HF interference ?

[W.olly]

Was chatting to a chap and got me wondering if he was chatting or what.

He says a Tig with HF when used at home will cause interference with TV`s, radios, PC`s etc etc
I am looking at getting one for use at home, not in a commercial area, but out side the house and in a shed/workshop.
What you think on this.

 

[Freddy0309]

Never had the problem myself keep an old laptop in the workshop just in case I need help with whatever I'm doing and a sound system for music.

 

[roofman]

no problem here either and i have a lappy in my w/shop..sounds like another urban myth to me.

 

[the snooper]

you might hear something if you are listening to AM radio as that picks up welding, lightning not sure about plasma cutter cant hear the radio for the compressor

 

[mike 109444]

First job then for new tig is a faraday cage then ....

 

[Brad93]

If you've got headpho es on sometimes you get a bit of Interference.

 

[hotrodder]

It's possible for the HF to interfere with all sorts of things but IMO he's mostly talking nonsense or, at best, about a badly installed and/or badly maintained 'traditional' rectifier/transformer based machine. They need constant HF when welding in AC to keep the arc lit/stable so if something's wrong and they interfere with anything it's more noticable than with inverters which switch faster and so only use HF to start the arc even in AC

FWIW there's a phone line, ADSL router and stereo all within a metre or three of my welding table. The stereo is right next to the table. Never had a problem with the phone or internet even when a mate has been using a laptop in the same room while i was welding something for him. If the radio is cranked up loud enough can sometimes hear a slight hiss/crackle through it while striking an arc but the stereos survived 10+ years of that and seems happy enough
Along the same lines it's not uncommon to hear that welding, especially TIGs, kill radios and mobile phones... personally i reckon it's the metallic dust that's always around welding which is responsible, the speaker in my mobile somehow always has a bunch of 'iron filings' stuck in it despite my world being mostly non ferrous

 

[W.olly]

Well that settles that,its nonsense.Some folk chat bull. Good to know that i can have my laptop with me when learning the Tig to help me out.

Bring on the new toy cant wait

 

[Richard.]

I've never had a problem with it personally.
Probably wouldn't take a gamble on using it in a hospital or on a plane(Switch to lift for that) but otherwise they are used in alsorts of environments and tend to leave other stuff alone.
A good Tig welder will allow you to turn it off for those possible sensitive jobs so you'll be fine.

 

[eSCHEn]

Yeah I've used mine in my living room a few feet away from all sorts of electronics. Did absolutely zero to them.

 

[Richard.]

Yeah I've used mine in my living room a few feet away from all sorts of electronics. Did absolutely zero to them.

Raofl. I remember seeing the pics

 

[eSCHEn]

 

[rodofgod]

Years ago I was a welder at an RAF base, and we got a brand new 'Squarewave' TIG/MMA welder. Anyhow, every time I went to practise on this new piece of kit, the base would go into lockdown, with guards on every building. After a couple of days of this, it was found the HF on the 'new' machine was knocking the base telephone system out. We had to get the makers to come an 'shield' the machine. Now a days, I don't think it's a problem anymore but back in the 80's it could be.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Our big messer gresheims used to scramble the DAB radio signal whenever we arced up, but they were old, old transformers, the esabs that replaced them would do it a little but not blow out the signal conpletely

 

[Turbo]

We had a huge Murex ac/dc squarewave transformer unit & if we had the HF on constant it would affect the computer system at the other end of the factory! It took a computer technician ages to trace the source of the problem as we rarely used the constant setting.

Lovely machine to weld with though, so easy to use and very versatile.

 

[Kent]

You know what all sorts of electric welding can damage stuff Hf tig is just better ( meaning worse) at it than most

I once spent a real boaring month on a job mig welding in jigs all day long. Back then it was Sony Walkman and headphones playing cassette tapes to keep me sane. I actually could here the arc establishing on those tapes years later
John Cougar Melencamp " scarecrow" just don't sound the same without that arc sound on it

 

[PSweeney]

It's not myth I've had it happen to me. First time I welded on Ac in my garage, wife appeared at garage door telling me the tv speakers were buzzing and the power shower in the bathroom switched itself on, howit happened I've no idea. I haven't had a repeat of the situation since and I have done a lot of AC welding from home.

 

[ikb]

My new economy (PWM) TIG machine causes my garage DAB radio to go all intermittent although there is a requirement on wireless/TV equipment that should deal with most RF interference.
Amusing slightly off topic story: As a young AM CB radio user I had my somewhat toffee nosed next door neighbour knock on our front door asking if I knew anyone called 007 or Foxy Lady. Apparently they had bled all over their recording of some classical music. Luckily I was using an aerial which hinged down into the roof gutter when not in use.

 

[Stueeee]

I have an old BOC ADR 300 welder, when using constant HF for ally welding quite often it used to set off the phone ringing in the workshop.

The phone was an oldish BT wallphone with a warbling sort of "ring" haven't had the problem since I changed it for a cordless base station type phone.

 

[graffian]

interferes with telly or phone. So.