Speedaire AIR COMPRESSOR pops breaker on start up

by TIM B.
(GILBERTS,IL,USA)

I HAVE A SPEEDAIRE 20GAL. AIR COMPRESSOR WHICH I JUST GOT FROM A FREIND. EVERY TIME I PLIUG IT INTO THE OUTLET IT WILL START TO RUN THEN POP THE BREAKER AT THE PANEL. I'VE TAKEN THE BELT OFF TO JUST RUN THE MOOTR WITH NO LOAD BUT THE PULLEY AND IT STILL HAPPENS. ANY IDEAS OF WHAT MAY BE WRONG?

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Bill says...

Hi Tim. This one's a bit hard to diagnose as I'm not able to determine from your email what you mean by "it will start to run".

I'm going to guess that what you mean is that "it tries to start" and then pops the breaker.

That being the case, either your motor or capacitor has failed, or more likely, your compressor isn't or hasn't unloaded last time it ran, and your motor is trying to start against the pressure trapped over the piston.

Go to the site map, and find the link to the unloader page for more details, and see if that is what your compressor is acting like.

Hey, thanks for visiting this site and for writing in.

Cheers,

Bill