outside receptacle


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Old 04-18-07, 04:48 PM
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outside receptacle

i have a outside receptacle that does not want run my air compressers. they will start up & get to max pressure then when the air lowers & the compresser is to kick back on they will barely turn over. its on a 15a breaker which is on the living room too. it never throws the breaker. could i put a 20a breaker in or should i just run new wire & put it on a 20a breaker. oh yeah both compressers are rated for a 15a breaker. thanks bill
 
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Old 04-18-07, 04:55 PM
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Your first mistake is that you are trying to run 2 15 amp appliances on 1 15 amp circuit.

2 X 15 = 30

What is the name of your panel. The breakers should be tripping.

Also do not continue to run these till you find an answer. You could have a very serious problem.

We need to know the exact amperage of the compressors, as well as the name of the panel. We also need to know how far from the panel the recepticles where the compressors are pluged in.

In addition, if you move the compressor closer to the panel and plug one at a time into another circuit, do they work ok?
 
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Old 04-18-07, 05:07 PM
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sorry i am only running one at a time & pluging right into the receptacle.
 
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Old 04-18-07, 05:08 PM
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HMMMM, could the locked rotor current be higher on these units do to the added air pressure in the tanks?

He says they run fine when started with empty tanks (this is what I understand from his post "they will start up & get to max pressure then when the air lowers & the compresser is to kick back on they will barely turn over".)
I totally agree with jwhite, that breaker should trip. We do need to know what the amperage or at least the wattage or horsepower of the motors are. Rated for use with a 15A breaker does not necessarily mean that it draws 15A.
 
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Old 04-18-07, 05:09 PM
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tritonbill

thanks that is important. Now please answer the rest of the questions, so that we can try to help.
 
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Old 04-18-07, 05:10 PM
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Does it run ok if you plug into another circuit??
 
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Old 04-18-07, 05:12 PM
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the panel is a GE power mark plus. i can plug them in on the other side of the house & they work.
 
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Old 04-18-07, 05:14 PM
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well the big compresser is a 30 ga. from sears, the small one is from wal-mart
 
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Old 04-18-07, 05:16 PM
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oh yeah the one from sears is 5hp
 
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Old 04-18-07, 05:18 PM
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the small will run on any of the other receptacles in the house but the big one will only run on maybe 2 in the whole house.
 
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Old 04-18-07, 05:28 PM
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"i can plug them in on the other side of the house & they work."


Sounds like you have yourself a voltage drop problem. The other receptacle is to far away from the breaker to provide the necessary voltage to run this motor.
In my opinion , the best cure for this is to decide where you will use the compressors most often and run a new 20 amp dedicated circuit for them.
Be sure to use 12 guage wire and properly rated receptacles (i.e. weatherproof if outdoors, rated for for 20A etc).
 
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Old 04-19-07, 02:56 AM
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5 hp must be the power of the air. A 5 hp 120v motor would draw about 50 running amps. this would not work on a regular recepticle circuit.

If you want to have a rec for this large compressor that is a long way from the electrical panel, you should wire it with number 10 wire, and put it on a 20 amp breaker using a 20 amp recepticle.
 
 

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