Electrical Question ties into Polishing

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PAR Detailing

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Ok so here is the background to my question. In my garage I have several outlets but sometimes I can feel my polisher not working at its optimal level. It is like for a period of time it is not getting enough power so it is weak and then it will get a surge of power and run at normal speed. I also just did a mobile job at a huge industrial wearhouse and my buffer was running like a champ. My G110 was unstoppable and now that I am back in my garage it is pretty wimpy. This is a pretty new as I dont recall having this issue in the past. I know a new fridge was put in the garage but I also tried using outlets from all over the house and running extension cords (heavy duty ones) to the garage. I am at al loss.

Does anyone know what is going on?

Is it fixable as a DIY? or do I need an electrician?

Thanks
Jon
 
Sounds like you do not have enough service/amps to your garage...does it eventually blow a breaker if you continue to use your equipment?
 
your not getting the wright amps to your buffer at times when you slow down its a power surge. change the braker to a higher amp or unplug the fridge when buffing. more amps to the house from the pole will fix it also but thats about 3,000 to do it
 
Do you have a DVM (Digital Multi-Meter) ? it sounds like it may be an issue with your main comming into the house. You need to check and see what the voltage is at a receptical. Many modern electronics have regulated power supplies that can work on less then ideal voltages and preform fine. Electric motors on the other hand are dependent on voltage and amps available.

It could be as simple as one leg on your main breaker being stuck or week. You would need to verify this by checking a 220V outlet and make sure you are getting 120V on both terminals.

Start with this... what is the AMPS listed on the panel in the garage, the main breaker. That will give you a good idea on what you have available.

Watts / Volts = Amps


Calculate what your equipment is pulling as far as Amps and see if you are overloading the panel.
 
Pretty hard to tell over the internet, but the first step IMO would be to check the voltage at your outlets. You can also check if the voltage sags when you turn on your tool.

If you go to Newegg you can get a Kill-A-Watt meter for $25 that will show you real-time voltage and is useful for other things, as well.
 
master detailer said:
change the braker to a higher amp
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NO!

You absolutely DO NOT want to simply change out a breaker to a higher amperage. If you've got a 15A circuit it's most likely wired with 14/2 wire; you cannot safely or legally run 14/2 wire for a 20A circuit. If you want to upgrade to 20A service you will also need to change it out with 12/2 wire.
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
NO!

You absolutely DO NOT want to simply change out a breaker to a higher amperage. If you've got a 15A circuit it's most likely wired with 14/2 wire; you cannot safely or legally run 14/2 wire for a 20A circuit. If you want to upgrade to 20A service you will also need to change it out with 12/2 wire.
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:iagree:with Charlie Here!

Jon I would talk to a electrician,maybe if you have room in the panel you can add a new breaker and a dedicated outlet for the polisher.a 20 amp circuit should be enough. Just my.02
 
Iput a 50 amp breaker in for a 40 amp breaker 5 yrs ago in my shop and has been just fine .NO its not what some will say but mine is just fine deside for your self .you need the wright amps to run the buffer and if your runing to many things at one time then how will you be over heating any thing if the amps are not there to start with.
 
master detailer said:
Iput a 50 amp breaker in for a 40 amp breaker 5 yrs ago in my shop and has been just fine .NO its not what some will say but mine is just fine deside for your self .you need the wright amps to run the buffer and if your runing to many things at one time then how will you be over heating any thing if the amps are not there to start with.
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I am speechless from the ignorance in this post.
 
master detailer said:
Iput a 50 amp breaker in for a 40 amp breaker 5 yrs ago in my shop and has been just fine .NO its not what some will say but mine is just fine deside for your self .you need the wright amps to run the buffer and if your runing to many things at one time then how will you be over heating any thing if the amps are not there to start with.
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:nomore:

You're right about one thing: it's not what some will say. Namely the National Electric Code, and your insurance company should you have a fire that gets traced back to insufficient wiring for the circuit that you installed or otherwise altered yourself.

I've done a lot of electrical work myself around the house, but NEVER have I done it without a licensed electrician inspecting and signing off on it to be sure I'm squared away.

Not sure I understand your statement about "how will you be over heating any thing if the amps are not there to start with." -- if you change out the breaker what you're doing is allowing a higher load to go through a given run of wire before it trips the circuit. This = more heat and if the wiring isn't designed or capable of sustaining that amount of heat over a period of time, it could ignite.

The breaker isn't just there to supply you with the number of amps you want, it's there to keep you safe from overloading your wiring. You may very well be able to get lucky and not run into problems, but is it really worth the risk of loss if you do?
 
master detailer said:
you need the wright amps to run the buffer and if your runing to many things at one time then how will you be over heating any thing if the amps are not there to start with.
Click to expand...

Maybe he is referring to the fact that with two little voltage the equipment will draw more amps?

The basic idea here is that the higher the voltage supplied to a piece of equipment the lower the amp requirement is to do the same amount of work.

