On Feb 13, 11:19 am, wrote:
Hello All...
I recently bought a 2HP (running) 25gal Craftsman air-compressor. I
had an electrician come out last week and hook me up w/a designated
circuit. He installed a 20a breaker w/ one 15a dual receptacle.

Yesterday I fired the thing up -- and in the first half-hour I tripped the breaker
3 times! While resetting I noticed that my *pro* had used an old 20a breaker
instead of the new one he charged me for. I confronted him and he said that it
shouldn't make any difference. I pressed him further and he made excuses
("Breakers never wear out..." Blah, blah, blah."You couldn't tell me what you
were running so I used what I had at the shop...")

Now, he's just a kid and so I'm willing to cut him some slack. But the bottom
line is I'm not sure he or his work can be trusted completely. The thing is
whether I decide to call him back or not -- I think there is some stuff that
I'd like to know beforehand:

First, in addition to replacing the 20a breaker, should I also switch the 15a
receptacle w/ a 20a? I only have the one receptacle on my circuit...


Second, what's involved in swapping my existing 120v circuit to 240v? The
compressor is currently wired for 120v but I do have the option of
converting it to 240v if I must. How much work will it take?

And third, how at fault is this electrician? Is this something he should have
foreseen? How much of this is his responsibility? I don't like that he
passed off old as new. Or that he made excuses when he was found out.
But most of all I don't like the idea of giving him more money if he's burning me,
deliberately or not.

Any help/info/input will be greatly appreciated...

Before you start chasing your tail I would try the compressor in
another dedicated circuit to see if the same thing happened ( for
example a 20A A/C outlet). If the same thing happens, something is not
right with your compressor.

Otherwise try another breaker. An old breaker should work OK, but just
to confirm this, if you have another 20A breaker in the panel, try
swapping them. Technically it should be on a 20A plug ( although I
thought I read somewhere you are allowed to have a 15A plug on a 20A
circuit), but regardless, this is not why your breaker is tripping.

It's not hard to convert the circuit to 240v. But if your compressor
has a 110V plug on it, I'm assuming you would have to rewire the
compressor and get a new power cord with a 240 plug on it. You would
also have to do a little rewiring in the panel and get a 2 pole 20A
breaker.

In article , wrote:
On 13-Feb-2007, "Mikepier" wrote:

You would also have to do a little rewiring in the panel and get a 2 pole 20A
breaker.

And that sounds like a job for my young electrician...

After the guy screwed up one install, and cheated you by installing used
parts but charging you for new, you'd hire him back for another?

Incredible.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.