Before you buy a compressor

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Nov 9, 2012 | 08:35 PM

#16

devino246

Post Fiend

Joined: Mar 2011

Posts: 8,501

Likes: 4

From: Lynchburg, VA

Quote:

Originally Posted by grinnergetter

I bought the compressor 2 years ago and for all of the body work and sandblasting this thing has been great.
It's a 220 unit and it really was 183 at start up and dropped to 30.3 very quickly so that's why things are not melting or popping.

Bottom line is you definitely want to know start up amps before you make your purchase. I would have never had guessed it would be so high.

If the surge is for a decisecond...

Surge: 220 x 183 = 40,260 watts

Running at that wattage for one hour would use up 40.260 kwh. But..

40.260 / 60 / 60 / 10 = 0.001118333 kwh per surge

Your compressor uses 220v at 30.3 during normal operation.

220 x 30.3 = 6,666.

Run that for an hour, and you've used up 6.666 kwh.

6.666 / 60 / 60 = 0.001851666 kwh per second

Hmmmmmmm,
0.001118333 kwh
0.001851666 kwh

Running your compressor for 1 second uses more electricity than the surge uses.

Sure, your lights may dim for a fraction of a second, but don't worry, you won't see a dent on your electric bill...at least not as a result of the surge.

Nov 10, 2012 | 05:48 AM

#17

jeepardy

New User

Joined: Nov 2011

Posts: 5

Likes: 0

From: Hamilton, MI

Quote:

Originally Posted by grinnergetter

You can reduce the time and amps by added a hard start kit. These are used in HVAC to help heavy load starting. Put in parallel with run cap. Shifts phase of motor for better starting then automatically shuts off. I use larger ones for building rotary phase converters.
Hard Start Kit 1 115 288V 1 2 10HP New 500 Boost 4000 to 120 000 BTU | eBay