I recently purchased a Shop Fox 1.5 hp Dust Collector. It claims to only draw 15 amps, but directly hooked up to a 15 amp outlet, it trips. The nearest 20 amp outlet is 15 feet away and with a 15 foot extension cord (12 guage), it still trips. However it does work directly hooked up to the 20 amp, but it is then too far away from the tablesaw, planer and other tools. Installing 220 volt isn't an option. Any suggestions?
What does the manufacturer recommend? That is where to start. Then remember the inrush when starting the motor. You might need to have a 30 amp if the breaker trips on the motor start up. How far from the breaker is the receptacle located. Amperage is lost on long runs. This could be the problem. Are you sure the wiring is 12 gauge in the wall to the receptacles. Some electricians use 14 gauge wire when it is a short run. this was never intended for something like a dust collector motor.
Might have a bad cap at the motor if it's only on the start. 15 amp draw on a 14 wire would not trip the breaker. I know that my 2 hp Jet is on a dedicated 20 amp outlet. But has never tripped the breaker.
This one is kind of a no brainer. You have a DC that the manufacturer states that it draws 15 amps, and when you try to start it the 15 amp breaker trips….I kind of have to throw out a big DUH on this one. The DC is fine, your circiut is not sized correctly for the DC.
You need to run it on a 20 amp circiut with #12 wire.
Do not swap out the 15 amp breaker for a 20 amp until you verify the wire size. Chances are that if it's a 15 amp breaker then it's most likely #14 wire which is undersized for 20 amps.
Some of the Shop Fox tools do not have the newer more efficient motors on them and have a pretty substantial in rush on them. Are you sure that the extension cord is #12 and was any thing else on the 20 amp circiut besides the DC ?
The DC is generally a piece of equipment that you would want on a dedicated circuit.
Also check, & see if your electrical service is at full voltage. I burned out 2 table saws before I found out my service transformer was too far away. The power company moved the transformer closer, it solved my problem. You could also have too many homes being served by an undersized transformer. Amps go up when the voltage drops.
This is what to do:
Look in the breaker box and check if the wire on that circuit is 12ga. if it is
Install a 20amp breaker and replace all the outlets in that circuit to 20amp.
A 15 amp breaker is not big enough for a 15 amp motor due to heat, resistance, startup, etc. even if nothing else is on that line. There are formula's to figure wire size and breaker size. Like Ken22F said, check your wire size making sure it is 12 ga., install 20 amp breaker and make sure all the other recipticles are rated at 20 amps. You shouldn't have any problems then. Just remember if there are other recepticals you still may not be able to run something else while the dust collector is on. If I remember correctly the NEC says a 20 amp should be rated/loaded only to 80% of it's capacity which would be 16 amps. It doesn't mean it won't run more, that's just the safty code.
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