Wiring air compressor

[cuonger69]

Hey guys I know this topic has been beaten to death, but I've been searching for a while and couldn't find what I needed. I just picked up a 60gal Husky pro air compressor and I need to know what power cord I need to hook it up with. The compressor is a 3.2hp 230v 15amp unit.

This is the receptacle I have in my garage which the previous owner of the house mentioned it was wired up for 220v.

Is there a certain gauge power cord I'll need to make sure I'm not feeding it too much power?

 

[larry4406]

I would go to Home Depot/Lowes and by a range cord or dryer cord. It will have the plug molded on the end already. It will likely be rated for 30A or 50A.

Assuming your outlet is properly wired, the breaker will safely limit the current draw.

 

[Identaltech]

it not the power cord that determines the useage of power.
it the device that is hooked up to the cord.
the device will take all the power it wants.
only problem is if you cord is to small and starves the unit of power.
breaker protects the wiring in the wall from to much current

 

[cuonger69]

Thanks a lot guys. I went to Home Depot and unfortunately they did not have the power cord with the plug molded on it. It had to be bought separately, which was not a problem cause I needed a couple more feet of cord to move the tank to the other wall anyways.

When I wire up the plug does it matter which prongs I connect the hot wires (black,white) to? Green is ground correct?

 

[Vernmotor]

green =ground=center post

 

[2LTim]

If you use a white wire on 220V, it needs to be colored red! This keeps any future tinkerers from mistaking it for neutral.

 

[2LTim]

If your breaker in the box is a 50A, and you use a 14 guage wire for the 15A rating on your compressor, eveything will work fine as long as the compressor holds out. In the event of a motor failure, the 14 guage wire will become you fuse, as it is the weakest link in the circuit. You should downsize the breaker to 15 amps to properly protect the circuit.

 

[nadogail]

In my opinion, you should not use 15 Guage wire, use 12 Guage wire. You will be pushing the limits of the 14 guage wire.

 

[crbracing]

i wont wire a 220v outlet with anything less than 10g incase i want to plug a welder or somthing els in by that plug. the cost differnce betwin 12g and 10g isn't than mutch.

 

[hotro1988]

I would use nothing less than 8 gauge wire; the recptical you pictured is made to support 50 amps thus the NEMA 6-50. even using 8 gauge wire you will still be limited to classifying the recptical as welder use and the wire should be rated at 90 degree celcius (THHN, THWN). To comply with most state codes you would need to use 6 gauge wire. Follow this link to find your voltage drop according to length of the circuit, http://www.southwire.com/voltagedropcalculator.jsp. go to the following link to look at the NEC http://nfpaweb3.gvpi.net/rrserver/browser?title=/NFPASTD/7008SB.

 

[cuonger69]

Wired it up using 10g wire that the guy from home depot recommended, It works perfectly. Thanks for the replies