Will buying an air conditioner with lower BTU stop fuse from blowing?

Question

I recently moved into an older building that has poor electrical wiring. My friend gave me an air conditioner with 10,000 BTU's with a heaving duty electrical cord. However, on for five hours or more the fuse blows. Can anyone tell me what the chances are for it to do the same if I buy a new one with lower BTU's?

Answer 1

A smaller unit will draw fewer amps so is less likely to blow the fuse. What you should do is find the rating of the present fuse then find how many amps a smaller unit will draw to check if it is suitable.  Don't forget that if other appliances are running on the same circuit they will have an effect as well.

If you have more than one power circuit see if you can plug appliances that draw heavy current (driers etc) into another power circuit to reduce the load on the one with the AC.

Answer 2

The BTUs are a measure of the amount of cooling the air conditioner does. Typically, the lower the BTUs, the less amperage the air conditioner draws. But it might not do a very good job at cooling your house and removing the humidity.

What size fuse are you putting in? Is it a 10 amp, 15 amp, or 20 amp? You might want to consider having an electrician install a circuit for your air conditioner. By installing a 20A circuit, you would have properly sized wire and you could run the larger air conditioners without wearing about blowing fuses all the time.

Answer 3

Your AC should have a designated breaker.The reason it blows after 5 hours is because other loads u have on the same breaker. If the ac is not good it would trip the breaker when u start it.See what u have plugged in same breaker and take them off then see if it trips.If it does ac is not good because it should not draw that many amps.