wrote in message
...
I have an air compressor and it's portable but I pretty much keep
it
in the same place in the garage. The outlet is on top of my bench
but
the cord always falls down behind the bench and is a royal pain to
fish it out.
snip
My question is whether a standard light switch will handle the
motor
load. It's a 1/2 HP motor on a 20A circuit. I did also consider
adding another breaker and just turning on and off the breaker but
that box is not the easiest to get to since there are shelves in
the
way.

Absolutely. I've been runnin my large air compresser that way for
years, as well as my drill press, bench grinder, bench sander, and
other outlets that I use for such things as table saws.

I do it for safety reasons so if someone trys to turn on a tool, it
won't come on because the switch if off and is hidden under the
bench.

Bob-tx