I have a 5 year old 14,000 BTU window unit air conditioner. My landlord did me a solid and put the AC on its own 20 amp circuit and the unit is still blowing the fuse..thus taking the overload problem out of the loop. I now turn it on and it starts but when the compressor really starts working, it blows the breaker still. Some of the outtake fins are kind of smashed down but not majorly and I feel like this wouldn't be an issue either as it's not an overheating issue. I'm really nervous that this is a faulty compressor and I've heard that's the death of an AC unit but this is a rather new, whirlpool AC. I don't feel like that makes sense....help!

 

Welcome to the forums.

You're a tenant, get the landlord involved in this.

 

Well...right. He did install a new breaker just for the AC which I definitely think is his due dilligence. The AC belongs to me and I'm pretty sure the AC unit itself is the problem here. I don't know if this is really his issue?

 

Oh, crap. I didn't notice the part about this being a window AC. Sorry about that....

 

It's possible that the coils are simply dirty and need to be cleaned to get the efficiency back up. You may have to slide the AC out of the mounting sleeve to get to the coils to clean them properly.

Note that damaged or dirty fins cause the compressor to work harder and draw more load, even if you don't hit a thermal protection limit in the AC unit.

A failing compressor or motor could cause the same problem but you'd likely have to replace the unit at that point so it's worth cleaning the coils and crossing your fingers.

Good luck!

 

I'm new here, sorry if I "woken " this thread...
But I just fixed my window unit, check your starter cap, or get a replacement to test it! Exactly the same issue you discribed. The exaust fins on mine was atleast half bent, it still worked, but anyways. Check your starter cap, even tho it may look okay, it may be going bad.