welding amps?

[marcomerola]

hello,
I am new to welding and thinking of buying the clarke mig151en as my first welder, i done a lot of reaserch before and seen a lot about the amps of running different machines. The 151en says " Unit operates from 230V, 1phase power supply (30 Amps minimum)" can i just plug this into any household plug socket or will i have to make some modifications?

 

[Robotstar5]

Yes a 13A plug will be fine as long as you don't try long runs at max power, even then it will just pop the fuse so no damage done.

 

[MoreWellie]

I think the 151te says 16 amps which is what I run mine on. The reality is that the manufacturer are telling you what it should be on in order to be able to utilise its full capacity. If you decided to put a decent quality mains plug on it and use a proper 13amp fuse then you would probably find that it worked fine but might, on odd occasions, blow the fuse if you are welding at high power settings.

You should also have a reasonable understanding of what you are plugging it in to as sockets may be just spurs with single cables going to them and so limited as to how much current they can supply or they might be part of a ring main. You should also ideally not use welders on an extension lead although the short torches on a hobby machine mean that you sometimes need to do just that. Just make sure any extension you use is rated for the power

you also need to be aware of what else you have plugged in at the same time as the welder, a fan heater and a compressor running at the same time (or possibly just two of them) could easily overload a ring main let alone an ordinary spur socket

 

[BrokenBiker]

i have a 160 amp arc welder that will put out 150 amps on a 13 amp plug before blowing the fuse

 

[marcomerola]

it will be mainly to weld thin 'ish' metal on my land rover 4x4. so nothing to really test the machine, i will buy a heavy duty extension cable and some 13a fuses then just hope for the best

 

[BrokenBiker]

it will easily run on a domestic socket doing that. You will ne on bottom settings doing that and the welder will only draw around 6 amps if its anything like my little sealey.

 

[marcomerola]

are sealey welders any good? I considered buying one but i always see so many better reviews and recommendations for the clarke

 

[BrokenBiker]

i have one and i like it. Only a little 100 amp box though not sure how well the bigger ones run

 

[Robotstar5]

You should also have a reasonable understanding of what you are plugging it in to as sockets may be just spurs with single cables going to them and so limited as to how much current they can supply or they might be part of a ring main.
you also need to be aware of what else you have plugged in at the same time as the welder, a fan heater and a compressor running at the same time (or possibly just two of them) could easily overload a ring main let alone an ordinary spur socket

Providing your house/workshop were wired by a competant electrician, you should not have to worry about overloading a circuit whether ring or radial as the wiring will be protected at source (mcb, fuse etc.)

 

[skotl]

I know we're used to calling these things "fuses" but most houses have Mini Circuit Breakers or MCBs like this;

The 13A ring is normally protected by a 32A MCB which is "B" rated. That B refers to how fast it trips and B rated devices are the norm and trip relatively quickly.
If you have a sudden surge, which welders are great at when striking up an arc, it's very common for the B32 to trip too quickly.

The solution, especially for a garage or outbuilding, is to replace it with a C rated MCB, such as a C32, which has a more gradual trip curve.

I mention this for the benefit of anyone who is getting an electrician to lay power out to their garage or outbuilding - it's a good idea to ask for a C rated MCB on that run.

These MCBs are relatively cheap (less than a tenner) but I would urge two points of caution;
1) Never be tempted to swap an MCB out for a higher-rated device (such as swapping a 15A MCB for a 30A one) unless you know that the capacity of the circuit that it protects is sufficient to carry that current. Core thickness of conductors is one factor involved in this, but it's not the only one - you need a qualified electrician to perform the maths for you
2) Although swapping the MCB is physically pretty straightforward it involves playing around with seriously dangerous voltage and current. You also want to be absolutely certain that the circuit being protected has zero load on it before swapping the MCB - probably a job worth leaving to an electrician.

The good news is that an electrician will likely charge you no more than ~£60 to swap a B MCB for a C rated one and, if you are constantly tripping it with your welder, it's a job worth doing.

 

[Robotstar5]

The 13A ring is normally protected by a 15A MCB which is "B" rated. That B refers to how fast it trips and B rated devices are the norm and trip relatively quickly.
If you have a sudden surge, which welders are great at when striking up an arc, it's very common for the B15 to trip too quickly.

The solution, especially for a garage or outbuilding, is to replace it with a C rated MCB, such as a C15, which has a more gradual trip curve.

I mention this for the benefit of anyone who is getting an electrician to lay power out to their garage or outbuilding - it's a good idea to ask for a C rated MCB on that run.

RFC (ring final circuits) are normally protected by a 32A mcb and yes you should get the advice of a sparky before uprating to a C curve mcb as due to the slower trip time it may exceed the disconnection time required by the wiring regulations so a bit of maths involved.

 

[skotl]

You're absolutely correct, of course. Don't know why I said 15A - I'll edit my post.

Thanks

 

[Robotstar5]

You're absolutely correct, of course. Don't know why I said 15A - I'll edit my post.

Don't forget to edit the pic to a B32 with a red switch too

 

[skotl]

Nah - I'm done now

 

[chevy2]

My 180 amp lincoln mig works fine at full power on a 13amp plug but had to fit a C type mcb as it would knock out the B type on settings of around 130amps and above,

A 150 amp mig should work fine on a 13amp plug but all machines require a different input supply for the same output.