Garage electrical question

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67Dart440GT

67Dart440GT

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Hey guys, I have a compressor that I am going to wire up. I just moved to a new garage and the original wiring I have is too short to hook up the compressor. I am running a 20amp breaker in a sub panel. I had #12 wire running it before and was wondering if #10 wire is ok on a 20amp breaker? Reason being I have a long enough section of #10 wire but it's suggested to use a 30 amp breaker with the #10 wire. Thanks!
 
If the compressor will start up with out throwing the 20 amp breaker you will be fine running #10 wire to it...:thumrigh:
 
67Dart440GT said:
Hey guys, I have a compressor that I am going to wire up. I just moved to a new garage and the original wiring I have is too short to hook up the compressor. I am running a 20amp breaker in a sub panel. I had #12 wire running it before and was wondering if #10 wire is ok on a 20amp breaker? Reason being I have a long enough section of #10 wire but it's suggested to use a 30 amp breaker with the #10 wire. Thanks!
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12 gauge is for 20 amp, 10 gauge is for 30 amp

Unless you have to run a very long run 12 is OK.

If you already have 10 gauge and don't think you need it for something that needs 30 amp, use it. OK to go over on wire size, just don't go smaller than recommended.

The new compressor I installed showed it needed a 30 amp circuit. The olf compressor only needed 20 amp, I thought I would try using it. It has been several years and has never tripped the breaker. i do not leave it on when I'm not needing it
 
The breaker is sized to protect the wire. If you are running a heavier wire it will not effect the breakers ability to break at the proper current. It is good to look a the required amps of the device to see how big a breaker is needed and remember that a breaker should/will trip at 80% of its rating. So a 20 amp should/will trip at 16 amps. Cheers
 
Thanks everyone. I do have a long section of 10 wire is why I was wondering. Just trying to save some cash and not go buy another long run of 12. I have always used the 20amp breaker on the compressor and it works good. Thanks again for the help :)
 
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