230 volt compressor hookup

[GT_Rich]

Sorry to bother you guys with this on here...

I just bought a 60 gallon / 7 hp compressor (husky model from home depot) and I have a wiring question. I ran a 240/30 amp (10 gauge, 3 wire + ground) circuit to the compressor, but the electrical hookup at the compressor only has two hots and ground. Do I tie the neutral and ground together at the compressor, or am I completely missing something?

Thanks!
:SNSign:

 

[wazazzle]

shouldn't there a wiring diagram on the motor? i found mine on the inner backside of the cover panel. but then again my is a dual 230/115 (ttt)

 

[90]

you gotta be missing somthing i dont understand whats goin on... i am an electrician and i will help you out, just try to re word somthing so that i can give you a hand.. did you run 10awg ? to the compressor?

read the wire.. its gonna say 6 AWG, 8 AWG, or 10 AWG... on the wire you ran

 

[Mustang5L5]

My understanding is that he ran the wiring necessary for a 240V 30A 4-wire hookup. (2 hots, a nuetral and a ground)

His compressor is a 3-wire plug (2 hots and a ground)

Am i reading this right?

 

[RYC CUKR]

Sounds like 5L5 is on the right track.

Basically the orignal poster doesn't need to hook up the neutral wire on either end since it won't be used. Connect the bare to ground on both ends, and black and red to the "hot" terminals in the receptacle, you will need a 240v 30a receptacle. And then land the hots on the 30 amp 2 pole breaker in the panel.

 

[90]

yeah just cap off the neutral

 

[jrichker]

I have a similar unit, and I really like it. Mine said to wire the circuit for 230 volts, 15 amps. I used a 15 amp 230 volt fuse box mounted on the compressor for an on/off switch so I didn't have to unplug it when I needed to do something with the electrical wiring. I also have an old A/C condenser mounted in front of the motor and compressor. It cools the hot compressed air and then passes it though a moisture separator. I wired in a solenoid operated unloader valve to the bottom of the moisture separator so that it not only unloads the compressor for startup, it drains the moisture separator too. I get very little water in the tank, and the air is cooler & dryer. That makes everything work better & last longer.

I highly recommend the additional fuse box/cutoff switch combination. You can protect the motor with just the right size fuse or circuit breaker. Extra fuses or circuit breakers seem to work best when you put them close to the load so that they open up when an overload occurs.

 

[HISSIN50]

I have a similar unit, and I really like it. Mine said to wire the circuit for 230 volts, 15 amps. I used a 15 amp 230 volt fuse box mounted on the compressor for an on/off switch so I didn't have to unplug it when I needed to do something with the electrical wiring. I also have an old A/C condenser mounted in front of the motor and compressor. It cools the hot compressed air and then passes it though a moisture separator. I wired in a solenoid operated unloader valve to the bottom of the moisture separator so that it not only unloads the compressor for startup, it drains the moisture separator too. I get very little water in the tank, and the air is cooler & dryer. That makes everything work better & last longer.

I bow down. Awesomely creative work with the condenser.

 

[GT_Rich]

Thanks for the replies - Mustang5L5 basically had it right. When I finished my garage, I ran 10 AWG for a 30 Amp, 240 Volt, 4 w wire hookup. I used a 30 amp, 4 prong receptacle. Last night I used more 10 AWG wire and tied it in to a male end of the 4 prong receptacle. When I went to hook that in to the compressor, I was surprised there was no neutral hook-up, hence my original post. I later tied both the the neutral and ground to the grounding plate of the compressor (since both were already tied to the ground of the box). I fired it up last night and went through one duty cycle with it - ran great!

I know I'm running more wire than I need, but I wasn't sure what I was going to be hooking into that spot when I finished the garage. I have a 30A breaker in their now - I probably need to switch that out for a 15A, huh? I'll have to post a pic on here of my final setup, it's pretty sweet.

Thanks for the tip jrichker. This is my first compressor, so any tips would be appreciated.

 

[MikeC]

You'll love the compressor, I have a similar one. It opens up a whole new relm of tools to buy. And your work time will be greatly reduced.

 

[bentley429]

Thanks for the replies - Mustang5L5 basically had it right. When I finished my garage, I ran 10 AWG for a 30 Amp, 240 Volt, 4 w wire hookup. I used a 30 amp, 4 prong receptacle. Last night I used more 10 AWG wire and tied it in to a male end of the 4 prong receptacle. When I went to hook that in to the compressor, I was surprised there was no neutral hook-up, hence my original post. I later tied both the the neutral and ground to the grounding plate of the compressor (since both were already tied to the ground of the box). I fired it up last night and went through one duty cycle with it - ran great!

I know I'm running more wire than I need, but I wasn't sure what I was going to be hooking into that spot when I finished the garage. I have a 30A breaker in their now - I probably need to switch that out for a 15A, huh? I'll have to post a pic on here of my final setup, it's pretty sweet.

Thanks for the tip jrichker. This is my first compressor, so any tips would be appreciated.

No deff leave the 30A two pole in there if its a 30A compressor. Iam suprised its actually a 3 prong outlet still, alot of companies have done away with those and just made 4 prongs. As for tieing the neutral to the ground its not going to actually hurt anything but I would cap it off at either end but thats just me, ground is only supposed to have bare or a green insulated wire on it OR a black wrapped with green bands of tape works nicely also. Iam guessing your not getting it inspected .