Electronics > Beginners

Running 120v Mig Welder on 220v Outlet

<< < (8/8)

james_s:

--- Quote from: Jester on April 02, 2023, 04:12:34 pm ---
--- Quote from: Stray Electron on April 01, 2023, 11:26:48 pm ---

   I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you want to weld, get a 220 VAC welder and run it on a 220 VAC 50 amps circuit (minimum). 110 VAC welders are nothing but toys.
--- End quote ---

I'm going to disagree with this statement. Sure if your a welding shop. For home use my Hobart MIG 240V on 30A circuit deals with everything I throw at it and has for years. Never tripped the breaker.

--- End quote ---

I also use a MIG welder on 240V 30A and it's fine, but I agree that 120V is insufficient, at least it is if it's only a 20A circuit. I used to have a stick welder that was dual voltage and on 120V it could only weld thin materials using those piddly little scrawny rods, it was an exercise in patience too, stick welding is tricky enough as it is, but it gets more difficult to strike and maintain an arc at lower currents.

james_s:

--- Quote from: electromateria on April 02, 2023, 04:57:38 pm ---Standard 10/3 in the walls, similar to whats in the images.

Thinking logically here, if my mig welder pulls MAX 25 amps @ 120v (says 20-25amps) and my dryer can pull closer to 30 amps @ 240v, how is it that my welder is a concern based on the size of the neutral wire? If the dryer doesn't burn the house down how's the welder going to when it's drawing even less power? I'm not understanding the point of concern from that angle.

--- End quote ---

It's not. People are getting confused because there are situations where the neutral can be smaller than the live conductors, this is not one of those situations.

There has also been some confusion around the unusual nature of the 240V split phase topology used in North American homes. You cannot put both hots in parallel, draw double the current and overload the neutral because the hots are 180 degrees out of phase. If you load up both hots the load cancels out, the neutral carries ONLY any unbalanced load that is present.

Just use it, it's fine, you can pull 30A at 120V by using one hot wire and the neutral. Do not do this if you have one of the old 3 prong dryer sockets where there is no neutral, only two hots and ground. It will work, but it's not safe.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page