Ek's Home   |   Forum   |   Chat   |   Electrical Links   |  





Subject - not enough power?!?
mugsy84123 Hello

This seems more like an industry forum so forgive me if I am intruding but I have a problem with a treadmill I just bought. Here are the details.
I live in a condo on the 3rd floor. The wiring seems to really suck here. To give you and idea - I have a microwave and a toaster oven in the kitchen and I cannot run both of them at the same time. Maybe this is normal but I have never lived in a place that tripped circuits like this one.
Anyway, after about 5 mins of use the treadmill trips its own built in 15A breaker. After a few minutes I can reset it and it seems fine. Most of the apartment is on 20A in the panel there are 1 or 2 15A breakers. I dont think it is on the 15A if it matters.
My question is why is it doing this and how can I fix it safely? Or am I SOL and this condo sucks?
mugsy84123 I am not asking for how to fix this myself. I dont like messing with electricity. I am a computer geek! I just want to know why it is doing this and what to ask an electrician to do to fix it.
JimmyDee Your tread mill has a 1.5-2hp DC motor on it which draws probably close to an entire 15 amp circuit. Anything else on that line will trip the breaker.
Jim
mugsy84123 Ya thats what I figured. But it is tripping the breaker on the unit itself not the one in the panel. Is this because its not getting enough power?
lctrc789 Try to plug the tread mill in to another recpt. and let it run and see if it does the same thing. If it does it could be the treadmill has a problem or you could be right lower voltage (a loose connection or poor voltage) can cause the amperage to the unit to go up and cause this problem.
As far as the micro wave and toaster this is not unusual in older homes that were not wired for these newer appliances.
Let us know how you come out, if the problem persists call the land lord and have them to send some one to check this out and see what the problem is.
Good luck.