Heat pump kicks breaker outside in main breaker panel

has this tstat worked the heat pump before? possible refrigerant issues

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Did you have a power outage recently? They are notorious for damaging circuit boards--usually about 3-4 weeks after the power interruption strange things will either start happening or *not* happening with appliances due to damaged computer chips on the boards starting to fail. Your symptoms indicate either a blown user interface(push button panel) or a defective main control board(board with the brains on it) or both!

if its electric not gas check the main heat fuse in main breaker box . if ok check out by the heat pump outside breaker. than pull off the front panel with power off check the main 220 volt main wires usally thick black with big wire nuts make sure that they are connected well .in the future its always wise to check heat at least twice a year and let it run for about ten mmin let me !!

Pull disconnect or turn off outside, then reset breaker. If it holds, problem likely inside machine. If it still trips check wiring inside the disconnect or at main panel. Sounds like a direct short, either compressor, fan motor or crankcase heater. You can isolate each component right at the contactor by removing wires to each piece and resetting breaker. Obviously when breaker trips you know what part is bad. 220 hurts, if you are not familiar with electricity call a professional.

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you can check your heat pump on the outside by turning off the power and listening to see if it makes a whoosh sound. and then turn it back on you should hear it kick in. Is the outside unit running? Sounds like an electrical problem maybe in the breaker or the contactor on the inside of the unit. This is where the 24 volts from the thermostat call to the 240 volts to kick on the condenser fan and compressor. Be real careful in messing with this because of the high voltage.

Check the small wires going outside to the contactor for 24 volts. If you have 24 volts then maybe the magnetic operator coil that pulls down is bad.

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need to check amp draw to blower motor if indoor unit.
if outside may be several things need a pro!

Check t-stat and make sure fan is set to "Auto", that might be why fan is running all the time, or it could be a fan relay that is stuck closed. It sounds like you A/C is over charged or you have a bad high pressure switch, this was a common problem with this manufacture especially in the heat mode.

My guess I would say, you either have a wire that is short to ground or if the contacter pulls in, then I would say the compresser is short to ground.There also could be some capacitors that could be short.

Check your wiring between the contactor and compressor for a short to ground, or check the compressor windings for short to ground.
With the Tstat off, the contactor should be open so the only way for the compressor to be trying to do anything is if the 110 volts from the unbroken side are traveling through the compressor to ground. Since 110v is not enough to run it, the overload is kicking it out, cooling off, and repeating the cycle. When you kick on the Tstat, the contactor is supplying voltage directly to ground without going through the resistence of the compressor windings and kicking the breaker.
Post back and let me know what you find.