I am wiring my garage and am putting an outlet in for a "futre" air
compressor to replace my small 110 unit. I bought 10/3 wire and plan
to use a dedicated circuuit breaker. I also bought a flush mount 4
prong recepticle.

Can I use this for an air compressor?

stryped wrote:
I am wiring my garage and am putting an outlet in for a "futre" air
compressor to replace my small 110 unit. I bought 10/3 wire and plan
to use a dedicated circuuit breaker. I also bought a flush mount 4
prong recepticle.

Can I use this for an air compressor?

Overkill. Most 220 volt single phase compressors
work just fine on a 20 ampere circuit and they
only need 2 12 gauge wires and ground. The cheapest
standard plug and outlet is the one that looks like
a normal 110 volt grounded outlet with one of the
blades turned 90 degrees. See 6-20R and 6-20P on this
chart: Be sure to wrap some red tape around the white
wire on both ends to indicate that it's hot.

http://www.jkem.com/pictures/NEMA%20...ng%20Plugs.gif

Available at any decent hardware store.

Or better yet, hire an electrician. You still
scare me.

stryped fired this volley in news:de36b302-c88c-
:

I bought 10/3 wire and plan
to use a dedicated circuuit breaker. I also bought a flush mount 4
prong recepticle.

Can I use this for an air compressor?


You didn't say what sort of recepticle, so I'll assume you got one
similar to a dryer outlet. It'll work, but you'd be better off with #
8 wire, 3-conductor plus ground.

A high-inrush 5HP compressor might draw 50 amps on start. Although #
10 will carry it without excessive heating, you'll get less voltage
drop - even on a 30-50' run - with #8.

No biggie, though. I'm guessing you won't be going for a commercial
grade and size of compressor, anyway.

LLoyd

On 2009-08-24, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
A high-inrush 5HP compressor might draw 50 amps on start. Although #
10 will carry it without excessive heating, you'll get less voltage
drop - even on a 30-50' run - with #8.

No biggie, though. I'm guessing you won't be going for a commercial
grade and size of compressor, anyway.

I would suggest putting as big wire as you can afford. It amounts to
just a few bucks, but lets you upgrade your equipment at will.

i

On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:57:56 -0700 (PDT), stryped
wrote:

I am wiring my garage and am putting an outlet in for a "futre" air
compressor to replace my small 110 unit. I bought 10/3 wire and plan
to use a dedicated circuuit breaker. I also bought a flush mount 4
prong recepticle.

Can I use this for an air compressor?

10-3 cable is plenty for a consumer 5 HP unit that's really a 3. But
if you plan to buy a *real* 5 HP or 7.5 HP unitm, run 8-3 or even 6-3
to that spot, and use a 2-gang box.

Under the old codes you could use 2-conductior wire - but you had to
cheat and connect any 120V stuff in the machine to ground to work.
Clothes dryers, that's how you had a 120V Light in the drum and a 240V
feed.

You are no longer allowed to connect "incidental loads" of 120V
(like the work light or the timer motor) between one hot and the
ground - it HAS TO go to a neutral wire.

And you might want to swap around the garage and put the air
compressor outside in a shed (for the noise) and put your spiffy new
drill press there in the corner instead, so... So put in a neutral
wire everywhere and don't fret.

-- Bruce --

On Aug 24, 2:22*pm, Ignoramus18810 ignoramus18...@NOSPAM.
18810.invalid wrote:
On 2009-08-24, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

A high-inrush 5HP compressor might draw 50 amps on start. *Although #
10 will carry it without excessive heating, you'll get less voltage
drop - even on a 30-50' run - with #8.

No biggie, though. *I'm guessing you won't be going for a commercial
grade and size of compressor, anyway.

I would suggest putting as big wire as you can afford. It amounts to
just a few bucks, but lets you upgrade your equipment at will.

i

I am also running number 6 wire from a 50 amp breaker for my 225
Lincoln "buzz box". I guess if someday I had a real big compressor I
could run off of that?

Ignoramus18810 wrote:
On 2009-08-24, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
A high-inrush 5HP compressor might draw 50 amps on start. Although #
10 will carry it without excessive heating, you'll get less voltage
drop - even on a 30-50' run - with #8.

