How can I prevent my window A/C unit from tripping the circuit?

I live on the 2nd and 3rd floors of a row house that was built in the 1800s and rennovated about 10-15 years ago. Last night I put a window a/c unit (provided by the landlord) in a 2nd floor window, but every time I turned it on it would trip the circuit breaker for the whole 2nd floor after running for only 10 minutes. The only other things running on the circuit were: 1 fridge, 1 light (halogen torchere lamp), and 1 tv. I don't know the power rating or amps off the top of my head, but the unit is probably at least 10 years old. I had the a/c unit plugged into a surge protector, but it always tripped at the circuit breaker and not at the surge protector. Is there anything I can do to prevent the a/c from overloading the circuit, short of calling an electrician? It seems a little ridiculous to me that the circuit can't handle 4 appliances - am I missing some important part of the equation?

How can I prevent my window A/C unit from tripping the circuit?
this is your problem and how to solve it 1 refrigidare and air conditioner cannot be on same circuit for any reason....do not put bigger fuse in .....what you need is either a dedicated circuit to the fridge or the air conditioner....or you could move the ac somewhere else so that it will be on a circuit with something that uses very little power such as tv or plug in lamps..
Reply:The A/C and fridge both have compressors which pull a LOT of current especially when starting. The A/C and fridge should be on a separate circuit. You are lucky that the breaker is tripping. With a house that old, that much load could melt the insulation on the wiring.
Reply:What size is the breaker?


1- The age of the house tells me you may have only size 14 wire for all the receptacles and 15 Amps will not be enough to hold all those items as 1500 watts is max for that circuit and the lamp sounds like it can use 500 watts on its own. The fridge and A/C is way too much.


2- You need 1 circuit for the A/C by itself and probably a 20Amp at the least.


Good Luck ! ! !
Reply:I think that you are missing the whole ecuation. If the house was built in the 1800, you have to find out when it was wired with electricity. NO house was built with electricy in the 1800s!. Now if it was wired in the 1900 then you probably have a 15 amps circuit, not even enough for the AC by itself. You said that you had it plugged to a surge protector strip. The surge protector will no eliminate overloads. It just "absorbs" power surges. The circuit breaker or round fuse controlling and protecting the circuit controls the overloads and it is doing the job. Read usage watts (or amps) in the data plate of everything that you have plugged in. If only watts, divided by the voltage and you'll get the total amps. If amps add them all together and you'll get the total amps for that trying to pull from that circuit. Now you know why it is not working. I always recommend that AC unit (if 120 volts, no matter the size) be plugged into a dedicated circuit.