Rep Power: 452

This doesnt have to do with car electrical, but home electrical with an air compressor.

I just bought a 33 gallon air compressor from sears. It is 150 PSI, 6.0 HP, 2.0 running HP, 120V/60HZ/1PH, 15 amp minimum branch circuit requirement, with a time delay fuse.

Now here is my problem. The first day I went to use it, I hooked up the power cord in the garage outlet and turned on the compressor and let it fill up. Now when I hooked up the air tools to it and started using them, the circuit breaker for the master bathroom flipped over. My mom came out wondering why she had lost power. Well I reset the circuit breaker in the bathroom and in the garage main box, and tried it again, and again it kicked the circuit breaker.

Well I decided to try the outlet on the outside of the house and once again it did it again.

SO I called home depot and talked with a electrical guy and he asked if we had a whirlpool, and we do, and he said it might be wired into the master bathroom circuit and causing too much amps going through there. But when I looked in the main circuit breaker box in the garage, the whirlpool is on its own circuit. So he said to turn the breaker off for the whirlpool and run it again. So we did that but we encountered the same problem, the circuit for the master bath kicked.

Does anyone know why this is happening? The amps on the master bathroom read 20 amps, so I know I am not putting too much amps throught the circuit. also why are the 2 outlets only blowing that circuit breaker?

Is there anywhere else I can hook the compressor up too that it wont do this? I was told that I should try the outlet the drier uses, but what do you think?

I just want to know why this is happening?

 
Rep Power: 0

looks like this?...good choice , i have the same one...i also have the same issues, but it's only with the outlet that the compressor is hooked up to...for example, if i have the compressor plugged into the same outlet as the stereo in my garage, it'll trip that fuse and the compressor and stereo go off, and i have to reset the breaker...but as far as your sompressor tripping breakersr in the bathroom and stuff.....i have no idea, so good luck with that...

 
Rep Power: 289

your house wire blows a moneky nutt

problem is averything is running off fuses all over. either re wire the house.. hire electrition to install you a direct plug for the compressor

or run a cable tot he neighbours. and blow there fuses

but seriously a comp like that needs its on fuse..

 
Rep Power: 0

Dont use a extension cord. My air compressor blows circuits if it is pluged into one. It even says on the tag. Give this a try, plug it directly into the wall.
n/m i mis read you post from above. Try disconecting items through out your house, and while running the compressor plug each item back in.

 
Rep Power: 0

Basically, what you should do is have someone wire an outlet dedicated to that compressor since it's pulling such a big load. The reason your popping bathroom breakers is (as paradoxblue said) because the outlet in the bathroom is wired on the same circuit as the outlet your pluggin the compressor into. If you were in the LA area I would be more than happy to run that line for you pretty cheap...but Texas is a little far to go for a little electrical work.

 
Rep Power: 452

well I have a bit of electrical experience, but not alot, and as far as I know, if I am running it on a 20 amp circuit, why is it tripping it if it is only using 15 amps?

I am going to call an electrician and find out how much it will cost to wire up an additional circuit, but anyone know if it might work off using the drier plug since I think that circuit is 35 amps?

what I have done in the mean time is let the compressor fill up and when it is finished, unplug it from the outlet and run it like that. That way, it doesnt use the house power.

 
Rep Power: 257

You could always just change the breaker for the bathroom and garage outlet circuit. If it's a 20 amp breaker and you keep blowing it, change it out for a 30 amp breaker and see if that solves the problem.

 
Rep Power: 452

I wish it was that easy, but you cant do that. The whole purpose of a circuit breaker, fuse, etc... is to protect the circuit from frying. Whenever too much current goes through there, more then the rated fuse or breaker, it will blow. Replacing it with a higher one will only burn up the circuit. The fuse will still blow, but more damage will occur. You are never supposed to replace a fuse or breaker with a higher rated one.

 
Rep Power: 0

The problem isn't anything you can do anything about directly.

