Came home and my A/C unit would not turn on.?

Came home and my A/C unit would turn on. Went down stairs and saw the breaker was tripped. When I turn the breaker back to on it trip's with in 3-5 seconds. What could be doing this?

Answers:
1. Bad breaker
2. Compressor locked up
3. Bad wiring
I would suspect the problem is in your compressor unit outside because the circuit breaker is tripping like it is supposed to in an overload condition.

Other answers:
It's either a short circuit or a bad breaker.
It's either a short circuit or a bad breaker.
check the circuit breaker in your box, and many have fuses on the ac unit itself. if either of those are tripped or blown, make sure you have a clean filter, thats usually the number one culprit for popping a breaker.
if you have a central unit take front panel off look at inside of panel the one you took off read ca fully there should be a reset button for your fan motor push to reset
Oh my MIZLONG sit down before you hurt yourself.This could be any number of things.First check to see if there is any water draining into the blower unit (or what most people call the furnace).If not check for a crack or any kind of exposed wire outside.Nope then it will either be a shot breaker(though very unlikely)or a blown blower unit.Both require a professional.Changing the air filter at this point is to late. truthfully speaking though call a pro,and or be extra careful!I have seen my share of good men get severely hurt doing a/c and electrical work.Good Luck
If the unit inside the house has a catch pan for condensation, check to see that the drain hole hasn't gotten plugged up and water is collecting in the pan. The unit wont run if the catch pan is holding water.
a/c unit? not a central unit- unplug the unit if you can pull the deck out[like removing the unit from the window] check around the compressor where the wires are covered by a plastic cover- if you see any type of oil, if so your compressor is OUT/ DAMAGE other than that maybe a bad fan motor you might need an a/c repair tech to check it out for you. by the way, a dirty condenser could cause this problem
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