# Help!!!! New compressor drawing way to many amps



## Sean Donovan (Nov 23, 2019)

Hi everyone, I recently purchased a world aire 10hp 120 gallon 2 stage compressor, when I looked at the compressor it would only buzz when turned on so having fixed a few of these issue I knew it was a capacitor issue. I got the compressor home changed out all 4 capacitors and was in business (or so I thought). Upon startup the compressor is drawing far too many amps. The compressor has a Baldor motor that is rated at 39 running amps, during normal running it’s is drawing between 45 and 50 amps during start up it is drawing between 320 and 370 amps depending on cut in pressure. My shop currently has a15 kva transformer on the pole with a 1/0 drop 75 feet to the building, from the breaker panel I have 60 ft of 6 awg wire and a 60 amp breaker. I have checked the unloader valve and it works perfect. I have spoken to a couple motor shops and they think it’s a voltage issue and when I speak to the power company they think it’s a motor issue. Do any of you know if anything internally in that motor can cause it to draw way too many amps on start up PLEASE HELP!!!


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## backwoodsman (Aug 29, 2016)

Sean Donovan said:


> My shop currently has a15 kva transformer on the pole with a 1/0 drop 75 feet to the building, from the breaker panel I have 60 ft of 6 awg wire and a 60 amp breaker. ... I have spoken to a couple motor shops and they think it’s a voltage issue


That 1/0 might be OK if there's very little else drawing current, but the 6 awg seems way too small, which will give you a big voltage drop under load. At a given wattage, if volts go down, amps have to go up.

So the motor guys are probably right. What's the voltage at the motor while it's running? It's probably around 200 or less to get the amps you're seeing.

If you Google something like 'wire gauge amps feet' you'll find charts that tell you how far you can go with what size wire at what current.


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## Sean Donovan (Nov 23, 2019)

As far as voltages go, I have 245 at the motor without it running upon startup it drops to around 180 and under normal running conditions it is around 220


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## backwoodsman (Aug 29, 2016)

Sean Donovan said:


> As far as voltages go, I have 245 at the motor without it running upon startup it drops to around 180 and under normal running conditions it is around 220


That's a bit higher than I would've thought, but I think that's your problem. If you measure the voltage at the other end of the 6ga wire while it's running, you'll see how much voltage you're losing in the wire.


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## stevon (Mar 5, 2019)

Sean,

It sounds like you have a bad/corroded connection. 6 gauge copper wire is rated up to 55 amps. Are you running aluminum wire anywhere in this circuit?

Stephen


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## stevon (Mar 5, 2019)

Sean,

It sounds like you have a bad/corroded connection. 6 gauge copper wire is rated up to 55 amps. Are you running aluminum wire anywhere in this circuit?

Stephen


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