i'm going to be buying a big air compressor soon and will have it installed in my garage. I will need a 230V outlet to support it. in my garage, the breaker box will be right next to the corner it's going in.

question: what would the going fair rate be to have an electrician come over and install an outlet for the air compressor? does it make it cheaper to have the outlet installed right next to the breaker box or is that pretty irrelevant?

thanks guys

It really isn't that hard. It is only 3 wires and if you do it with the main breaker off it is safe. If you decide to do it yourself I'll walk you thru it. The only difference in cost from one location to another is the length of wire. Put it as far away as possible. Mine is going to be moved into the back room off the shop as soon as the back room is ready.

bs,
It will be less expensive to have it installed right next to the box, compared to running wire somewhere else. Although I do my own electrical work, if you dont feel 1000% comfortable with doing it, leave it to a professional. An electrician should be able to give you a pretty close price quote over the phone. I figure it should be about an hours worth of actual work, plus the materials. Figure a 30 amp double pole breaker, a few feet of cable and a recepticle. Depending on your area, code might require the wire to be run in conduit, which would add some to the price. I would figure maybe a couple of hundred bucks total, but I may be way off, again depends on your location.
Hope this helps,

Running electrical isn't too difficult. I did my whole shop last fall, lots of outlets and even 4 for 220 equipment.

when you say 'by the box', i forgot - do i wire it from where all the circuit breakers are or by the big main box outside the house?

one more question - the dryer is also right next to where the compressor will be going. when i'm not doing laundry, could i just make a 10 foot extension cord? the dryer in our house has a 4 prong plug though, dunnoh what's up with that. it's a top pole, with two side blades, and the bottom looks like a 90-degree angle.

when you say 'by the box', i forgot - do i wire it from where all the circuit breakers are or by the big main box outside the house?

one more question - the dryer is also right next to where the compressor will be going. when i'm not doing laundry, could i just make a 10 foot extension cord? the dryer in our house has a 4 prong plug though, dunnoh what's up with that. it's a top pole, with two side blades, and the bottom looks like a 90-degree angle.

Ya most dryers are 220v....the box they mean is the one with the breakers in it NOT the box (meter) outside....You could "wire" it as far as the box but if your unsure as to how to tie it into the main circuit box then have an electrician do that part...that way you are not having to shut anything off or work in the "box" as you called it.....IF you have an electrician run the cable too then the shorter the run the less it will cost in labor and materials...Just my 2 cents

yeah, it'll be right next to the box, literally. if the compressor moves over 2 feet, it will cover the box, lol...

Do I have this right..the house and garage are connected and the box with the breakers runs both. If so you will have to have a blank spot in the panel cover 2 spaces wide to be able to add another 220 breaker. I'll be back in a bit with some pictures for you to look at.

Yes he will have to have 2 empty spots available to add another 220 volt breaker...POSSIBLY if none are available and he really wants it an electrician could add a sub panel off the main panel to power his compressor...of course doing that would be more expensive than if a pair were available in the main panel...

When I moved into this house I had 220 ran to the dryer and to the stove. It took the electrician about 6 hours to do the work and I paid for the parts. It cost me about 350 for all of it. Mine was very labor intensive because of the crawing into the crawl space and drilling holes in the wall and running all the wires under the house. From what you are describing I would think about an hours labor and $50 on parts.

Ok look at these photos, this is in my garage, the panel is a subpanel tied into the main service entrance. My compresser is in about the same spot as yours, there is about 3 feet of wire between it and the box. The next photos show the wires in the breaker panel and the pressure switch on the compressor. From the double breaker on the left side of the panel run 1 black and 1 white from the 2 terminals on the double pole breaker. The pressure switch is prewired for the motor so it is just a matter of matching colors. The only other connection needed is to the ground. The bare wire will attach under the green screw in the pressure switch and to the bar in the panel where all the other bare wires are. Your dryer is wired with a neutral connection. It has 1 red wire and 1 black attached to the 2 terminals at the breaker, a bare ground to that bar and a white neutral to the neutral bar.
If you don not feel comfortable doing this by all means hire an electrician or find a friend that knows how, but now you know what the job will entail.

