Hi Tim,

Nothing personal, but as some aspects of this thread have become fairly
pedantic, maybe we should continue in the same vein...

Strictly speaking, volts times amps gives volt-amps (VA). If they are
exactly in phase, then it's the same as watts. When the phase starts to
shift, the line current increases *for the same true power delivered*
(to an electric motor, for example). That is why the electric companies
are always on about power-factor correction, because they need to keep
their cable currents as low as possible - remember, resistive power
losses in their cables is I-squared * R, which doesn't care about phase
angles, power-factor, etc. Also, IIRC, your power meter on the wall
measures true power, not VA, so you only get charged for the power you
consume, not the VA that your equipment draws.

So there's just a little more (useless?) trivia - like so many threads,
we have drifted a long way from the original question...

Roger



Tim Williams wrote:

"Chuck" wrote in message
. ..

The compressor currently has a 3/4 hp motor. At first glance I was kind
of depressed thinking "Gee, just about every compressor I see these days
has 3 + hp.


Take a closer look at *every single display* that says this. They will
*ALL* say "peak HP", which is completely and absolutely meaningless in
this instance. Pure marketing drivel.
Amps times volts equals watts, and for a motor, it'll take maybe 800 to
1000W for 1HP. Thus at 120V, it'll take at least 8A per HP. This you
can likewise apply to other posters' numbers.

Tim

--
"That's for the courts to decide." - Homer Simpson
Website @ http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms