One of the products they deliver is DEF or Diesel Exhaust Fluid used in modern diesel vehicles to keep soot down.
They have a pump which draws 14.5 amps so there maintenance man who looked at it and see it draws 14.5 amps would think OK I can plug it into a 15 amp electrical outlet and be OK
except when he does he keeps tripping the breaker . Thats when they called me in and I had to explain to him the idiocy of the NFPA and National Electrical code and show him where he was wrong
because 99% of the population who are not electricians would get it wrong as well Because when NFPA and UL sat down and designed 15 amp Outlets they designed those circuits to only be used at 80% of its rated name plate . so that means no more than 12 amps continuous can be drawn thru the outlet not the full 15 which is for short bursts when a motor starts up.
In realty this motor must be run on a 20 amp circuit using number 12#gauge wire instead of 14# guage which is used for 15 amps.
because of this confusion the NFPA and UL has blood on its hands by not fully explaining to the public that 15 amps from a receptacle can not be used continuously and it gets plenty of people killed yearly when they plug in electric space heaters.
So why all the confusion good question you would think when an organization publishes safety standards they would take into account the general public's safety and NFPA and UL have failed miserably doing so. Just Like with the new close your bedroom door which if you do not have daisy chained smokes will get you killed.
Of course NFPA and UL blows off the whole code thing with its for professionals to use and educate the public. Wrong you make the code you should be the one informing people.
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