Welding, Trip switch.

[Johnboy]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 240v inverter MIG welder. When i am welding with the welder for a short period of time the trip switch in my house trips. The trip switch that i have at my house is 16 amp.
Has anyone any ideas on how to stop this, maybe upgrade my electrical system?
Would the trip switch trip if i was using a 240v inverter arc welder?
Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks Johnboy.

 

[fowler]

an arc welder would be worse
the only thing i can think of is to upgrade the electrical circuit
is there any other circuits in the house u can try
also make sure your welder is not broken
find out how many amps it needs and then find a ciruit that can take that
if it trips that circuit the welder is the issue

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

Upgrade wiring to handle a larger breaker. I run my 110 mig off a 20a breaker with no problems, but with a 15 it would trip the breaker fairly easily. not sure what breaker i had for my 220 stick, but i never had a problem with that. I plugged it in where our electric stove plugged in.

 

[r97]

i wish i had a 240v, yea i've got a 110v mig running of 20a which works great, before that i had a 15a which i knew would trip but really wanted to use the welder before the electrician came the next week, so i did, lol. you should be ok to weld with the heat turned down, im not sure but i think 240v welders usual have 30a breakers.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

You may want to consider trying a new breaker first. In my experiences of welding in the field, an old, tired breaker that's tripped a million times already loses some ampacity. For example, I came upon 15 amp breakers that would blow at 12-13 amps.

Also- Avoid extension cords, and plug into an outlet that is as physically close to the panel as possible (shortest wires). Failing everything else, you may need the above-mentioned upgrade to heavier-gage wiring.

 

[r97]

to make sure im geting max power out of my little welder i got it hooked up to 115 or some thing volt 20a breaker that has only one outlet on its circuit, the outlet is literally 6" away from the panel, and all my wiring is rated for 20a

 

[T-man]

hay if you are out side , toystory is right, try to avoid extenion cords but if you have to use one then get something that is 50ft MAX with 12 gauge or thicker wire in it.
I remember two winters ago ..I was welding with an extention cord that I got at Wal mart , the welder wasn't working very good. I thought it was just because of the cold untill I walked outside and noticed that the cord was getting so warm that it had melted all the snow around it all the way back to the house.

 

[Johnboy]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I phoned an electrican guy and he is coming to my house tomorrow to give me a quote on upgrading my main electrical switchboard. I am going to ask for a seperate welding socket in my garage for welding and running a thicker cable with a 20/30 amp breaker.
Toystory you said to avoid using extension cords. The last time that i was welding i was using an 10 metre extension cord maybe that had something to do with the breaker triping.

 

[r97]

maybe, maybe not, prob just ruined your welders capabilities (at that time) what kind of welder you have? exactly?

 

[DirtTrackRacer_07]

One of my buddies has a 110 volt lincoln electric mig welder and it does a good job.

BUT, if he uses a small extension cord, it will almost melt the cord and it doesn't weld worth a flip.

So he made a cord of solid 10-3 wire and it does good now.

He is running on a 20 amp breaker and has not tripped it yet.

I got a cheap 220 harbor feight wire feed welder and im running on 2 25 amp fuzes with about a 60 ft. cord of solid 12-3 and it doesn't get hot at all.

But if i had the money i would move up to a solid 10 gauge wire.

 

[devino246]

One of my buddies has a 110 volt lincoln electric mig welder and it does a good job.

BUT, if he uses a small extension cord, it will almost melt the cord and it doesn't weld worth a flip.

So he made a cord of solid 10-3 wire and it does good now.

He is running on a 20 amp breaker and has not tripped it yet.

I got a cheap 220 harbor feight wire feed welder and im running on 2 25 amp fuzes with about a 60 ft. cord of solid 12-3 and it doesn't get hot at all.

But if i had the money i would move up to a solid 10 gauge wire.

He must have been using a 14 gauge or smaller extension cord then. Even with a 14 ga, i cant see it getting that hot. You should have used a braided line. A solid line will weaken overtime and could run the risk of breaking.

 

[DirtTrackRacer_07]

Before when he was using the small extension cord, it was little. It was one of them little orange cords that are not worth nothing.

I don't like the braided wire on big current and voltage stuff, it seems to me the solid wire will carry it better.

But i see your point about using braided and it makes good sence, braided would be better.

 

[r97]

One of my buddies has a 110 volt lincoln electric mig welder and it does a good job.

BUT, if he uses a small extension cord, it will almost melt the cord and it doesn't weld worth a flip.

So he made a cord of solid 10-3 wire and it does good now.

He is running on a 20 amp breaker and has not tripped it yet.

I got a cheap 220 harbor feight wire feed welder and im running on 2 25 amp fuzes with about a 60 ft. cord of solid 12-3 and it doesn't get hot at all.

But if i had the money i would move up to a solid 10 gauge wire.

sounds like my setup minus extension cord, add flux core, then prob make the welder a bit smallermad2, and thats me!

 

[DirtTrackRacer_07]

What kind of welder are using r97?

I use flux core. how does your 110 volt wire feed weld?

Im thinking about getting one because a man up the road from me is selling his CHEAP.

 

[Kenny_McCormic]

If you have a new plug wired in, go all the way and have a 50 amp setup installed.

 

[DirtTrackRacer_07]

bigger is always better most of the time anyway

 

[r97]

flux core....... flux is good its a bit of a pain say you put two spot welds next to each other spot one, clean, spot next, vs spot spot with mig. starts are a bit more annoying, youl also find it can be jumpy at some points, one thing though is that flux runs nice and hot and can be used outside without shielding gas bing blown away. you also have to clean metal afterwards rather than mig you weld and your done, i've also noticed flux is louder. the welds on flux in my opinion can turn out just as good as with mig once you get used to it, i just threw down a perfect stack-o-dimes today, i get full penetration on 1/8" with heat on max and wfs on 9 out of 12 or something like that, i'm thinking of turning down the wfs to see if i can get it through 1/4" even though its only made for 1/8". oh yea i have this Lincoln http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/equipmentdatasheet.aspx?p=7104, pretty nice little kit this is, add northern tool auto darkening mask and some gloves then your welding, there is also a mig version of this http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/equipmentdatasheet.aspx?p=7114. sry about the jumbo run-on. your neighbor prob has something like this http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/equipmentdatasheet.aspx?p=59615 which in my opinion is about the same as the mig version of mine (that is if i can get through 1/4".

 

[r97]

sry about the long post, hope its use full

 

[DirtTrackRacer_07]

well i might go ahead and buy that 110 my neighbor has if it welds that good and gets that much penetration.

It was useful much appriated.

 

[Johnboy]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. The welder that i was using was 250amp inverter mig. I did not have the welder up full when i was welding i was using about 140amps when my 15amp fuse tripped. I was also using an extension cord which is braided and the wires are 1mm thick.