Hey Phillip... i need some a that kinda work done at my house... when do ya think you'd be available ????


next Tuesday would be Great !!! :D :D :D

Hey Phillip... i need some a that kinda work done at my house... when do ya think you'd be available ????


next Tuesday would be Great !!! :D :D :D

Getting a new NUKE button installed, or an EASY button??:sad:

i need an easy button... badly


i'm dyin' here...

Hey shifty....did you "puke" at me earlier??:eek: I didn't have the msgr on, and we just got home and saw it when I turned this on.

BS

who else ??? :rolleyes:

yuk yuk yuk ;)

i need an easy button... badly


i'm dyin' here...

Got all yer pansies planted?

no, i have one more bed ta make up...

don't bag on my flowers, Bucko !!! sumpin' 'round 'ere needs ta smell good :rolleyes:




i like gardening. :D

If it needs to smell good around there, ya better make that 5 more beds!!

think it'd help ???

I'll be able to answer that in September!:thumbsup:

no, i have one more bed ta make up...

don't bag on my flowers, Bucko !!! sumpin' 'round 'ere needs ta smell good :rolleyes:




i like gardening. :D

Ya ever conceder taking a shower:waving:

BS

is that anything like takin' a "powder" ??? Naw, i don't go fer those kinda things... :rolleyes:

He lives in the desert Don, supposedly it's called water conservation.:sad:

He lives in the desert Don, supposedly it's called water conservation.:sad:

Well, you can "test" the water in September and let me know.:) I always thought "water conservation" was showering with a friend. LOOK OUT JEFF.:eek:

Don

only if she's a she and he's a he

well, just got back form home depot and HF... I decided to go ching chong with the compressor. The IR unit would take 6 weeks to get here at $600, and the comparable HF one is $320 and ready to go lol. I figure since i'm new with compressors i can just get a nicer one in the future lol. Plus, the price helps me out with the overall cost of the project by giving me more headroom to buy air tools and a good hvlp gun and paint.

so, what i need help with are two big things:

1. it never hit me before, but this thing has four stamped metal feet with holes in them. do i have to bolt this sucker down? it was bolted to the pallet at HF. if it turns on, will it do the mamba like an unbalanced washing machine? should i put some 1/4" sheet rubber on the bottom so the vibration doesn't eat at the concrete?

2. i decided to temporarily use an extension cord to power the compressor, since it's only 6 feet from the laundry dryer. the guy at home depot wasn't very helpful, but he found me the plug i needed and the right cable - 10 gauge 4 lead for up to 20 amps; mycompressor is rated at 16 amps continuous. The main thing i need help with, is how to connect the four individual leads:

Inside the male plug head, there are four terminals. if the 90 degree prong is south, and the rest are north east and west (looking at the female terminal), which ones are hot and which ones are ground? I have the diagram for the air compressor end, so i think i'll be fine there.

Mine is sitting on 4"x4"x1/4" rubber pads and is doing fine. I would not leave it on the pallet.
On your plug the side lugs, east and west positions, are the hot leads from the breaker, the top, north, is the ground (bare) and the bottom, south, the neutral (white). If the compressor only requires 3 wires like mine. The bottom lug is the one to leave unconnected.

so if i read ya right, the side are hot, and the top is ground....

according to the user manual (harbor freight #3848) the compressor has 4 posts... it just says "incoming power should be connected to the posts marked 'line'" and it points to two posts with two arrows... and then points to two grounding screws.

i'm guessing the two hot wires are interchangeable? i'm guessing for the grounding screws i need toput the one ground wire on both of them? what do i do with the neutral wire? just not hook it to anything and cover up its end?

