Welder not working. no ground? quickwire setup?

for xmass one year i got a Chicago 220v 90amp mig welder.
220v 25amp breaker minimum.
wires: black, red, green.

I plugged it in to my 220v 30 amp dry recepticle and the light came on but nothing else happened. I think because the wiring for the dryer is red black white and there is no ground bar in the Breaker box.

is that the issue and can a ground bar be added?

 

can I hook up the 2 hotwires to the recepticle and push the ground wire on the welder in to the ground?

 

 

No ground or neutral are needed for a 240 volt device to function*. You only need two 240 volt hots. The red and black are the two wires you need to run the welder. The white** is not used. If it is the main panel (first OCPD) it usually won't.

Your problem is definitely not a ground problem. It is probably how you wired the plug. The welder should be connected only to the brass screws of the plug. I would not use the dryer receptacle because there is no safe way to connect the ground.

*Ground is only for safety and only carries current in case of fault.
** White is a combined neutral ground on a 3-wire dryer circuit.

 

What else do you expect to happen? Is the welder set up correctly? Do you have the wire in the MIG gun? Do you have your ground clamp attached to your work? Is the work clean?

 

Chicago welder, isn't that a Harbor Freight brand? I wouldn't jump to conclusions on the wiring without first verifying the welder even works.

 

Are you certain your welder is a 240 volt model? The only Chicago Electric 90 amp mig welder I see on the Harbor Freight website is 120 volts.

 

Yeah, Pilot Dane is right, I have one of those. Model #68887 is a 120V flux wire welder. Should be plugged directly into a dedicated 20 Amp 120V circuit for best results.

 

I am not doubting anyone, but the OP said he has:

That doesn't sound like wiring to a 120 volt welder.

 

I copied this from the owners manual so yes its 220v (240)

PRODUCTSPECIFICATIONS
Welding Current 30 ~ 110 Amps
Duty Cycle 15% @ 110 Amps / 100% @ 30 Amps
(Refer to chart and explanation on page 18)
Power Consumption 220 Volt / 60 Hz / Single Phase / 24.5 Amps
(Should be connected to a 25 Amp minimum dedicated circuit)
Open Circuit Voltage 40 Volts Maximum
Required Power Plug Type 3-Prong, 220 VAC, polarized, twist lock (not included)
NEMA#L6-30 or equivalent
Power Cord Rating 14 AWG x 3C x 6’Long
Gas Inlet Size 1
/
4
”
Cables Ground: 6 Gauge, 6’.................Torch: 8 Gauge, 6’
Welding Wire Size 0.23” to 0.035”
Wire Spool Size 4” Diameter
Included Torch Tip Size 0.030”
Accessories Wire Spool / Cylinder Strap / Wire Brush & Hammer /
Spare .8mm & 1.0mm Welding Tips / Hand-Held Face Shield
Net Weight 53.5 Pounds
Revise to: “ .6mm & .9mm”

 

So what should I do to get this thing running?
I cannot hire some one so dont metion that please. unless you want to pay for it.

 

Time to get out your volt meter, open it up and start testing for what's wrong. I'd start at the power cord coming in and check for continuity and follow the power through the unit looking for anything blown.

 

I was looking this over and I'm not sure where we left off.
You plugged the unit in and a light on it turned on......correct ?
Which means you've installed a plug on the cord with a matching receptacle ?
Do you have a volt/ohmmeter ?

 

Did it look bright or dim. The light would probably be 240 but if you were getting only 120 it might work but be dim.

Is the drier receptacle 3 slot or 4 slot?

 

So I dont use ground or what?

 

my volt meter only goes to 50v but i can barrow one. as for the light being bright or dim. It was bright enough to see in the sun.
3 slot.

 

You will need to connect the welder to the house with three wires. Two hot wires like red and black. Then you'll need to connect the green ground wire. The welder will run with or without the ground wire. It does not need the ground to operate. The ground wire is used in case something shorts inside the welder and touches the case.


Actually.....on edit. I'll correct myself. That welder may require the green wire to be connected as it may have 110v control circuits in it.

 

Has the welder ever worked or has this been your first time trying it?

 

You should be connecting to two hots and a ground. Assuming you changed the plug on your welder to get it to mate into the dryer receptacle, how did you wire it?

What are the ground wires terminated to?

Are you talking about your main panel?

 

I'm pretty sure PJ meant neutral but since a 240 volt device such as a welder rarely uses a neutral I'm not sure that would be true.

Can you give us a model number or better yet link to an on line manual for it?

 

I updated my previous post but this is a mig welder I believe so it has a variable speed control board for wire feed and possible shielding gas valve control functions. Those devices may run on 120v. not 240v. Just a guess as I haven't seen nor can I find any wiring info on it.

 

That's a good point except, the OP posted information on the welder that stated it was 240 volt and not 120/240 volt.

The OP also stated the wires in the welder to be connected were black, red and green. That would be indicative of a 240 volt appliance.

Has this welder ever worked before?

 

Good point Joe but when you buy an electric dryer it says it requires 240volt, nothing about 120/240 but we know that it actually requires 120/240. Heating element is 240v and the rest including the controls are 120v. See my point ?

 

Yep, I do see your point, but it's not that often I have noticed voltage required for an appliance that needs 120/240 volts to be listed just as 240 volts. I have seen voltage listed that way before though, just not very often. The only common appiances I can think of needing a 4 wire connection would be both electric dryers and ranges; I have never seen a welder that needed a 4 wire connection (2 hots, 1 neutral and 1 ground). This welder only has 3 wires and one of them is green; that to me indicates ground and not neutral and shared neutral/ground conductors are not allowed. I'd still like to know if this welder has ever worked before. I am guessing it's just DOA.

 

About 10-12 yrs ago a friend of mine bought a 220 volt arc welder that had a 4 prong plug. He rewired his shop to accommodate it. I don't know if a wire welder would be the same

 

The key phrase is 4 prong. The welder has only three wires and plug specified is three prong therefore under modern code it can't be 120/240.

 

I'm still curious if the welder has ever worked or if this is the first time it has been powered up? I'm trying to figure out if it's a "how to wire it up" issue or a bad welder that needs debugging.

 

As Dane pointed out the O/P hasn't answered the main questions:
Has it ever worked?
How did you wire the plug? Was it the black and red on brass?
How is the dryer receptacle wired?