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Electrical Systems Inspector
- Location
- Spotsylvania,Virginia
- Occupation
- Electrical Systems Inspector
The other day I was asked to look at an air compressor, some other people in my shop are tasked with doing PM's on this compressor. I was told that the motor starter was stuck and could not be manually operated. The air compressor, located at the back wall is a 60 gal stand-up, 480v 3p, is in a small room 8 to 10 foot deep by 5 to 6 foot wide, also in this room along the left wall is the main water line and back-flow preventer. The back-flow preventer was not working properly and draining water on the floor. There is a drain in the middle of the floor but, for some reason the water is not going to the drain(obviously the drain is higher than the rest of the floor) but going to where the compressor is sitting and under the wall into the building. I turned off the disconnect and removed the cover from the motor starter, there was a 3 pole definite purpose contactor with a 208-230v coil, one side of the coil went to the equipment ground and the other side was connected to the pressure switch which was connected to "A" phase. The coil had burnt up as one may have expected, I know who the person is that did this, and this is not the first time that he has done something similar to this. I have brought this to the attention of my supervisor in the past and this most recent situation. In the past I have told him how dangerous it is to use the equipment ground as a neutral, his reply "well it worked didn't it!".