The breaker is a 20 amp breaker. That means when it hits over 20 amps or so it pops, say 25 or 30 amps. You need to add up everything connected to it. Say that breaker powers the bedroom, bathroom, and the garage. So if the combination of lights, clocks, etc. adds up to 5 amps of power, then you add the 15 the compressor uses onto it, you go over and the breaker pops.

FYI ....
* When a motor starts, like on the compressor, it takes lots of juice. If its rated for 15 amps, it probably takes 20+ for a brief second when it starts.
* Extension cords are bad. They rob power. It is never advised to connect large current drawing devices up w/ extension cords.

IMO what you need is a dedicated circuit to the garage. That way you can hook it up all alone and nothing else is sucking juice from that circuit at the same time. I rewired my garage when I moved in for these same reasons .....

 
Rep Power: 0

20 amps on 14 guage wire is pushing it ....

30 amps on 12 guage wire is pushing it ....

Unless you know more about the system I wouldn't be upping breaker sizes thats for sure. Otherwise the next time the compressor is on, and mom decides to blow dry her hair, you might have a fire on your hands ....

 
Rep Power: 0

when the bathroom breaker pops, does the garage loose power too? If so, they are both connected together. that compresser needs at least 15amps breaker with a time delay fuses(wich won't blow when the compresser starts and takes more juice for a second or two) but i would recomend putting it on it's own circuit with 12/2 and a 20 amp breaker. try it first at the breaker panel, run a piece of 12/2 from a 20 amp breaker to the compresser. if it still blows, try it on a 30 amp breaker with 10/2. whatever works, run that size wire to a dedicated circuit in your garage and your all set.

 
Rep Power: 0

As far as the NEC is considered, #14 is rated for 15 amps, #12 for 20, and #10 for 30.

 
Rep Power: 452

no the garage still has power when the bathroom circuit pops. The garage is on its own circuit. I dont really want to wire anything directly to the compressor, I would rather have a circuit for it through the original circuit breaker.

 
Rep Power: 289

street thats what he means

basicly. you need a dedicated fuse and setup for that beast

think of it like your dryer.. cause of the draw it will pop. but hooking it up to your dry's plug (as long as u unplug the dryer) should work

but long term. have some one install a dryer type plug dedicated to your compressor.
dont F' with house hold electricity.. :| seriously

 
Rep Power: 307

Remember the dryer plug is 220v two different phases of 110v, you could use on side (one phase of the 110v) and the ground. If it was only the compressor or the dryer by themselves it would be fine to use.

If your bathroom outlet is GFCI protected it could somehow be tripping the circuit falsely.

 
Rep Power: 452

so it would be ok to try and use the drier outlet with the drier unpluged?

And what could I do to install a seperate circuit for the compressor without wiring it to the compressor?

 
Rep Power: 307

If the dryer is 220v and the compressor is 110v it will not plug directly into the same outlet.

You could get a 220v plug or another dryer cord that matches your outlet and a 110v outlet and box, (keep the wires short) that would make an adaptor of sorts. Unplug the dryer and plug in the adaptor when you need the compressor.

You could wire everything up on the work bench and then plug it in.

JUST REMEMBER THE DRYER OUTLET IS 220v AND YOU NEED 110v FOR COMPRESSOR !!!!!

 
Rep Power: 452

yea I just realized the outlet on the drier was alot bigger.

Now I am not understanding what you are saying. Please explain this a bit better to me?

what exactly would I need to buy and how would I hook it up?

 
Rep Power: 0

when you pop the bathroom breaker, the compresser keeps working in the garage? if so, it has nothing to do with the garage circuit, it's a problem with the bathroom circuit. check if there if a GFCI breaker for your bathroom circuit (a breaker with a test button on it) if so, replace it with a regular breaker instead and try your compresser again, if it doesn't pop this time, get a new GFCI breaker to replace the bathroom breaker. if that doesn't work, there is something wrong with your house wiring.

 
Rep Power: 307

A replacement dryer cord is available at the hardware or appliance store, It will be about 3' in length. (make sure it matches your dryers outlet)

Also get an outlet that will be used for the compressor to plug into and a plastic box and cover that will house the outlet (all items in the electrical section) also ask for a clamp that will allow the wire to go into the box and be clamped.

