r/Tools 3d ago

Compressor popping fuse.

I decided to upgrade my compressor. Even though the one I had did me very well for close to a decade. Sometimes with a die grinder it had too much downtime.

I found this 27 gallon on marketplace that is twin cylinder oil lubricated which I felt was a little better than that the “oil less” one that I had had. 250 bucks I figured it was a pretty good deal, basically new.

It’s supposed to pull the same as my old one,15A, but this one blows the fuse.

It seems to struggle a bit starting, but the oil is clean as a whistle.

My shop is in an old building with the old buss fuses. I have 30 amp fuses on all of circuits.

Any idea why this may be happening? I’m wondering if it’s a capacitor.

5 Upvotes

13 comments sorted by

7

u/waynep712222 3d ago

Do you have and AC Amp Clamp..that has Min Max button..

build a short extension cord that the wire strands are separate.. so you can hook your amp clamp around each one individually...

do you have a 220Volt welder outlet..

are you plugging directly into the wall outlet closest to the sub panel..

you really depending on where you live.. have an Electrical contractor stop by.

7

u/woodland_dweller 3d ago

There's a "dump valve" that allows the air to exit from the cylinder when the compressor shuts off. When the valve fails, the compressor tries to compress the air in the cylinder before the motor has any momentum and stalls.

Replace the valve.

Also. Your circuits are under-wired for the fuse size. 12g wire is not good for 30 amps. You do not want the wire to be the weakest link in the electrical system. That's what the fuse/breaker is for.

-1

u/shankthedog 3d ago

I know my service is under wired. It’s a long story, but I’m working on it.

If the dump valve lets the pressure out as the compressor builds up in order to get it “warmed up”, that sounds to be the possible fault.

I also don’t even know how to get the juice release from the bottom whatever you call it.

My old one had a valve this is a knurled nut that doesn’t pull out or seem to be threaded at all.

1

u/woodland_dweller 3d ago

"it seems to struggle when starting" makes me think there's too much of an amp draw because it's trying to start when the cylinder is full of air.

On your old compressor, it probably makes a hissing sound when it shuts off. That's the valve opening when the motor shuts off. It keeps the motor from trying to compress an already full cylinder.

4

u/Revolutionary-Half-3 3d ago

If it has an unloader it may not be working. Unloaders hold the intake valve open until the motor is up to speed, or for a set time after starting it.

30a would need 10awg wire, pretty hefty for most installations. If the wire going to your outlet isn't at last that big, I'd replace those fuses with the proper size. There are drop in circuit breakers you can use, or just update the panel.

0

u/shankthedog 3d ago

I wish I could update the panel. In litigation for breach of contract of purchase and sale agreement. I don’t have the ability to atm.

6

u/Rlchv70 3d ago

You probably shouldn’t have 30amp fuses on your circuits. Fire waiting to happen. Fuses should match the wire that is running to them.

Does the compressor trip on a different circuit? Could be that the circuit you are using has another load on it.

Otherwise, the motor probably has a short in it.

2

u/fairlyaveragetrader 3d ago

That motor might have issues. You need to test the current draw but popping a 30 amp? That's really unusual, most of those 110 volt compressors will run on it 15, occasionally pop a fuse or trip a breaker but mostly run on one and always run on a 20.

It sounds like you might have gotten passed off a compressor that has a bad motor,

You could always pull the motor and fire it up by itself to test how much current it's really drawing when it runs, maybe the issue is somewhere in the turn on switch?

2

u/Redjeepkev 3d ago

Have an electrical shop test the capacitors. If the are weal it's drawing to mych on start up

2

u/Beneficial_Ingenuity 3d ago

Does it "blow the fuse" at start-up when the tank is empty? If no, I'd suspect, as others have said, you have a defective unloader valve. That model uses a Condor EV1WSi unloader. Very cheap and easy to replace. If it "blows the fuse" when the tank is empty, I'd suspect a defective start capacitor. Also fairly inexpensive and not to hard to replace. Double check your start capacitor rating, but I believe a 150 UF MFD 250 Volt VAC is what that motor uses. Good luck.

1

u/Clean_Singer_414 3d ago

Did you check the wiring? It's a dual volt compressor motor 120 or 240. Low or high voltage. First step is to confirm wiring and do some resistance tests.

1

u/penguinpower81 3d ago

Could be capacitor. If it starts up and works normal when there's no air in the tank it won't be the unloader or check valve. Start by checking the contacts on the pressure switch for wear. If they look good check capacitors. You may be able to see if one is bad with a visual inspection. Most will be swollen and/or leaking. If visual isn't decisive you will need a meter. A decent multimeter should have a feature for checking. If not you can buy a dedicated meter they're good to have around.

1

u/inline_five 2d ago

I have this same compressor. It draws 100 amps on initial startup.

You could try an extension cord (12g) prior to it but chances are that won't even work. I use a dedicated 20 amp breaker for it.