Kitchen Breakers (In the US) are, by code, 20 ampere.
IF the kitchen breaker is within 6 feet of the sink, it is also a ground fault interrupter type, or is on a circuit protected by a ground fault interrupter breaker.
If you are using the mill in a garage or basement, it is also required to be on a GFI breaker or outlet.
As these breakers are pricey, and they can support up to 6 outlets, it is not uncommon (but not correct) for the kitchen and the garage outlet to be on the same GFI breaker. However, if that were the case, the mill would have gone out too. Current code requires (2) 20a dedicated circuits to provide the power to the kitchen only (less refrigerator, dishwasher and range). They shouldn't be connected to anything else. The dining room should get its own 20a dedicated outlet by code. (These amperage capacities sound way high to our European members, as we are on 115v instead of 220v).
It is a bit puzzling as to why the kitchen is tripping and not the mill, but ground loops are weird little critters. It would be my wild guess that the power panel may be wired so the GFI is connected to the neutral instead of the ground, and something in the mill electronics package is irritating it, or the garage outlet is homeowner installed and is not properly terminated at the power panel.
I would continue to look for other things/outlets that trip also, and see if anything else is connected. 99% of the time, a tripping GFI indicates a safety hazard that could be life threatening. The other 1% is that its wired wrong. You really want to define this for your family's safety (and yours).
Warren L
Hi folks. I have just joined this group my name is Dennis. I just purchased a Harbor Freight mini mill three days ago from Tried and True Tools in Fridley Minnesota. It is used but looks like new. I have used a mini lathe for a couple of years and thought it about time to get a mill too. I have a problem that seems unusual to me any way. I tried a few simple cuts the first two days while waiting for some tooling and accessories from Little Machine Shop to arrive and everything was fine. But today while running the mill a circuit breaker kept tripping. But not on the circuit that the mill is on but one of the kitchen circuits. The circuit in my shop that the mill was running on never tripped. I unplugged everything that was on the kitchen line except the refrigerator and the breaker tripped only when the mill was running. The mill has been unplugged now for several hours and the kitchen breaker has not tripped. Does anyone have any idea as to what might be happening?
Dennis
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