To show how this theory works you just have to do the math...

840watts / 120Volts = 6.1 Amps
840watts / 220Volts = 3.8 Amps

I guess I am just rambling on here. Call an electrician if you are not familiar with AC wiring.
 
Thanks for all of the responses guys, this seems like its a little over my head so I think I am best to call an electrician and let him look at it. I love projects but I am not familiar with anything involving electrical stuff so I think I would be in over my head.
 
If you have variable power (works fine sometimes), you may have a connection problem somewhere the breaker box and the outlet in use. Outlets are daisy changed as the run through the wall there may be many connections in each outlet box so you will have the chase the wire back from the outlet and guess where it goes. It often means cutting off power to outlets by the breaker and see what is affected since it may not be wired efficiently.

You could have loads on the circuit that you may not know about (like a refrigerator, pump, etc) that may cause the line voltage to sag too and a connection problem will make the above worse.
 
master detailer said:
Iput a 50 amp breaker in for a 40 amp breaker 5 yrs ago in my shop and has been just fine .NO its not what some will say but mine is just fine deside for your self .you need the wright amps to run the buffer and if your runing to many things at one time then how will you be over heating any thing if the amps are not there to start with.
Click to expand...

Electrical systems do not put out amps (current). They put out voltage. Amperage is the amount of current drawn by the device using the electricity. Wires are sized according to their rated current draw. If you up size a breaker on a smaller wire you will allow the wire to carry more current then it is rated at causing it to heat and possibly start a fire. If Jon is not tripping breakers then he has not exceeded the rated current for that circuit so putting in a bigger breaker will not give him any more current or voltage.
I'm not sure what your problem is Jon but it could be the new freezer is causing a voltage drop in the circuit, especially whenever the compressor on the freezer starts up. An electric motor (compressor) will drawn more current during start up than when it is running thus causing a voltage drop in the circuit at start up. I think your best bet is to have a dedicated 20 Amp circuit (only one outlet) installed using 12 gauge wire and use a 12 gauge extension cord for your polisher. I don't know how old your house is but your refrigerator and washing machine should be on dedicated 20 Amp circuits. You could try to plug your polisher into one of those with nothing else plugged in and see how it works there.
 
I would check your circuit breaker panel when you are running your polisher to see if any breakers are getting warm. It could also be that your breaker is going bad and needs to be replaced. I have seen that happen to a friend of mine's home.
 
S2K said:
Electrical systems do not put out amps (current). They put out voltage. Amperage is the amount of current drawn by the device using the electricity. Wires are sized according to their rated current draw. If you up size a breaker on a smaller wire you will allow the wire to carry more current then it is rated at causing it to heat and possibly start a fire. If Jon is not tripping breakers then he has not exceeded the rated current for that circuit so putting in a bigger breaker will not give him any more current or voltage.
I'm not sure what your problem is Jon but it could be the new freezer is causing a voltage drop in the circuit, especially whenever the compressor on the freezer starts up. An electric motor (compressor) will drawn more current during start up than when it is running thus causing a voltage drop in the circuit at start up. I think your best bet is to have a dedicated 20 Amp circuit (only one outlet) installed using 12 gauge wire and use a 12 gauge extension cord for your polisher. I don't know how old your house is but your refrigerator and washing machine should be on dedicated 20 Amp circuits. You could try to plug your polisher into one of those with nothing else plugged in and see how it works there.
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:iagree:Being a licensed electrical contractor this is the best and most correct answer.
1-Could be voltage drop caused by other appliances if on the same circuit,turn off the circuit that you usually plug your polisher into and see what else goes off,then unplug those appliances and try polisher again.

2-Alot of electricians would back wire or speed wire the outlets,meaning they would strip the wire a 1/4 inch and insert it into the holes on the back of the outlet(lousy connection)and over time from plugging/unplugging the connection becomes erratic.All outlets in a garage should be a GFI protected either by a GFI outlet or breaker.If you replace an outlet wrap the wires around the appropriate screw which is an excellent connection and why the ground wire always has a screw and can't be speed wired.

3-The washer outlet should be a dedicated 20amp circuit and a great place to test the polisher.

Ken
 
WEST SIDE said:
2-Alot of electricians would back wire or speed wire the outlets,meaning they would strip the wire a 1/4 inch and insert it into the holes on the back of the outlet(lousy connection)and over time from plugging/unplugging the connection becomes erratic.All outlets in a garage should be a GFI protected either by a GFI outlet or breaker.If you replace an outlet wrap the wires around the appropriate screw which is an excellent connection and why the ground wire always has a screw and can't be speed wired. Ken
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:iagree: You beat me to that one Ken.

Bill
 
jpegs13 said:
:nomore: I'm sure he was just trying to be helpful.
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Being helpful is one thing, telling the OP to do something fundamentally incorrect, dangerous and against code is not helpful, it is malicious and irresponsible.
 
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