Hi all, now bought my welder, I've been asking all sorts about power to my garage , just wondering this....It's a r-tech ac/dc 200a it's suggested supply is 18a is that a blue 16a plug or a 32 blue plug? I know the machine runs on a normal 13amp supply but want to know how to get the most out of it. Joe .
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If the data plate says 18A you are best fitting a 32A blue plug as a 16A will get hot on max power
brightspark
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if its 18 amp put a 20 amp type c breaker in the fuse box to suply it as i think u were going to uprate feed to a 30 in earlier thread wernt u ??also put an isolator switch in the line next to socket. that has to be 30 amp as well
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brightspark
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yep
brightspark
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if its running from the house into garage which is seperate from the house yes it needs isolation if its built in garage no but still preferable
GrahamGKD
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Joe - apologies for hijacking your thread!!
Brightspark - Thanks for that. The garage is a separate building and is fed from an mcb in the house consumer unit. The garage has its own consumer unit and (in addition to the normal lighting and ring main circuits) there are 16A and 30A sockets running from the appropriate separate mcbs within the garage consumer unit. No isolators on the sockets though - do I need to get some fitted do you think? Presumably it would have to be one for each socket.
Brightspark - Thanks for that. The garage is a separate building and is fed from an mcb in the house consumer unit. The garage has its own consumer unit and (in addition to the normal lighting and ring main circuits) there are 16A and 30A sockets running from the appropriate separate mcbs within the garage consumer unit. No isolators on the sockets though - do I need to get some fitted do you think? Presumably it would have to be one for each socket.
brightspark
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no none needed as u have the consumer unit in garage which has isolation 
No probs, it's all interesting stuff, looking at the spec hotrodder is right with the 16a I must have scrolled down to the 250a version?? I see it says 30a for the mma , I've got an old mma set although it would be nice to try it out I've bought it for tig primarily.The garage is separate from the house, the spare breaker is at present 20a correct brightspark , now I don't know whether I'm coming or going with this, If I use a 16a socket with an isolator am I aiming for 4mm cable? and how much will this effect my mma? how do these factor effect electricity usage if at all? lots of questions I know !! Thanks Joe.
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no none needed as u have the consumer unit in garage which has isolation
If you have an isolator for your welder socket, you can turn it off in an emergency (fire, etc.) if you use the consumer unit main switch (don't want to be looking for individual MCB's in a panic) you will turn off the lighting as well.
brightspark
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if the welder states 16 amp its ok to use the 16 amp socket .the cable to suply it could be 2.5 mm which is rated to 20 amp and change the mcb to a 16 amp from the 20 amp u allready have fitted . if u want to go higher the next size up would be 4.0mm cable and u would have to use a 30 amp socket and protect with a 30 amp mcb . if u are runing wire from house out to a seperate garage just to the socket only u will need an isolator fitted in line in the garage
the mcb is the trip switch yes / no? does it matter if I leave the 20 a in there and just put a 16a socket off the power in the garage at present there is just a double 13a socket in there, although the present trip and cable also serve the utility which has washing machine always running /dishwasher microwave(not used much), so I was planning to use the spare if necessary direct to my welder leaving me a supply for other tools, there is a question in here somewhere.
brightspark
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there only about a fiver. change to 16 amp if thats what welder specifies