You will need only 2 of the 3 wires available, 1 of the phases of 110v and the ground, 110v to the hot side of the outlet.

And ground wire will go to the neutral and the ground lugs of the outlet.

YOU MUST CUT AND ISOLATE THE OTHER UNUSED PHASE OF 110V WITH TAPE OR HEATSHRINK TUBING OR BOTH !!

 
Rep Power: 452

first off what is the replacement dryer cord for?

now when I get a outlet, am I getting one that looks like a normal outlet that the regular compressor plug will plug into, or an outlet that the dryer plug will plug into?

now after thinking about it, I think what you are having me do is take a dryer cord with the wires split at the end and run it to a outlet that is made for the compressor cord, am I correct? And when I am ready to use it, I will be disconnecting the regular dryer cord and plugging the new dryer code in connected to the oultet and then plugging in the compressor cord to that, am I correct?

now I am still confused on how I will wire this up from what you said:

also ask for a clamp that will allow the wire to go into the box and be clamped.

You will need only 2 of the 3 wires available, 1 of the phases of 110v and the ground, 110v to the hot side of the outlet.

And ground wire will go to the neutral and the ground lugs of the outlet

YOU MUST CUT AND ISOLATE THE OTHER UNUSED PHASE OF 110V WITH TAPE OR HEATSHRINK TUBING OR BOTH


please let me know more, thanks one of these plugs I need to wire into the outlet, correct

 
Rep Power: 452

yes the compressor keeps working after the breaker pops for the master bathroom circuit. In the bathroom, there is that outlet that has the red reset button and black test button on it. there are 2 of them, one by the mirror and one by the bath tub.

 
Rep Power: 307

The attachment shown ^^ is the dryer cord I was talking about, Common item. (that one is a 4 wire and it would be even better) Separate neutral and ground.

The outlet and box would be for the compressor to plug into.

The clamp allows the wire to go into the box through an opening and also can be tightened down to hold/clamp the wire from moving in and out.

REMEMBER !!! What I said about the voltage difference, outlet has 220v you need 110v to run compressor.

And you could have a weak or faulty GFCI breaker or a wiring problem with the other circuits causing the bathroom breaker to trip.

 
Rep Power: 0

replace those GFCI recepticals in the bathroom with regular recepticales just to check if those are the problem. also check in the main panel (where all the breakers are) to see if the breaker for the bathroom circuit is a GFCI too (with a test button) if so, replace that too with a regular breaker just to check if that's the problem.

 
Rep Power: 314

If the compressor starts fine empty, then lower the pressure cut in switch. The motor has too large a load at the higher pressure! Cut in on my compressor can be set as low as 30 lbs.

 
Rep Power: 0

if you have a dryer outlet in the garage near your compresser and want to use it, you can wire it up like this. (see pic that i attached).

 
Rep Power: 452

it starts fine empty and fills to 155 psi. The breaker kicks when I start using air tools. I dont see how lowering the cut in pressure will do anything.

 
Rep Power: 0

The power coming in the house is really 110v .... to get 220v, they actually use 2 feeds of 110 at the same time.

110v wires have a + (black), - (white), and ground.

220v wires have a + (black), + (red), - (white), and ground.

So what they are saying is you take part of the 220 feed, which is actually 110. You can use the black and white ... or the red and white, its the same difference. Then the other one you just don't.

This is exactly what 05reverb was getting at in his picture.

The GFI might be over sensative. Its a common problem. I would try replacing that outlet. If that doesn't fix it .... Then I would add a 30 amp breaker to the box and run a dedicated line out to the compressor. Then have that outlet just for the compressor.

 
Rep Power: 0

yeah as regular joe said, it would be best if you tried the GFCI's first because if you could fix that, it would be a better set-up than using the dryer outlet because you would have to unplug the dryer everytime you want to use the compresser

 
Rep Power: 452

I appreaciate everyones help. I was getting confused cause I know a bit about car electrical, but home elctrical is alot different as in which wire does what. I just wired up a new oven to the old plug, and I figured out now which wires are hot and neutral.