Sam asked.
Sam tested the compressor. On start-up, he saw a spike for 0.2 seconds, then 11 A steady—but the unit still tripped. He checked the breaker. It was a standard 15 A breaker (not HACR-rated). That 58 A surge, even for a fraction of a second, pushed the magnetic trip in the standard breaker. lra to amps calculator
LRA = 58 A Motor type: Single-phase AC compressor Output: Approximate RLA = 58 ÷ 5.3 ≈ 10.9 A (round to 11 A) Sam asked