No biggie, though. I'm guessing you won't be going for a commercial
grade and size of compressor, anyway.

I would suggest putting as big wire as you can afford. It amounts to
just a few bucks, but lets you upgrade your equipment at will.

But first look at the lugs on your circuit breaker.
It is pointless to buy wire larger than can be
accommodated.

--Winston

On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:25:02 -0700, Winston wrote:

Ignoramus18810 wrote:
On 2009-08-24, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com
wrote:
A high-inrush 5HP compressor might draw 50 amps on start. Although #
10 will carry it without excessive heating, you'll get less voltage
drop - even on a 30-50' run - with #8.

No biggie, though. I'm guessing you won't be going for a commercial
grade and size of compressor, anyway.

I would suggest putting as big wire as you can afford. It amounts to
just a few bucks, but lets you upgrade your equipment at will.

But first look at the lugs on your circuit breaker. It is pointless to
buy wire larger than can be accommodated.

--Winston

Unless you can retrofit a bigger breaker later. I'd look at the biggest
breaker I could put in the box, if I were burying a wire inside a wall.
If I were burying a long run of wire I might go far bigger yet, figuring
that a new box is cheaper than the cost of burying a new length of wire.

--
www.wescottdesign.com

On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:15:19 -0700, Jim Stewart
wrote:

stryped wrote:
I am wiring my garage and am putting an outlet in for a "futre" air
compressor to replace my small 110 unit. I bought 10/3 wire and plan
to use a dedicated circuuit breaker. I also bought a flush mount 4
prong recepticle.

Can I use this for an air compressor?

Overkill. Most 220 volt single phase compressors
work just fine on a 20 ampere circuit and they
only need 2 12 gauge wires and ground. The cheapest
standard plug and outlet is the one that looks like
a normal 110 volt grounded outlet with one of the
blades turned 90 degrees. See 6-20R and 6-20P on this
chart: Be sure to wrap some red tape around the white
wire on both ends to indicate that it's hot.

http://www.jkem.com/pictures/NEMA%20...ng%20Plugs.gif

Available at any decent hardware store.

Or better yet, hire an electrician. You still
scare me.
Never go wrong pulling 3 wire, and #10 will handle a REAL compressor.n
a REAL 10HP

Winston fired this volley in
:

But first look at the lugs on your circuit breaker.
It is pointless to buy wire larger than can be
accommodated.



What 50A breakers do you have that won't accommodate #6 or #8?

LLoyd

On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:16:21 -0500, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

Winston fired this volley in
:

But first look at the lugs on your circuit breaker.
It is pointless to buy wire larger than can be
accommodated.



What 50A breakers do you have that won't accommodate #6 or #8?

LLoyd


Excellent question!


Whenever a Liberal utters the term "Common Sense approach"....grab your
wallet, your ass, and your guns because the sombitch is about to do
something damned nasty to all three of them.

"stryped" wrote in message
...
I am wiring my garage and am putting an outlet in for a "futre" air
compressor to replace my small 110 unit. I bought 10/3 wire and plan
to use a dedicated circuuit breaker. I also bought a flush mount 4
prong recepticle.

Can I use this for an air compressor?

You don't say how far away is the garage...and nobody else asked! Shame on
them all.

Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
Winston fired this volley in
:

But first look at the lugs on your circuit breaker.
It is pointless to buy wire larger than can be
accommodated.



What 50A breakers do you have that won't accommodate #6 or #8?

LLoyd

Oh they'd accommodate #6 or #8 just fine.

Not #2 however.



--Winston

On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:56:46 -0400, the infamous "Buerste"
scrawled the following:


"stryped" wrote in message
...
I am wiring my garage and am putting an outlet in for a "futre" air
compressor to replace my small 110 unit. I bought 10/3 wire and plan
to use a dedicated circuuit breaker. I also bought a flush mount 4
prong recepticle.

Can I use this for an air compressor?

You don't say how far away is the garage...and nobody else asked! Shame on
them all.

Shame on all the posts replying to this known troll.

---
So far Mr. Obama has used his personally exciting presidency for initiatives
that are spending public money on a scale not seen since ancient Egypt.
-- Daniel Henninger
WSJ Online, 4 June 2009
"Obama's America: Too Fat to Fail
The age of the induced industrial coma."