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View Full Version : just bought a welder. quick question.



brammabull69
03-25-2010, 01:47 AM
i just bought a lincoln 180 amp 220 volt welder. at my house i have a plug in that you can plug a generator into to give the house power and i was wondering if you guys know if i can plug my welder into that and it will work?

rccolacc
03-25-2010, 01:03 PM
Short answer would be-- if you have to ask that question, you probably should get a professional electrician to wire up a receptacle. The right thing to do would be to get a dedicated 50amp (or whatever the welder recommends) 220 breaker and plug, and just run it off that.
-RC

Brad S
03-25-2010, 02:36 PM
Sounds like the welder I own. I just wired up my own receptical - 50 amp.

I used 6-2 gauge wire with a 50 amp breaker and plug.

But yeah, if you don't know enough to do it - get a professional.

OverkillZJ
03-25-2010, 03:04 PM
It depends. If it's properly wired, that plug you're talking about will be wired through some kind of kill/switchover device, to choose if your house is getting power from the utility company, or the generator. If it doesn't, scary, and would cause the generator to feed back into the electrical grid, and feed your neighbors houses on your side of the transformer as well (scary.)

slim616
03-25-2010, 08:49 PM
what he said. i know on my house I can unplug my washer and plug a generator into it to back feed the house when I have no power. But as a safety precaution i throw the breaker for the house so as not to blow everything up when the power comes back on with the generator running. So yes it possible that it would run the welder but i would find out first from someone that knows how it was wired.

brammabull69
03-25-2010, 11:25 PM
it was wired like that when i moved in. there is a 50 amp breaker in the breaker box for the generator plug in so i figured i could use it to run my welder but i don't want to try it and mess stuff up. I'll do some research and talk to a electrician. I just wanted to see if any of you guys had a plug in like that and have used it to run something that is 220V.

94350zj
03-31-2010, 03:41 PM
If the wire goes from the recepctacle to the breaker you should be fine.Make sure it is a #6 wire though.Also make sure it is a three prong plug not a four prong.You do not need the neutral for your welder.The only other concern would be to make sure your panel is grounded properly.Hope this helps out.