downloading the manual I'll be right back

so if i read ya right, the side are hot, and the top is ground....Yes

according to the user manual (harbor freight #3848) the compressor has 4 posts... it just says "incoming power should be connected to the posts marked 'line'" and it points to two posts with two arrows... and then points to two grounding screws.yes you can use either ground point but no need to use both

i'm guessing the two hot wires are interchangeable?yes i'm guessing for the grounding screws i need toput the one ground wire on both of them?no just use one of them what do i do with the neutral wire? just not hook it to anything and cover up its end?yes again, just don't hook it up in the plug. You could have bought 3 conductor wire and saved some money.
I use non detergent 30 wt oil in mine. The manual didn't state what to use.

thanks a bunch philip. hopefully i'll be waking the neighbors with the RAT-TAT-TAT-pfffffffffft of an impact wrench and a WAaAaAaAaAa of a real compressor :)

pink, green, black, white are the wires in my 4 lead cable. i looked at the compressor and saw that it used a 12 gauge wire going to the motor, so i feel better about using 10 gauge. i was supposed to use 6 gauge but home depot was out, and the guy made me feel like i was taking a chance with 10 gauge, lol. ok, time to cut this up, i'll try to post a pic soon.

http://web.njit.edu/~gag0046/childslapping/wiring1.jpg
http://web.njit.edu/~gag0046/childslapping/wiring2.jpg
http://web.njit.edu/~gag0046/childslapping/wiring3.jpg
http://web.njit.edu/~gag0046/childslapping/wiring4.jpg

hope that all looks right to you :)

Well it depends on where you hooked the the wires at the compressor. Normally green is the ground color in AC wiring, pink (red) and black are hot and white is neutral. If you have black and green on the line terminals then it is good to go.
Mine has been wired with 12 ga wire for 8 years with no problems. At one time it was 100' away from the main panel in a storage shed and it still ran fine with the 12 ga wire. 6 ga wire would have been excessive and hard to connect to the terminals in the pressure switch. I used 6 ga from the main panel to the subpanel to feed the whole garage. In the photo I posted you can see the 12-2 with grd that I used on the compressor.

yeah, i hooked up the wires in the plug first, then i had about 20 people email me telling me that green was ground, lol. i went and connected it up accordingly on the compressor side, putting the green pink on the "line" and the black to the grounding screw. i cut power to the dryer circuit on the breaker panel, then went and unplugged the dryer and ran the compressor's cord through the laundry room door, then powered the ciruit back on, then powered on the compressor. w00t! it's sitting nicely now in the corner of my garage, and it looks like the top part didn't block the breaker panel after all. i sat it down on some cut up rubber matting, and will probably make a strap to help prevent tipover later this week. with full time work and school i probably won't be able to get to play with it until next sunday anyways.

the other thing i have to build is the wall panel for the accessories. i went to lowe's and spent about 2 hours fiddling with all the stuff they had. home depot didn't really have anything at all, and i didn't want to get HF for the accessories. i ended up getting some hose, fittings and adapters, a filter/seperator, a pressure regulator, and a couple ball valves. here si how i plan to set it up:

air tank
ball valve on tank
high pressure hose to panel
air filter/water seperator
pressure regulator
ball valve

and that's pretty mcuh where i stopped. they didn't have a good selection of things at lowe's. i was thinking of ending the panel with a male quick connect, so that the hose could be double-ended with the receiving female quick connects to keep dirt out of the hose.

does this sound right?

what do you think about in-line dessicant for use while spraying?

thanks again!

