Carette 4500 PSI Compressor Report

Much of the compressor power load is reactive. so, that calculation for watts doesn’t apply.
You can calculate VA as RMS voltage x RMS amperage. Wattage requires integration.

I didn’t calculate or report VA figures because I really just need the amperage to assess load on the circuit. We don’t want RMS amperage to get too high. We pay by wattage, but the circuit still has to handle VA (which is larger)

The wattage figures I am reporting are active power(real power) displayed on my AC power meter. The meter doesn’t display apparent power (VA). Only the real power (watts) flowing through the load does work, but the apparent power (VA) is going to be higher. The circuit needs to handle the entire apparent power (VA) even if real power (watts) is lower

For the purpose of sizing electrical breakers and wiring, the amperage reading from the meter is the important one. That more directly relates to the load (VA) seen by the wiring. The wattage relates more to how much you will be paying to run the load.

The meter panel I’m using is the same type I’ve been using for testing my Mrodair, Bauer Jr ii, and this Carette. https://www.amazon.com/bayite-BAYITE-PZEM-061-Multimeter-Voltmeter-Transformer/dp/B00YY1KOHA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1481097645&sr=8-4&keywords=ac+power+meter

This keeps all the measurements I’m reporting on all three compressors under the same methodology. The wattage figures are simply read from the meter, not VA calculated my myself from amperage and voltage. I’m most interested in the amperage, since that is the limit we will run up against on a home circuit.

At 4500 PSI…
VA was (118 volts x 14.5) or 1711 VA <— your wiring has to handle this much heating effect
Wattage at that time was 1089 watts <— you pay the electric company based on this.
Power factor was (1089/1711) or 0.6 <— power company gets upset and charges businesses extra if power factor gets too low.

Bottom, line is the Carette does not trip a 15 amp breaker even when running at full load. The amperage stays low enough to avoid tripping the breaker. If you are super conservative, you’ll keep continuous loads below 80% of rated circuit breaker amperage. On a 20 amp circuit, this compressor would easily stay below that 80% threshold. Personally, I would run this compressor on a 20 amp circuit for best safety.

The Mrodair Fumigator Extreme, by contrast, drew crazy amperage for use on a 20 amp circuit. It measured 26 amps even without even pressurizing! It really needed to be on a special 30 amp circuit to safely run at 120 volts. Not many of us have a 30 am RV circuit in our homes. Sure, you could use one leg of a 30 amp 220 volt dryer outlet, but I sure didn’t have one in my garage.

The Carette 4500 has a reasonable amperage draw for commonly available home wiring. I really like that in a consumer product.

My wife, who has been watching my progress through the various compressors, was commenting on her own that even the castings for the metal parts look much better than on the Mrodair. They aren’t even comparable if you see them both live. The familiar shape of the crankcase in the on line pictures and videos had me concerned, but in person these looks like prime parts instead of seconds.

The Bauer synthetic oil I used is already 40w. While it looks like a lot of oil in the condensate I caught i the tray, it really is a small amount for the run duration. The Carette’s separator + PMV + cool compressed seems to do a good job actually separating water and oil from the output air. Also, there isn’t the smell of thermal cracked oil. I don’t think this compressor is dieseling its high pressure cylinder.

I wouldn’t want to breath air from this compressor, but it’s definitely doing better than expected.

Crazy work schedule lately including nights. Sorry, for the wait.