bindian
Super Member
Brandi, the size of fuse is more often controlled by the gage of the wire leaving the fuse box, going to the receptacle. 15 amps is the normal size for a 14 gage wire. 20 amp is normal for a 12 gage wire. Protection for individual loads is normally done by a circuit breaker installed in the load circuits. So, your pump would work fine with the 14 ga/15 amp feed wire and it should have an internal breaker or motor overload protection built in.
How do you plan on controlling the pump? Are you plannng to use the breaker as a switch or put in a dedicated switch and/or receptacle? I recommend a motor control switch rather than a normal light switch. A circuit breaker is not a good choice for a switch because they are not designed to be switched off/on on a regular basis. A light switch may fail often due to the inductive load of the pump's motor. The best circuit would be to put in a motor control switch and a GFCI receptacle at the location of your hookup.
EDIT: If your pump has a built-in switch, all you need is a GFCI receptacle, of course.![]()
Thanks Jim. I have decided to move it out of the barn as it makes too much noise mounted on the barn wall. I will move it out to the pond dam bulkhead. I will make a fake rock out of chicken wire and mortar mix and bury the power wire to the house. I will research a motor on/off switch.
The wire I am going to use is 10 gauge wire that was used as temp wire to power my air compressor until I could put in the permanent 2 gauge wire. I buried 2 gauge for welders out in the barn. So the wire is way overkill for the vacuum pump/air compressor, which is why I wanted a lower rated breaker.
Oh yeah...I need to go get more white rocks from Welding Is Fun's place. A fake rock costs around $80. So I plan on making a fake rock for the pump from this link... How to Make Fake Rocks | eHow.com
hugs,. Brandi