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Air Compressor Wiring Problem...
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. |
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