Please see http://www.harborfreight.com/lawn-garden/power-tools/2-1-2-half-hp-chipper-shredder-66910.html.
This chipper is rated at 15A and provided with a AWG#12 cord with a parallel blade attachment plug cap.
If I understand NEC 430.22 (and the associated Table 430.248)correctly a 2 1/2 HP motor needs to be provided with conductors rated at least 29A (interpolating between the 2 HP and 3 HP values in the Table).
How can the chipper be rated both 15A as well as 2 1/2 HP even for intermittent use? I thought the use of the table was mandatory to determine full load curent.
There is also an another specification for 40A maximum. Presumably, this is the motor start-up maximum and is intended to define the OCPD. But how can a 40A OCPD be used for a general purpose AWG #12 conductor branch circuit with general purpose receptacles?
There are no indications that the product has UL Listing or equivalent.
Am I justified in getting an uncomfortable feeling that this appliance and recommended use does not comply with the NEC?
Thanks for your help.
Heinz R.

Ignore the big "2 1/2 HorsePower" on the side of the unit. If you look at the motor nameplate you will probably see something like the 15 amp nameplate and the horsepower will be "SPECIAL" You mentioned the 'intermittant duty'; They are saying that the motor can produce 2 1/2 HP for some brief matter of seconds to cut a big log. The air compressors are the same way. "Produces air equivalent to a previously rated 5 hp compressor" or some such.
It is like the rating on amusic amplifiers. There is RMS power- maybe 100 watts. There is "Peak Power" of say, 200 watts. There is "Instantaneous peak music power" of maybe 400 watts. All from the same amplifier.
Try putting your 400 HP car motor in a tractor trailer that has a 400 hp motor and you will see that not all horses are the same size!
If it has a 15 amp cord, it should run and perform on a 15 amp circuit.
If it is not listed, and many of the items sold in 'bargain barns' of this type are not, it may not perform on a 15-20 amp circuit.

I agree. That 2.5HP is probably computed on LRA or something.

You also can't believe those ratings on hair dryers.
http://gfretwell.com/electrical/1875w%20hair%20dryer.jpg

Simply put, they lie.

As an aside Campbell Hausfeld (and the other companies under that wing) paid out a big settlement several years ago about compressor labels.

There is one looking for victims on lawn mowers as we speak.
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/lawnmower-class-action.html

yea, they all do that.
Especially on consumer equipment.
You will see statements they develop up to xx hp when you read the manual.
Craftsman is notorious for that statement.

For instance I have a air compressor in my shop.
The big decal states 5.5 hp
But it has a 120volt ge motor.
The actual label on the motor is blank on the hp. But the amps rating is 15 amps.
So how does a motor rated at 15amps 120 volts get to 5.5 hp?????

Go figure.

I have one like that too. The motor runs at a bell curve peaking around 13.5a at around 90 PSI.
You were certainly in the class to get a free (or discounted) tool from the manufacturer if you knew about it. I got an air nibbler for about half price because I didn't want any of the "free" ones.

Darn missed out.

Thanks for the info, folks. I suspected that something didn't add up.
But how about the 40A max. spec.? By the way, this product belongs to a neighbor, who called me in when he started blowing 20A fuses (yeah, it's an old house) and was told by the mfg. that he should install 30A fuses. In my mind, that's a definite no, no! I think that the motor would have tripped even an inverse-time 20A CB on start-up. How in h**l can they sell a cord connected product with a 15 or 20A plug and then require a 30A fuse for the product to operate properly? Maybe that's why it doesn't have a UL Listing.