I've done all sorts of stuff. Remodeled houses, built furniture, rebuilt engines,and so on. One thing I've never fooled with was electrical wiring. Always a little scared of it. My big garage came with several different weird outlets I didn't use. I don't know what all they were doing in there. I've been wanting to convert my air compressor and table saw to high voltage for years. Had an odd 30 amp 250V outlet. I did some research. The results were popping out the breaker to replace with 20 amp and adding a 6-20 receptacle. Put a new plug on the air compressor and reconfigured the motor. Success! Freed up the 125V 20A outlet in the area. Next project is replacing an unused 125V 30A outlet with a 125V 20A GFCI. I already replaced the 30 amp breaker with a 20 amp while I was in the panel.
Playing with Electricity.
- Thread starter hatt
- Start date
What is the HP rating of the motor?
Originally Posted by KJSmith
Half the amps at twice the voltage cost the same.
Theoretically, yes, but in reality it would cost (slightly) less because it's more efficient.
Half the amps at twice the voltage cost the same.
Theoretically, yes, but in reality it would cost (slightly) less because it's more efficient.
What are you intending to run on the 125V 20 A GFCI? Some things do not play well with GFCI. Water heaters are notorious for being electrically leaky to the point that they can be impossible to run on a GFCI, and some motors are also bad. GFCI can save someones life when they prevent them from being electrocuted, but there are some applications where they just do not work.
If you have a particular appliance in mind to run on a GFCI it would be nice to know in advance if it can be ran on a GFCI before you want to use it.
If you have a particular appliance in mind to run on a GFCI it would be nice to know in advance if it can be ran on a GFCI before you want to use it.
Originally Posted by JimPghPA
What are you intending to run on the 125V 20 A GFCI? Some things do not play well with GFCI. Water heaters are notorious for being electrically leaky to the point that they can be impossible to run on a GFCI, and some motors are also bad. GFCI can save someones life when they prevent them from being electrocuted, but there are some applications where they just do not work.
If you have a particular appliance in mind to run on a GFCI it would be nice to know in advance if it can be ran on a GFCI before you want to use it.
125V 20A GFCI is just a regular old outlet. GFCI required in sheds. All the other outlets are 125V 20A GFCI so I'm going to keep it consistent.
What are you intending to run on the 125V 20 A GFCI? Some things do not play well with GFCI. Water heaters are notorious for being electrically leaky to the point that they can be impossible to run on a GFCI, and some motors are also bad. GFCI can save someones life when they prevent them from being electrocuted, but there are some applications where they just do not work.
If you have a particular appliance in mind to run on a GFCI it would be nice to know in advance if it can be ran on a GFCI before you want to use it.
125V 20A GFCI is just a regular old outlet. GFCI required in sheds. All the other outlets are 125V 20A GFCI so I'm going to keep it consistent.
Originally Posted by JimPghPA
What are you intending to run on the 125V 20 A GFCI? Some things do not play well with GFCI. Water heaters are notorious for being electrically leaky to the point that they can be impossible to run on a GFCI, and some motors are also bad. GFCI can save someones life when they prevent them from being electrocuted, but there are some applications where they just do not work.
If you have a particular appliance in mind to run on a GFCI it would be nice to know in advance if it can be ran on a GFCI before you want to use it.
If you're going to put a dedicated appliance on it, you don't need a GFCI. I think I looked it up in the code book. Inspector wanted me to put a GFCI in a laundry room where there wasn't even a sink and claimed that the cold and hot for the washer were enough. But I ended up putting in a single outlet dedicated to the washer so I wouldn't have to do the GFCI. There are things you don't want on a GFCI like a refrigerator. Wouldn't want that to accidentally trip and then have all your food spoil.
What are you intending to run on the 125V 20 A GFCI? Some things do not play well with GFCI. Water heaters are notorious for being electrically leaky to the point that they can be impossible to run on a GFCI, and some motors are also bad. GFCI can save someones life when they prevent them from being electrocuted, but there are some applications where they just do not work.
If you have a particular appliance in mind to run on a GFCI it would be nice to know in advance if it can be ran on a GFCI before you want to use it.
If you're going to put a dedicated appliance on it, you don't need a GFCI. I think I looked it up in the code book. Inspector wanted me to put a GFCI in a laundry room where there wasn't even a sink and claimed that the cold and hot for the washer were enough. But I ended up putting in a single outlet dedicated to the washer so I wouldn't have to do the GFCI. There are things you don't want on a GFCI like a refrigerator. Wouldn't want that to accidentally trip and then have all your food spoil.
Originally Posted by hatt
Originally Posted by exranger06
What is the HP rating of the motor?
Don't remember what the fake rating on the compressor is. Probably 15 HP or something.
The motor says 125v 15A or 250V 7.4A.
120 V x 15 A = 1800 W. 1 HP = 746 W, so in theory the motor would be almost 2-1/2 HP. However, that's assuming a perfect motor, that would convert the entirety of the input energy into rotational power out, with no losses. In practice, I think it would be 2 HP at best, and likely less.
Originally Posted by exranger06
What is the HP rating of the motor?
Don't remember what the fake rating on the compressor is. Probably 15 HP or something.
The motor says 125v 15A or 250V 7.4A.
120 V x 15 A = 1800 W. 1 HP = 746 W, so in theory the motor would be almost 2-1/2 HP. However, that's assuming a perfect motor, that would convert the entirety of the input energy into rotational power out, with no losses. In practice, I think it would be 2 HP at best, and likely less.
Originally Posted by bbhero
You know the saying from Clint Eastwood...
"Every man has got to know his limitations".
Sounds like you did a good job.
My neighbor was laughing at me so I figured it was time to get some basic household electrical knowledge.
You know the saying from Clint Eastwood...
"Every man has got to know his limitations".
Sounds like you did a good job.
My neighbor was laughing at me so I figured it was time to get some basic household electrical knowledge.
Originally Posted by hatt
Originally Posted by bbhero
You know the saying from Clint Eastwood...
"Every man has got to know his limitations".
Sounds like you did a good job.
My neighbor was laughing at me so I figured it was time to get some basic household electrical knowledge.
Yeah I got basic wiring electrical experience with my step father helping wire the new house he was building in 94. Then I did some residential electrical work in 99...
Amazing how big one house was... We just about ran out of wire off a brand new 250 ft roll running a homerun from the main panel in the garage up to the far end of that house... That house was 10,000+ square feet in size.
Originally Posted by bbhero
You know the saying from Clint Eastwood...
"Every man has got to know his limitations".
Sounds like you did a good job.
My neighbor was laughing at me so I figured it was time to get some basic household electrical knowledge.
Yeah I got basic wiring electrical experience with my step father helping wire the new house he was building in 94. Then I did some residential electrical work in 99...
Amazing how big one house was... We just about ran out of wire off a brand new 250 ft roll running a homerun from the main panel in the garage up to the far end of that house... That house was 10,000+ square feet in size.
You can safely plug in something that only needs 15 amps at 120V into a 30 amp 120V outlet with the right plug.
Originally Posted by KJSmith
Originally Posted by Farnsworth
On my house I found a 30 amp breaker from long ago protecting #14 wire.
No, it wasn't.
Here we go again. Starting to appreciate Reagan's comment around here. If you can't figure out what what I was saying it's not my problem.
Originally Posted by Farnsworth
On my house I found a 30 amp breaker from long ago protecting #14 wire.
No, it wasn't.
Here we go again. Starting to appreciate Reagan's comment around here. If you can't figure out what what I was saying it's not my problem.
