Leave it on or switch it off?

[badabec]

Hello, my current project involves 30 seconds of welding then 10 minutes of faffing about, repeated over a couple of hours.
Is it best to switch the welder off for the 10 minutes, then back on to weld then off again and so on or just leave the welder switched on?
Or does it make no difference at all?
It is a Sealey Super MIG 170
Thanks
Peter

 

[Rig Pig]

I leave mine on, it lets the cooling fan do it's stuff!

 

[Shedendman]

If at home and not used for 15-20 mins switch off,if its someones elses leccy piff

 

[badabec]

Hello, thanks for the advice.
Peter

 

[F.J.]

My Kemppi Minarc’s fan runs for around 5-10 mins after I have been welding. It’s like a reminder for me when it cuts off I knows the welders cooled down and I either know where I’m up to with the job to think if it’s worth switching off or not

 

[chris y]

Its using barely any electricity when turned on but not welding, so if its not convenient dont worry about it, but yes, always let it cool particularly if you have done some heavy work or welded for a long time.

 

[Morrisman]

One thing that’s irritating me slightly, why is the on/off switch on the back of Rtech mig welders?

All the welding controls are on the front, but.....

 

[WorkshopChris]

One thing that’s irritating me slightly, why is the on/off switch on the back of Rtech mig welders?

All the welding controls are on the front, but.....

Because it's of a generic Chinese welder design where several pence of cable is saved by not having to run the cable to the front then back to the transformer.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Because it's of a generic Chinese welder design where several pence of cable is saved by not having to run the cable to the front then back to the transformer.

Is the switch not part of the transformer like on a PC?

 

[Gareth J]

Unless it's a fancy welder, it'll just be running the fan. You can check the idle wattage with a plug in meter if you're curious. I did mine yesterday coincidentally. 80w at idle.

That's a pretty old welder though, more modern ones should be better.

Convenience, cost, knowing it's properly cooled all play a part in decision!

 

[WorkshopChris]

Is the switch not part of the transformer like on a PC?

There are normally 2 ways its done, one cable comes in goes straight to an isolator then on to the contactor. Often a standard din rail mount main isolator as found in a domestic consumer unit. This is how the older Rtec tigs are i don't know about the newer machines.
Another way used by some manufacturers main cable comes in straight to the main contactor, then a smaller cable is tapped off and goes to a small switch on the front panel that feeds the auxiliary transformer and powers the main PCB.

 

[hotponyshoes]

A couple of my welders have a stand-by function.
They have fan-on-demand anyway but after a while (adjustable) they go into standby and just show dashes on the displays.
I dont know what else actually shuts off, I keep meaning to clamp it out at some stage and see if it saves any power or not!

 

[Ed.]

My welder is a huge 3 phase inverter MIG and when it's on but I am not actually welding with it, I think it uses about 40W of power, so at the present electricity charge it works out about AU$0.30 for 24 hours of being left on, so not even worth considering the cost of running it, switching it on and off probably uses way more electricity and most likely would have more potential to cause failure in the long run, so I just switch it on and leave it running till the job is done.

Having said that I am not sure what the power drain is in the transformer type of MIG's when not actually welding, but I would still think that switching them on and off constantly might cause some issues down the road. Mine is also silent (fan on demand) so no noise to annoy me when working unlike my inverter TIG which has a constant loud fan and combined with the fan and pump in the water cooler, so I don't like leaving that one switched on if I can help it.

 

[dannyp]

leave them on here

 

[DennisCA]

My Kemppi Minarc’s fan runs for around 5-10 mins after I have been welding. It’s like a reminder for me when it cuts off I knows the welders cooled down and I either know where I’m up to with the job to think if it’s worth switching off or not

The one on my kempomat 2500 (3ph transformer based) starts up after only a few seconds and runs for a time after welding. Doesn't seem to be connected to any temperature, just running all the time (bit annoying tbh). I've often forgot the welder on overnight because I wanted to let the fan run to completion. I've wondered if it's bad for the machine to leave it on for many hours at a time.

 

[Bravheart]

I try to switch the gas off between uses. Just a good habit to get into imo.

 

[Munkul]

One thing that’s irritating me slightly, why is the on/off switch on the back of Rtech mig welders?

All the welding controls are on the front, but.....

It's on the back of a lot of machines, particularly compact standalone units without built-in trolleys, for some reason. Not sure why, it annoys me too. Lincoln, Kemppi, Lorch, Fronius, they all do it. The bigger machines generally have front switches.
Our smaller TIG sets are all mounted under benches at work, and switching them on/off is a pain! Generally just switched off at the sockets instead!

 

[Ed.]

Probably because of the size of the switches and no more room on the front panel or on the back of it to mount them.

 

[Matchless]

I turn things off when I am not using them, Hydrovane, mig etc. as I cannot stand the noise of fans running for no good reason....

 

[Morrisman]

Probably because of the size of the switches and no more room on the front panel or on the back of it to mount them.

It’s a tiny little rocker switch on my Rtech, so if that’s the case someone in their design dept needs a slap.