Br4nd0n
Member
- Location
- Indianapolis, IN, USA
When providing power to a receptacle for a piece of equipment that a customer has electrically hacked up over time, would my responsibility typically stop at the receptacle? Or would I also be responsible for the equipment that the customer is plugging in? They claim it's worked fine for 15+ years.
My customer has a couple of lathes that they are relocating. These things are in major need of help.
Nameplate shows (from memory) 1.5HP; 115V/~22A; 240/~11A; 1 phase
These lathes have 125V/15A cord-cap plugs on them and have been plugged into a general purpose 120V/20A circuit for years. In the small control cabinet, the controls have all been bypassed at some point and the motor is simply controlled by a toggle switch directly... no overloads even exist. The motor doesn't appear to be thermally protected. So there's a flex cord from a plug to a switch, from the switch to the small cabinet which is jointed to a third cord directly to the motor. One of these flex cords is only 14 awg!!!
I have not brought this to the customer's attention yet, but need to make a decision tomorrow. I know this is wrong and that the machine needs to be rebuilt entirely with properly sized flexible cords, proper plug, probably an overload relay, etc... but under this time crunch, is the equipment my responsibility? In the long term, I will rebuild it if they'd like! But they are trying to be running by Monday and I have PLENTY of other things to do and don't have time to rebuild equipment at the moment. They say it's worked fine for 15 years. Do I just provide a 20A circuit with 15A duplex, as it's always been, and call it good? Just looking for opinions. Thanks! I can provide pictures if anyone's interested.
My customer has a couple of lathes that they are relocating. These things are in major need of help.
Nameplate shows (from memory) 1.5HP; 115V/~22A; 240/~11A; 1 phase
These lathes have 125V/15A cord-cap plugs on them and have been plugged into a general purpose 120V/20A circuit for years. In the small control cabinet, the controls have all been bypassed at some point and the motor is simply controlled by a toggle switch directly... no overloads even exist. The motor doesn't appear to be thermally protected. So there's a flex cord from a plug to a switch, from the switch to the small cabinet which is jointed to a third cord directly to the motor. One of these flex cords is only 14 awg!!!
I have not brought this to the customer's attention yet, but need to make a decision tomorrow. I know this is wrong and that the machine needs to be rebuilt entirely with properly sized flexible cords, proper plug, probably an overload relay, etc... but under this time crunch, is the equipment my responsibility? In the long term, I will rebuild it if they'd like! But they are trying to be running by Monday and I have PLENTY of other things to do and don't have time to rebuild equipment at the moment. They say it's worked fine for 15 years. Do I just provide a 20A circuit with 15A duplex, as it's always been, and call it good? Just looking for opinions. Thanks! I can provide pictures if anyone's interested.
