welder hook up 220/230?

ok i just bought a welder its a 230v 50 amp. my question is i have a oven for the kitchen on the garage wall. i think it may be 230v and its 50 amp. can i just pig tail of it a 10/2 wire drill a hole into the garage and put a 230 outlet in a box? any ideas or help would be great thanks

 

I bet if you run the welder and the oven at the same time you will blow a fuse.

 

Unfortunately, since the oven is more than half of the capacity of that circuit, it is not code compliant to add another receptacle.

 

And a number 10 wire is not enough for that machine. It needs a number 8 min.

 

well if im nut running the oven when im welding where would my problem be. and i think the current cable to it is a 10/2

 

If your wife will not be cooking while welding I would not worry about it. It should work fine until you get the $$$ to put it on its own circuit. Just remember to fix it if you move.

 

If your house burns down from this Non-Code Compliant installation, whom do you think the insurance company will blame?
Worse yet, could be the loss of a life.
Bottom line,if your gonna do it, do it right!!!!

 

why would it be wrong? thier is nothing that will be running well im doing it and if the oven does get turned on it wil just trip the breaker right its just like instead of running the oven ill run the welder then when i need the oven i whont run the welder. what is wrong with doing that?

 

If the existing 50A circuit is on #10 wire, what else is wrong with the installation. You are going to modify a faulty circuit to make it even more faulty. I think smarter folks than myself make the electric code, so I couldn't tell you exactly why (other than both devices being on accidently at the same time and purposfully causing an overload), but what you want to do is a violation.

 

There has been many fires because of a faulty breaker that didn't trip!

 

well tommrow im going to look for a way to wire it all the way from the box. 10/2 wire would be fine correct? some one said use 8 but i dont think thats needed correct?

 

NO, you need at LEAST a #8!!

 

#8 copper has a rating of 40A.

 

wht if i may ask becuase my current circut is running 10/2 on 50 amps is it new code or to just be safe?

 

Someone hooked it up wrong. 30 A max breaker on a 10 wire. The welding machine is slightly different and you are allowed to put a bit larger breaker on the wire for its dedicated use. Minimum number 8 (6 is even better) but that type of machine runs fine on 8. We use 8 cords for them all the time and I have measured the current on several and for normal use up to 1/8 electrodes they work well.

 

ok i will probley go with the 6 that way ill do it right all at one time. but my next question is does any one know where i can get 50 ft of the 6/2 wire for cheap. the hardwhare store guy said they have wire called 666 and its the same thing? and they want a $1 a foot? any one know of another place i could look or what other names it has for it? thanks

 

As Ron stated if you are using romex 8 is good for 40, if you are using thwn or thhn and piping it you can go to 8 for 50A, you could even go 2 8's and a 10 ground if you wanted and get that in a half inch pipe ok. As for finding cheap wire at that length it might be tuff to do,,, maybe look for drops at HD or Lowes.

 

Unfortunately sizing circuits for welders is tough if you don't have manuf instructions or nameplate information from the unit. Article 630 is very detailed as to the size of the wire needed and the associated circuit breaker.
Do you have information from either of the two?
I don't work with welders much, so my answers are directly out of the code book references.
and ... the amp rating of #8 awg does not change from cable (romex) to conductor in conduit. Still 40A.
For a welder, it is possible, depending on the ratings of the welder, that 40A wire maybe used on a 50A breaker.
Tell us the ratings on your welder.

 

lucky6man,
Home depot here in Spring lists the 6-2 w/grd Type NM @ 64 cents per foot. That comes to $32 + tax. They list #6 THHN @ 25 cents per foot and # 10 @ 15 cents per foot.The THHN would cost you 65 cents per foot for the wire + the pipe,couplings, connectors, bender if needed etc.etc. IMO your best best is the NM.


Ron,
Table 310.16 lists #8 @ 50 amps in the 75C column. For type NM,the 60C column is used and the rating would be 40 amps.

 

Donnie,
You are absolutely correct. But, it is unlikely (although not imposible) that the poster will know for sure that the terminations on each end of the wire will be rated for 75 degree. The code indicates for 100A and less, to use the 60 degree column, unless you know that the terminations are something else higher. So I would suggest #8 is good for 40A.

 

Thanks Ron for reminding me of 110.14

 

ok i found it at home depot the 6 that is for $60 for 125 maybe ill do that becuase i do not know exactley how much i will need. but any way i was looking at my AC wires that are 6 and they look the same as the ones at home depot except the ground on the wire at home depot is not as big s the one on the AC it looks like its a 8 or maybe 10 ground is that still alright? probley but just checking with you experts

 

I obviously hadnt considered the terminations and just took it from the 75 degree column. not that this matters but I have put amp probe on lots of welding machines of various types and the Lincoln tombstone types of both the AC and the AC/DC ones pull about 43 max using 1/8th lo-hi and that is about as much rod as they run well. In theory you can open them to the max but the electrode selection makes it impractical most of the time. The only time I have ever had one trip a breaker was using nickel and it must be the nature of the globular type transfer that must tend to short it out more and up the draw a little. It was actually at a lower current setting on the machine too.

 

bump

 

Lucky,

I noticed that you bumped this post. Can you summarize what your unanswered questions are?

If the only thing you're still missing is about the #6 conductors with #8 or #10 grounding conductor, then the answer is yes, that's okay.