new air compressor blows breakers

by Philip Bembridge
(Brownhills,Walsall,United Kingdom)

i have a problem with an air compressor i just bought, it is a brand new Fengda Rohs single cylinder piston compressor, power:1/6hp. speed: 1450/1700 r.p.m. 220v-240v.

when i plug it into the mains socket on the wall and switch the air compressor on, the air compressor blows the breaker and all power from the sockets go off. there is no power surge control on the compressor. can this be fixed or is the product of no use?

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Bill says...

I'm curious that you aren't visiting the vendor that sold you the unit and checking with them?

You didn't include the model number, so I can't do much checking for you. I do know that the Fengda air brush compressors are Chinese in manufacture, which is not hugely important except that it makes the service and parts channel from source to consumer quite long.

With a 220 volt line and motor, your 1/6 HP unit shouldn't suffer from inrush issues.

Before you test it again, please ensure that if your unit has any sort of tank with it, that the pressure in the tank is zero PSI.

Also, I wonder if you have anything else in the same circuit that's pulling power at the same time that your compressor is trying to start.

Unfortunately, to me it sounds as though you may have a lemon, but it's hard to be sure from afar.

Take the unit back to the source, and ask them to check it for you under warranty, or, replace it.

Cheers and good luck.

Bill




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new air compressor blows breakers

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Feb 19, 2011
 reply
by: phil bembridge

well i bought this off ebay brand new. i asked the seller and he said he tested it before selling and it worked fine.

the model number is AS18-2.

i've noticed when opening the back of the compressor it has a 500vAC capacitor, i was wondering if this may be the problem as it seems quite powerful and maybe too powerful to use in a house and may only be used in factory buildings where the volt capacity limit is higher than 240v?

i've never used an air compressor before but i followed the instructions in the manual.

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Think of the capacitor as a quick discharge battery. It slowly builds up a charge as the compressor is powered, and then, when the compressor has been stopped for a while, and goes to start, the capacitor shoots additional power into the circuit to handle the higher inrush demand of a motor.

If the capacitor has failed, then that might account for the breaker popping.

Good luck.

B.

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