Message text written by Michael Godley
>I have one of the vertical Sears 115 v.5.5 HP 30Gal units...yes it's
loud, and not happy on the extension cord I have been using. I am planning
to wire my garage this winter and figured to put the compressor on a
dedicated circuit (20AMP?)..What size circuit and wire guage would you
recommend...I do have 200amp service.
<
Local code usually specifies 12 awg for a 20 amp circuit but if you have a
rather long run and want to minimize line drop you can go up a size or two.
A friend of mine has about a 100 ft run from his box in the house to his
garage. Back when he was running the garage off of a 12 AWG line the
florescent lights blinked out whenever the fridge kicked in. We have since
installed a subpanel fed by some 2 AWG wire and no problems now.
The size of your service doesn't matter but the branch circuit feeding the
garage must be connected to a breaker that is no bigger than the wire it
feeds. (It can be smaller but not bigger).
Dave
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