So, I came in at about 6pm this evening and one of my roommates says, "what the hell is wrong w/ the AC?" I walk to the back of the house and the outside unit is not running. Its done this twice before and the landlord had it "fixed".
I check the breaker and its tripped...so i switch it back on. Lights all over the house start tripping out and the breaker hums. I turn it off, then walk out the front door to go look at the outside unit. The yard it FULL OF SMOKE!!! Outside unit is on FIRE!
Call the fire department. End up canceling the call though because the unit is all that was on fire and I got that under control.
So, I have been sitting here in the house watching TV and posting here on E when fvk if my 47" TV starts tripping out. Its all out of focus and chit. AND I SMELL SMOKE! FOKMEINTHEGOATASS!
I jump up and unplug it, grab a drill and pull the case off. A couple resisters on the board are GLOWING!
So, now I sit here posting on E...and I need a beer.
Call the landlord....get a GOOD Electrician, and have his work inspected via the permit thats probably going to be needed from a building inspector..and tell the landlord ya want a new TV, or use your renters insurance..
If the landlord gives ya crap, call the building dept and file a moton in housing court, and withold rent payment..and there's also small claims court...
You have many options..but 1 thing is certain, ya need a GOOD Certified Electrician first and fast!
my last night was almost as bad as urs i spent all monday night working on my pioneer, yues it over heats as i headed to the dentist to get 3 teeth ground out for crowns. i run to work buy a new alpine. at midnight i install it while parents are sleeping cause they b!tch about that stuff normally, then i get it all done and my remote won't work to it, i figure it's a bad remote , get to work the next day and test it. turns out it's a bad unit, so i return the 9886 and upgrade turns out that unit is a damn media unit not a cd unit. so i return that one, all this is after work and i did a 8 hgour shift no breaks cause it was to busy and no lunch. so finallty i get my saints row 2 and just decide to head home. i go to stop at the light and my break lines blew. i had to pump my breaks all the way home and in the last 3 miles from home my break light came on and i lost all of my breaks, so the rest of the drive through 3 lights and parking was all hand break. on top of all this my dirius radio won't turn on anymore and is toast. i've been having issues with it and it's done for, i gotta wait till fri to get a replacement. so i guess mines not as bad as my house being one big fire hazard but man i know how you feel canaan.
seriously, sounds like the ground in the panel may be compramised. When the ac unit malfunct, it may have caused the wires in the panel to get damaged. The only wire that could effect other curcuits in the house is the ground wire. usually when an ac dies, its the compressor, and it seldom takes a breaker out. If the breaker tripped, then its a dead short. and if you reset it and it caught fire, then the breaker was faulty as well. Sounds like its time to have a quailified sparky look at it.
BTW, didnt you re-wire it at the beginning of summer?
My landlord had an electrician come in and "fix" it back in the summer.
It seems like alot of the guys he had coming in to do the work are fly-by-nite guys anyways. When the house next door came up for rent, he had some real winners 'repairing' it.
