I have a craftsman air compressor #919.165030 it will trip the breaker every time I plug it in. Whats wrong with it?

SOURCE: Air compressor trips breaker

check the ground wire most common mistake

SOURCE: air compressor flips breaker before it will start?

Air compressors tend to draw more power as they age, however, will not trip breaker unless some malfunction. Here are some simple tests. Unplug compressor and turn the pump by hand, you may have to remove a cover to do this. It should turn freely; any resistance could be failing bearing (would make noise) unloader/check valve leaking allowing back pressure to pump, or failed start capacitor/start winding. Easy test for checkvalve. With pressure in tank loosen discharge hose at tank and check for air leak. Check valve should hold pressure in tank. Replace as needed. Failed capacitor/s will cause high amp draw. Remove from circuit and test. UF reading should be within 95% of printed rating. Finally, most air compressor motors have two windings, start and run. Power to windings is controlled by flyball switch inside rear of motor. This switch has contacts that can stick in start position and cause high amp draw. Examine windings for signs of overheating. Copper windings generally have color of new penny. Very dark brown windings bad news. Gook luck

SOURCE: Electric Air compressor just hums then trips breaker.

usally there is a releaf valve that takes the pressure off the compressor while it is resting. If that pressure is not off when the drive piston starts the motor will overload and blow the the breaker or reset. Check for a releaf valve for when the unit has reached full pressure

SOURCE: Compressor causes 20 amp breaker to trip.

If I did the math correctly, 5.5 HP is right at the boarderline of 20 amps, particularly for an older machine that has some deteriorating electronics.

What to do? Can you reconfig the motor to run on 220 Volts??? It would then run on 1/2 the amps.

If you have a dedicated 120 line for this compressor now ... all you have to do to change that to 220 is change the breaker (I presume you have a vacant slot to do this). Find the "neutral" for that wire (white) ane make it the "red" for your compressor line ... (and mark it as such for your future behefit) change the outlet from 110 V 20 A to 220 V 20 A. Both lines will run on #12 with G wire.

If you dont have a slot, you could change one of your standard slots to a "piggy back" remodeling style breaker (has two breakers in one slot). This will free up one slot in your panel for the new 220 (double pole) breaker.

Let me know what you think

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SOURCE: Trips motor circuit breaker at start up (zero air

Most likely the start capacitor is defective or the motor has internal problems. would advise having it checked at a motor repair shop.

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