on mine. They are not that much. There is also a rod there bonded to the GES. Same is true of the sub that feeds the house and the main. (Protector and rod in the GES) Lightning has never been an issue for me and this is Florida.
Not sure how much benefit I'm getting from the whole house surge protector I installed with my new panel, as I never had a known surge problem from lightning or anything else in over 35 years without one.
Lightning damage is really a pretty rare thing up north. What you are getting with your protector is it will clamp transients from line to line and line to neutral at some fairly safe voltage. It does not do anything for your multi input equipment like TVs, Modems and wired phones. You also need that protection coordinated with protectors on the cable, phone and satellite preferably grounded to the same point very near by. If all of your wires come in at the same place, that is fairly easy. A couple cycles ago the NEC made it easier with a single bus bar intersystem grounding connection at the point where the service comes in.
That is just the time delay. A lot of new units come with them already. I was more interesting in clamping transients and I think the DiTek unit was about $40. They also have one that is $60 or so. I put that one on the main and the 2 cheaper ones on the sub and the A/C.
Make sure the protector the cable company installs is connect to your grounding system, preferably right where the panel protector connects. For the purposes of surge protection, underground is not that much help.
The panel is on one side oif the house, the cable on the other. There is no supressor on the cable, but it IS grounded. (to the copper water pipe - and yes, the meter IS jumpered, as is the water heater, andthe softener (bonded with #6 copper))
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