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General discussion

trying to use an air compressor in garage - help with wiring

Sep 14, 2010 6:36AM PDT

I just bought an air compressor from a gentleman (referred throughout this post as Bill). It's a Craftsman 30gal, 3hp compressor that is 220v at 15amps....well, that's what the plate says on the motor itself. I was hoping to be able to plug this into my dryer receptacle. this dryer receptacle has a 30amp circuit breaker at the breaker box in the house

what problems would i face by wiring it directly to this dryer receptacle?

I wanted to fuse it down to the 15amps, but a friend of mine(electrician) asked if the motor had an overload protection on it.....and said that if it did than it would be no problem to leave it at the 30amps. well, I dont know if it does or not. how could I tell by looking???
any ideas? any help at all would be greatly appreciated. thanks, johnny

Discussion is locked

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Your friend, the electrician is...
Sep 15, 2010 2:01AM PDT

your best bet. I doubt many of us here can help. We might know a little here to be dangerous. Hope you have a very good friend there, good luck.

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Easy way
Sep 18, 2010 2:45PM PDT

The simple way would be to go to your local electrical supply store and pick up a 15 amp circuit breaker. They're dirt cheap, like $5 bucks at some stores. You do not have to worry about GFCI. Just make sure that you match the circuit type. If its a two leg breaker then get another two leg type. Then your friend can swap out the breaker at the panel which should take less than 10 minutes.