welder electric requirements?

[ruby76]

I have an old arc welder (stick welder) and am building a detached garage. What electrical requirements should I consider for a welder? It is a pretty big one in my opinion, a little larger than one of those little college dorm room refrigerators, runs on 220. I have 200 AMP service to the house and would like to slave a box from there. Is that possible? If so, what size breaker to lead to teh garage? I figure I'd need a 30 or 40 AMP breaker to the welder, then have several outlets and lights, probably a 10 or 20 for lights and 10 or 20 for the outlets?

 

[bossvette]

I ran a 100 amp line for mine that feeds from the main breaker before it enters the house. I have a 100 amp breaker box in the barn with 2 20 amp 220v circuts for the welder and compresser and a 30 amp for the generator.
I also use this to run the house with the generator when we loose power, I just open the main breaker to the street and back feed to the house.

 

[JohnZ]

I have the same setup in my 44' x 58' attached garage - ran 100-amp service just for the garage to a breaker panel with two 20-amp 220 circuits for the compressor and welder, and it feeds all the other 120V garage circuits as well, independent of the house feed. When wonderful Detroit Edison craps out, I have a Generac 18-KW fully automatic natural gas-powered standby generator that can run the whole house (and garage).

 

[ruby76]

I ended up running a 30 (if I remember correctly) for the welder. Been postponing actually hooking everything up till last weekend, welder works and more interesting, I think I remember how to weld!

1st pic is my welder, 2nd is my scrap metal with practicing on different heat settings:

 

[gmjunkie]

I ran a 100 amp line for mine that feeds from the main breaker before it enters the house. I have a 100 amp breaker box in the barn with 2 20 amp 220v circuts for the welder and compresser and a 30 amp for the generator.
I also use this to run the house with the generator when we loose power, I just open the main breaker to the street and back feed to the house.

Same Here!! Work's Great!! junk!!

 

[gmjunkie]

I think I remember how to weld!

1st pic is my welder, 2nd is my scrap metal with practicing on different heat settings:

Don't Give up your Day Job Yet!! junk!!

 

[ruby76]

exactly

 

[IH2LOSE]

I ended up running a 30 (if I remember correctly) for the welder. Been postponing actually hooking everything up till last weekend, welder works and more interesting, I think I remember how to weld!
1

25% of arc welding is getting the proper heat range
25% is having a proper size and style stick

The balanc is skill that you will get from sitting with some one and them explaing how the angle of the stick.the distance from the metal,the speed that you move the stick effect the weld strength. There are excellent resources on line that can explain this. I have an old arc welder that I learned on as a child.I also have a mig I taught my son how to use,he actually took an online course at the miller site and he learned alot.

Put your work in a vice and break the peices apart and you will probably find you dont have enough "tap" penertration for those welds to be strong. Pay attention as your weldng and youll here the welder "sing" "cakle" to you and youll also be able to hear a good weld.

The back of your welder should have the proper electrical rating you need to run the proper wire size. You also have to look at the duty cycle so you better understand what your welder is cabeable of.

Lastley invest in a self dimming helmit it makes welding so much easyer

 

[Scott Winebarger]

Just yell Ruby76, Suzy is leaving Wednesday for Seattle, I have lots of free time if you need help !

 

[ruby76]

Just yell Ruby76, Suzy is leaving Wednesday for Seattle, I have lots of free time if you need help !

You don't have a chop saw do you?

 

[Scott Winebarger]

You don't have a chop saw do you?

Yep sure do ! We can run to NC and get it... :L

Yeah , I know that was bad .. BUT............ I do have a Deep Cut Portaband here with me, and a cut off tool and body saw and sawzall and a good old hacksaw and two half worn out files.

 

[ruby76]

I might be taking Friday as a vaction day and thought I might try to cut my metal for my t-top brackets. I have a wood compound miter saw, and a hack saw. Thought about a metal cutting blade on it. If I spend Friday as a vacation day I'll let you know.

Hack saw wouldn't make very accurate cuts, the miter saw would be great if I can get that metal blade on it. I'll take a look at the owners manual in case it says "DO NOT USE METAL CUTTING BLADES" or something!

 

[Scott Winebarger]

Let me check my calender , I think I will be taking a vacation day Friday also. , The portaband does great , just takes a little finesse.

 

[Scott Winebarger]

I might be taking Friday as a vaction day and thought I might try to cut my metal for my t-top brackets. I have a wood compound miter saw, and a hack saw. Thought about a metal cutting blade on it. If I spend Friday as a vacation day I'll let you know.

Hack saw wouldn't make very accurate cuts, the miter saw would be great if I can get that metal blade on it. I'll take a look at the owners manual in case it says "DO NOT USE METAL CUTTING BLADES" or something!

Tell the wife to leave us $2500.00 to go shopping with . We can get a Tig welder and make it from aluminum.

 

[ruby76]

;lol

 

[Hrtbeat1]

I have the same setup in my 44' x 58' attached garage - ran 100-amp service just for the garage to a breaker panel with two 20-amp 220 circuits for the compressor and welder, and it feeds all the other 120V garage circuits as well, independent of the house feed. When wonderful Detroit Edison craps out, I have a Generac 18-KW fully automatic natural gas-powered standby generator that can run the whole house (and garage).

Jeeez your garage is bigger than my house! That is one mighty fine setup you have there. Then again should have expected it from you. Out of curiosity how many CCF does that 18 KW use?

 

[JohnZ]

It uses 150 cu. ft. per hour at 50% load, 245 cu. ft. per hour at 100% load. I had it installed in July, 2003, and it paid for itself two months later during the famous 3-day "big blackout" in mid-August 2003. Have had five or six more outages of a day or less since then; when Edison craps out, all we have to do is re-set the digital clocks. It fires up within eight seconds of the outage, automatically disconnects the house from the utility feed, and when the outside power comes back on, it automatically re-connects to the utility feed, monitors the outside power, then shuts down. It starts itself up once a week for ten minutes, performs a self-diagnostic routine, and shuts down. We don't have to be home, don't have to do anything - it's fully automatic; provides real peace of mind, knowing we'll never be without power again.