Re: Welding Machines - Where to safely plug them?

our contractor wired it straight from the MAINS!! 🙂

The mains that is connected directly to the meralco line before it reaches any of the circuit breaker panels.

Re: Welding Machines - Where to safely plug them?

Ganun din ginawa ng contractor ko when they were still building the house kasi very accessible pa yung mains. Now, the mains are embedded inside a concrete post which is at least 4 meters tall.

In our old house, it's still the fuse type so binubuksan mo lang ang panel tapos sinasabit ang wire for the welding machine, puede na.

Kaso our house now is using the circuit breaker so I'm not sure if this is safe to open and tap from there.

Re: Welding Machines - Where to safely plug them?

Kaso our house now is using the circuit breaker so I'm not sure if this is safe to open and tap from there.

If your contractor's welder is rated not more than 200A then get a 50 Amp GE breaker and lenght of #10 Gauge wires. If you have an unused breaker slot in your panel then plug the new breaker there. Otherwise take off an existing breaker for the time being and substitute the new one till you finish the job.

If they have a welder rated more than 200A then use a larger diameter wire. No. 8.

Hope this helps.

Re: Welding Machines - Where to safely plug them?

Since it was their wire (from outlet to welding machine) that was running hot, it could have been safe enough.

House branch circuits are normally rated to supply 20A at 220v, and some welding operations will not exceed this. Assuming your circuit breakers are sized correctly and your house wires are rated correctly, things would have been ok. The breakers of your house are there specifically to protect your house's wires. If the welding machine was drawing more current than your house's wiring is rated for then the breaker would have tripped.

If you think your wires are too small for what your breaker will allow, the thing to do is to check the temperature of the house wiring itself. You might be able to do this if the wires at the circuit breaker box are accessible and you know which are supplying the welding machine.

Be this as it may, the hot wires supplying the welding machine is still a No-no. If those burst into flames, it would still not be safe. I've seen this happen actually.

Re: Welding Machines - Where to safely plug them?

Kaso our house now is using the circuit breaker so I'm not sure if this is safe to open and tap from there.

If your contractor's welder is rated not more than 200A then get a 50 Amp GE breaker and lenght of #10 Gauge wires. If you have an unused breaker slot in your panel then plug the new breaker there. Otherwise take off an existing breaker for the time being and substitute the new one till you finish the job.

If they have a welder rated more than 200A then use a larger diameter wire. No. 8.

Hope this helps.

Thanks JayL for taking the trouble to post pictures, I guess you were in the same situation as I was. This should save my internal wiring from possible damage indeed. Many thanks 🙂

I guess I have to pull out the breaker that serves our Gas Range since it's rated higher and use that as a terminal.

@Incc63, The wirings are a bit embedded in the walls and access will be tricky. I think will just keep the wirings outside. I'd rather spend on the external temporary wires than risk cooking my internal wiring. Although you are right, I think I need to inspect the rating of these because I recall I told my contractor to put good quality wirings here, I just can't recall gauge. Will take a look this weekend.

Thanks again to both of you. Been very helpful!

Re: Welding Machines - Where to safely plug them?

Since the wires will be outside you can even get away with cheaper #12 wire. This is what I use for my 200 Amp welder. Length of extension is 15 meters.

Re: Welding Machines - Where to safely plug them?

Thanks JayL. That'll help indeed.