http://quick220.com/ Will this piece work for 220 power requirments for a welder/compressor?

 

$135 for the 15A model. Call for pricing on the 20A model. That is not enough to run any decent 220V compressor or welder. I can add a 220V breaker and outlet to an existing service panel for way less than that.

 

Whats a normal 220V welder draw?

 

Stick MIG or TIG? The 30-120AMP output MIG that is sitting next to me takes 21 AMPS input. I know that my stick welder takes more but I don`t know exactly how much. All of the welding outlets that I have seen for stick welders are rated at 50 AMPS. Are you just looking for a temp hookup? Most home airconditioners have 30AMPS 220V going to them, if you know what your doing you can disconnect it at the outside disconnect and hook up a small welder.

 

To elaborate on what G-Body said:

Since most people have central A/C, an easy source of 220 is waiting for you outside your house. For a temporary or occasional use, just pull the plug on the outside disconnect mounted on the wall near the A/C unit to kill the power and exchange the wires going to the A/C with a heavy cord, or romex 10 gauge or heavier. Replace the disconnect plug and you have 220volt power feeding your welder or compressor.

Obviously, you can't use your A/C at the same time but as a temporary or occasional use, it's quick and easy.

 

I don't have A/C. I just need to see if my land lord will let me put a 220 line in. Any idea what this would cost coming right out of the service panel then make an outlet on the wall right next to it?

 

It depends on a lot of things. If the panel is exposed and you can just put on a connector and then right to a welder outlet, and the panel is fuses and has an extra pullout, and you did the wiring yourself you could do it for under $50 (welding outlet is just under $20 from most chain home improvement stores, and you really only need a couple feet of #8 wire an a connector to connect the panel and outlet). But if the fuse panel is behind a finnished wall and you have to run pipe it will cost more because now you need pipe, more connectors and more wire. It also depends on if you have the extra room/capacity in your panel, you may have to put in an addon panel or change the current panel. If you have circuit breakers it will be more expensive since it is very unlikely that there is an extra 220V breaker already in the box.

 

I agree with G-body

 

If you have a full size dryer, that's another possibility... Those are 220V.

But, if your dwelling is only wired single phase from the utility company, you're basically screwed. Some houses are that way. It takes an additional line from the utility, as well as a new breaker box. $$$$

Looking at that gizmo, it looks like what it does is assumes you have 2 phases of power on different outlets (not uncommon), and you plug one side in to one phase of 120V outlets, and the other side in to the other phase (in another room, likely) - and it combines them to get 220V. (2) 15A 120V circuits will get you (1) 15A 220V circuit. 20A 220V would be enough to run a 3hp air compressor, or possibly a welder doing very light work. I wouldn't trust it tho...

 

If you have an electric stove (range) you already have a plug available for temporary power. Just be sure to use large enough wire for your extension.

A cheap extension can be made with a 250' roll of #12 romex cut in half to give you 125 feet of doubled up wire. That would be good for 40 amps @ 220 volts. Just connect the two black wires on each end together and both whites on each end together so they are connected in parallel.

 

There are a ton of things in most houses that run on 220… most furnaces, AC, clothes drier outlet, stove…

Most modern houses have 220 service coming in just because of the number of things that could be powered off of it, and your 110 outlets are just “one leg” of the 2 coming in for the 220. that being said, you can use that to your advantage, in my case I ran all the new lines that I ran to the garage as 220 lines and then made a box at the end of my welder extension chord where one side is a pair of 220v outlets and the other is a pair of 120V outlets (the split 220 lines), so I have a high amp 110 volt source also (I use a 110v welder most of the time). A friend of mine did the opposite, ran 2 high amp 110v outlets specifically from the 2 different legs and then made an extension chord that plugs into both and gives him 220V outlets.

Huh, I wonder… at first I was thinking that box probably has a phase inverter in it that just flips the phase of one of the 2 lines if needed to give you the second leg of the 220V circuit. OTOH, the problem with that is that if you plug both connections into the same circuit (say 2 outlets on the same breaker) you’ll only be able to draw half the amps that circuit is rated for and it really has no way of telling if it is… a problem but real world not really since when you try it will just blow the breaker before it draws too much power through the circuit. I guess I would call them and ask what it actually does before I seriously considered buying one, and then I would only do it if your house is only wired with a 110V service (if it’s wired with a 220 it would take 10 minutes to pop in a new breaker and wire an outlet, so I wouldn’t even mess with the landlord in that case)

 

Well, I just took a better look at that site… it actually checks for the second outlet to be on the other leg of a 220V service… that’s pretty lame for over $100… skip it.