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View Full Version : Inadequate electrical in garage / shop?



Ben Glaser
03-09-2008, 12:18 PM
I just unpacked a Bosch 4410L saw and a Milwaukee cold cut saw. Both motor plates say they are 15 amp. Both blow my 20 amp breakers as soon as I try to start the motors. I had a licensed electrical contractor come in last year and run 220 to my garage and put in a sub panel with a 20 amp 110 circuit and a 60 amp 220 circuit. There's 4 recepts on the 110 circuit and the only thing I had running besides the saws was my radio. What do I need to do to get this aggravating problem rectified?

Jim O'Dell
03-09-2008, 1:59 PM
Take one of them to the house and plug in an outlet on the main breaker box wiring. See if they do the same thing there. If not, you may have a defective breaker in the shop. Or something wonky in the wiring, though that would be odd. If it still blows the breaker, :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused: !!! I could see one new tool being bad, but 2?? Is this on a a GFCI outlet by chance? Could it be wired wrong and cause this? I know when I was checking my shop wiring before it was hooked up to the grid, I took an extension cord from the house electrical and wired to the main breaker, and used a night light, and a continuity tester to check for problems. One outlet would immediately trip the breaker it was on in the house. Another location worked fine. I finally narrowed it down to the one that the breaker tripped on was a GFCI circuit, and I was testing a line with another GFCI outlet on it. Didn't like that at all. Not sure why. Jim.

Rob Russell
03-09-2008, 4:52 PM
... I had a licensed electrical contractor come in last year and run 220 to my garage and put in a sub panel with a 20 amp 110 circuit and a 60 amp 220 circuit.

FYI, if you really have a 60A/240v circuit, you can't have a bunch of smaller 240v receptacles on it. You can only use a 60A receptacle on it.

dave rollins
03-09-2008, 7:49 PM
Ben
I have had the same thing happen on two different panels. The saw was for cutting metal similar to a miter saw. The solution is to obtain some high magnetic breakers from your electrical supply house for your brand of panel. This cured the problem in both cases. Hope this helps.
Dave

Don Bullock
03-09-2008, 9:47 PM
...I had a licensed electrical contractor come in last year and run 220 to my garage and put in a sub panel ...

If you are having problems then get him over to check it out. That would be much better than having us speculate what's happening and since he did the work he should stand behind what he did.