Air Compressor Keeps Tripping Breaker

Author: E. Silva (aka Mr. Awesome - The Niche Specialty Expert)

Did you know that a shorted air – compressor can cause all kinds of circuit breaker trips in your home? Yup. That is sooo true … and many people have not even spotted that as the culprit, he he he h heh ….

In fact, this is one of the most annoying things in the world, if you ask me, and it just keeps on happening, and people don’t even think to look at their air – compressor. Like, why is it shorting out? What is the problem that’s going on here? How long has it been doing this? Etc …. all these things I want to talk to you on. Let’s make it a good chat, this time around ( as always, of course, he he he heh ) …..

Now then, the first point I need to get off my chest and make would be this, folks —- sometimes the compressor will trip the breaker right away ( like in an instant, like in the click of a button or the snap of a finger, so to speak ) , and in other cases, it can start to get really frickin noisy for a few seconds and then trip the breaker. You have to get closer, listen in, pay close attention and decide which of the two is going on.

Either way, you will need to get for yourself a nice multimeter. Use it. Check both your air – compressor’s terminal as well as its line. And to be absolutely sure, at the end of the day, that the cause of the tripped breaker really IS the air – compressor itself ( without any doubt in the world, he he he he heh ) , what you need to do is dis – connect your machine from its wall circuit ( after you turn it off, though, for obvious reasons, he he heh ) . And then from there, once you did that, make sure to then turn that specific breaker back on … the one that was affected and kept tripping, of course.

If it continues normally for a good while without tripping, then you can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that your air – compressor really was the guilty culprit all along … shame on it. If that’s the case, a trained, licensed guy or gal should take a look. You want someone with hours of training. A certified sort of tech / mechanic is your ideal solution ( unless you TRULY have spent dozens of hours working on these machines yourself and know their every in and out ) .

Like I always say, in such very specific instances, it’s not smart at all ( and you’re smart, though, so listen to me here ) to try and DIY REPAIR the compressor. It could be a whole number of issues that’s wrong in it. Just bring in an expert here ….