ICP HeatPump Tripping Outside Breaker

Someone please help. I have a ICP heatpump, with a Hunter Programmable thermostat, that is tripping my outside breaker when you try to turn on the heat or air. The thing that has me puzzled is that the emergency heat will come on and stay on with no problems. But anytime I switch to regular heat or cool; the light will come on the thermostat, then you will hear a click and the outside breaker will trip. No error messages on the thermostat other than "No A/c Power"

Welcome Dplusm:
The problem with the heat pump could be a wire burned off. Eight out of ten of my service calls have been just that; its very easy to sopt. Open the inspection panel and look for a wire with bruned insulation or an end hanging loose. In this case, I would expect the wire to be a compressor wire- the largest wires in the panel.
If it is not a wire burned off you could check the compressor for a grounded condition. With the power off, unplug all three wires to the compressor, use an ohmmeter touching one side to the compressor case and the other side to all three terminals on the compressor (one at a time), record the resistance at each terminal. Two of the resistance readings should equal the third reading, if this is so, there is no short in the compressor.
Try these two tests and post back, if necessary we'll talk about some other possibilities.
Glenn

Thanks Glenn,

Just got home from work; will check it first thing in the morning and post back.

David

Good Morning Glenn,

I looked in the control panel and took the fan cover off to look for burned or disconnected wires and there were none. I do not have an ohmmeter but am trying to get one today.

When I went to the unit this morning, the fan was running, very low speed though. The thermostat was off, I even turned the unit’s control panel breaker off, and it was still running. Do not know if that is significant but wanted to mention it. I went back inside to see if the unit would come one. It was 64 in the house; I set the t’stat to 65 and turned the heat on. The light on the t’stat blinked for a minute or two but nothing ever happened. Adjusted the t’stat to 68 to see if the second stage would kick in and it did. The blower came on and started blowing air. However, compressor did not kick on and fan was still running at very low speed. I did the same thing with the cool. I turned it down to 62; the blower came on and started blowing air but fan still running at very slow speed. (System blowing out stale air at this point) In both instances; the system tripped the outside breaker again within 5 or 6 minutes; the fan cut off and has stayed off now.

By the way, I have taken a picture of the control panel and have posted a large version to a website. Don't know if it will help but CLICK HERE or


http://icpjunk.homestead.com/index.html

Hey David:
The picture looks more like the inside unit to me; if it is the outdoor unit you need to open up more so you can see the compressor. I'm 80% sure the problem is at the compressor, whether it is a wire burned off or a grounded compressor.
In the picture you are showing there is a computer board in the lower left side; make sure there are no browned or burned places on the board.
Glenn

Okak... thanks again. I am trying to borrow an ohmmeter. When I pulled up the fan cover( the motor and blade are attached and compressor is directly underneath it) I looked at the red wires going into the compressor and they all looked fine so I need to do the first thing you told me by taking off and testing the wires. I will post again when I have some results.

david