An airless paint sprayer that rattles loudly and doesn't suck up any water is bad enough. When it decides to trip the GFCI too, I figure something needs replacement instead of cleaning/ oil/ solder, and the cost is probably worse than a new machine.
Trying to find parts for older hardware isn't trivial...
On sleeping on it, I think when I receive or buy something I feel like I'm taking responsibility for it somehow, and trashing something useful violates that responsibility.
3 comments:
Was it a GFCI, or was it an AFCI that tripped?
If it's one of the airless sprayers that came with warnings not to use it with volatile thinners and oil-based paints, then it probably had a brushed motor prone to arcing. Such arcing in motors of small appliances used to not bother us, but there's no-way for the AFCI breaker/outlet to distinguish between such arcing and an 'arc fault' from a dangerous loose connection in the wiring.
AFCI protection started becoming common in homes built/renovated this century, (1999 revision to the National Electric Code in the US, typically adopted by states as law 3 to 8 years later, so the mandate applies to stuff built/renovated since but usually not older places). More recent AFCI protection devices have fewer nuisance trips than the older circa-2002 ones.
Anyway, the workaround could be as simple as using an unprotected outlet for the sprayer. Not a good idea if it is really a ground-fault tripping a GFCI, but fine for motor arcing nuisance AFCI trips on seldom used appliances.
Douglas2
I hadn't thought of that. The deck was replaced early this century, so the outlet might be an AFCI. Thanks! If it doesn't trip when run in the bathroom (GFCI), then it may be just a bad valve spring I could kludge a repair for. (Parts? what are those?)
On a deck, the outlet is probably a GFCI. Outdoor outlets are one of the longstanding GFCI-required locations, and one of the few where AFCI has not (yet) been required.
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