Befuddled with electricity......

[John Hart]

I've been thinking about this all night. Please tell me again...What's wrong with Turning in the living room?

[Curt Harms]

I've been thinking about this all night. Please tell me again...What's wrong with Turning in the living room?

As long as your SWMBO doesn't acquire one of Ken's "Salmon Bonkers" and ignores the "Salmon" part

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Hey Curt! You just keeping making fun of my salmon bonkers! Someday I'll get skilled enough to get them down to toothpick size! Then we'll see who's laughing!

[Curt Harms]

Hey Curt! You just keeping making fun of my salmon bonkers! Someday I'll get skilled enough to get them down to toothpick size! Then we'll see who's laughing!

but whacha gonna bonk wit dat?

[Dave Mcintire]

The GFI breaker trips at typically somewhere around 4 milliamps GROUND current (not load current) - thats .004 amps. A non GFI breaker trips somewhere around its load current rating (printed on the breaker handle), supposedly a little above that after a certain amount of time. You can look up all the specs for the breakers and quantify that better, however, the cheap breakers for your house panel are very poorly calibrated so theres no use getting picky about when its supposed to trip. The non GFI breaker is actually intended to protect the wire - not the load or you. The GFI breaker is supposed to protect you somewhat (from ground faults) and the wire.
What everybody said about the GFI breaker being sensitive to variable speed drives is true as these drives produce a lot of harmonics that the breaker may see erroneously as ground current. Some GFIs are more sensitive than others and calibration on these may be suspect also (do you think Home Depot does calibration?). It may also just be bad.
The lathe you purchased new could have a defect allowing a few milliamps ground current and tripping the breaker, (remember its new - your the first person running it) or it could be some of the other causes discussed above. It takes only a few milliamps through your heart to produce electrocution. I'll look up the number if anyone wants to know. Wouldn't it be prudent to check the lathe out a little further before you rip out the GFI breaker or run it on a non GFI circuit?

Dave McIntire
Registered Professional Electrical Engineer - Virginia

[Barry Stratton]

Wow, this place never sleeps!!! More great advice.

I got ahold of a buddy of a buddy who is a licensed electric install type dude this morning. He suggested checking the lathe and exisiting garage wiring for any problems - takes a few minutes - although he doubts we will find any. Then we will install a new breaker in the box, hang some conduit, pull some wire, and install a big bank of new NON GFI plugs solely for the power tools/work lights in the 1/2 of the garage that I use as a shop. This is a great solution to me......

Evryone who replied and offered advice - THANKS!

And John - ain't nothing wrong with turning in the living room - just not an option in this house........

Ken - you just keep turning those salmon bonkers. I'm sure I can find a market for you up here if you want! Or, if you pay the freight, I could send you a frozen one or two to see if they'll hold up to use!