robertbartsch

I am considering welders and am left with the choice of a 230 or 115 volt units. It seems like 230 is the way to go.

How difficult is it to wire a 230 volt outlet from a circuit breaker box located in my basement? I will weld next door in the garage.

Isn't 230 volt current merely two 115V hot wires and one negative and a ground? wire?

I have a 230 circuit going to my electric range in the kitchen; can I tap into that or is it just asking for trouble?

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

230/240 is two 115/120 opposite phases
relative to neutral (white). Neutral is the
current return. Ground (bare) is for safety
and should never carry current. I prefer to
use the 4-wire stuff for 240V wiring, red
and black are your two hot phases. Just
to be kind to the next dumb sumbitch who
decides to poke his fingers into my work.

My garage 240V for compressors and
welders is taken off the range breaker,
because I cook very infrequently. Sharing
is OK, as long as the wife doesn't catch
you.

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

"Next door" is how far?

If you are gonna run 230V/50A any distance, like 50', you will need to upgrade the wiring. It can get mighty warm ...

I have a 100' 4 guage stranded extension cord for my MIG/ARC/Plasma cart. If I pull anything more than 30A, the cord gets really warm, really fast. But, it makes coiling it up really easy ...

robertbartsch

It will run about 75 feet or so....

So I can buy some very heavy guage 230 V wire at the Depo and run it into the Kitchen range circuit?

What about setting up a separate circuit breaker for this; how is this done?

Thanks...

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

If you have extra slots in your panel it's snap out
the dummy panel tabs, wire into the new breaker,
snap it down and button it up. The main panel
should have punch-outs on the side where you
can run conduit through w/ fittings. For buried
I would use fat PVC conduit and maybe just go
with individual black, rad, white, green wire, you
can get fatter singles than you can in the multi-
conductor.

Should be a master breaker that cuts panel power,
up top, for in-panel work.

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

Before you decide to do this, I would price that wire.

#6 or #8 stranded, 2 runs of 75' and a GND will cost as much as a welder.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

That's the driving factor behind going with 240V -
price is copper, copper is amps, half the amps on
a 240V welder for the same output. Though if you
do it right, you'd have 4/3 the length of wire, it's
still half the copper cross-section.

slow

iTrader: (7)

there is no real question to be asked, if you can afford it, the 240V units are better all around. Cheaper to wire, and they normally have more power, and larger capacity, than the current limited 120 volt units.

Ryan.

robertbartsch

Is a Hobart Mig (a Miller derivative) with 175 AMPs a good choice?

These sell for around $600 (Harbor Freight and ToolSource, inc) right?