Okay now that you have a little confidance the only difference in what you did to make a perminate connection is hooking the same 3 wires into a panel instead of the plug. The line wires go on the breaker and the ground (usually green :D ) goes on the ground bar.

http://web.njit.edu/~gag0046/childslapping/kompressor/DCP_0890.JPG

http://web.njit.edu/~gag0046/childslapping/kompressor/DCP_0891.JPG


i also went to home depot last night and picked up a 3/8 to 1/4 adapter plus a male quick connect for the hose to go after the ball valve on the right, and i finally got the right adapter to put a ball valve on the tank.

i think next is where i'm going to put the panel. the problem is that the discharge from the tank points in the way of the door, so the only place i can think of putting the panel is either above the compressor or to the side of it by the breaker box... i also should find an easier way to drain the tank from the bottom, just found out there's only a teeny tiny valve that is way too hard to reach, and is so low that i can't think of any pan that would fit under there.

with a few pipe fittings (a 90 degree elbow and a few straight lengths) you should be able to move the valve from under the tank to a place you can reach easily and then have a length of hose on the end of a barbed valve...this way you can uncoil the hose to drain it in a better location and when your done you can coil the hose up so its out of the way...that should work eh?

I drain mine once a week and only get about a teaspoon of water sometimes less. You can stick a paper towel under the valve to catch it.
Now that I see the picture of the location, you would have been better off to wire it to the panel with a 2' length of 12/2 than spend the money on the cord and plug. Probably about a 30 minute job for me, to bad you don't live closer.
BTW nice color :rolleyes: does it have lacey curtains on the window too. :D

nice color what? lacey windows?

I think he was refering to the blue walls. Looks good.

Don

the camera's color is a little off. i forget the brand, but the hue is freedom blue, taken off of the american flag.

i set up the panel with the filter and regulator, and made an interesting observation:

with the female quick connect fitting in place, the system appears to flow well. the compressor even outpaces the "leak" and tank pressure increases. however, when i remove the female quick connect fitting, leaving only the male barb on, the system flows way more and the compressor will fall behind and tank psi slowly drops.

i am wondering... does the quick connect fitting suck? how would i know it's flowing enough to power the tools and spraygun properly?

the quick connect fittings are amflo 1/4". i got 1/4" because the starter tool kit i got (husky, impact wrench and drill) and the amflo hoses were 1/4". i didn't see any hoses at either store that had 3/8" connections on each end :shrug:

If the tools work properly they are getting enough air. The 1/4" fitting will flow considerably less air that a 3/8" fitting. I have my hose screwed to the regulator and only use a quick disconnect at the tool end of the hose. One restriction is better than two.
Sorry about the paint comment. It looks to be a color I would use in my grandsons bedroom not a garage. I'll take into consideration the camera has changed the color somewhat :).

i bought a 3/8" quick connect and holy crap what a difference! with the 1/4" it was like an aerosol can... i went to homedepot and found they had a different style 1/4" that had a different type cone-shaped valve in it that probably would flow better, but aw what the heck. i bought the 3/8". it was jet propulsion baby :D

now if only i could decide which starter tool kit to buy, lol.

well i used the compressor today... and minus all the accessories i paid for.. it was only $320, and it keeps up with running a DA sander with no waiting! i ran it nearly non stop at a hgh speed and it didn't slow down one bit.

i did have drops of water coming out the discharge though, so i definitely need a water separator near the tool. i was thining of using a clean transmision cooler to hook the hose to since they go up to 200psi and use that to helpcool the air before going into the filter/separator. i'm going to build a little stand that will hold the filter/seperator upright and a valve so i can attatch a shorter 25' hose to it for the tool. i think that would probably be real close to what i need. i would go hard plumbing, but the garage is so small it wouldn't be worth it, and would probably devalue the house since we're planning to be out of here soon lol.

so my g/f was working the da sander and i was workng the electric orbital sander, and the compressor was working on and off in the garage, and the blowgun was huffing and puffing on and off as well. boy the neighbors haven't been smiling and waving hello lately :D

Ain't life grand :) Now that you have one you will never want to be without it. It is just to handy to have around. Your neighbors will soon learn the value of having a compressor in the aerea. Wait unti lt he first one has a low or flat tire and you pump it for them. Which brings me to another accessory you need. A portable air tank. I don't have enough time to extol the values of that little gem.