Welding Tips and Tricks

hi all,
bought a primeweld tig225 but having trouble connect the device to power supply. i live in europe and we have 230v, 16A here in standard outlets but according to primeweld 16A is not enough. in the user manual there is only mention of "rated input current" of 33.3 Ampere @230V but no mention of a current range for the input for the machine to work. the primeweld employee i emailed refused to answer the question multiple times so i am turning you to you wonderful beings.
so my question is: what is the lowest current of power supply @230V that worked for you?

The amperage available from your outlet will directly dictate the welder output. Only supply half, you only get half out of it.

I believe the supplied power chord is 12 gauge and rated at 25amps. I suppose that would be your max input.
Can you post up a pic of the data label?

You will of course need to upgrade your electrical service to support higher amperage. There's no words that can be said on this forum that can solve your problem in any other way.

Best case scenario, you will trip the breaker when your welder exceeds the current draw for that circuit. Worst case scenario, you either don't have a breaker/fuse in line, or the breaker/fuse will fail to function properly. Either case in that worst case scenario, the wiring will burn up and cause a fire.

So don't run a 30+amp welder on a 16A circuit.

Coldman wrote:I believe the supplied power chord is 12 gauge and rated at 25amps. I suppose that would be your max input.
Can you post up a pic of the data label?

the breaker size in the machine is according to the primeweld website 50Amps and the power cord is 3x3.31mm; so i am assuming 50A is the upper limit of the current it can handle. so i am planning to use 10mm2 wires for the connection from breaker to outlet to make sure the wiring will never ever be the bottleneck.

the rated input current is 33.3A, which is i believe roughly the current needed for maximum output of 225A (at lower voltage)
i read on this or another forum that someone measesured a input current of 32amps at 217Amp of output. so that would confirm above assumption.

Spartan wrote:You will of course need to upgrade your electrical service to support higher amperage. There's no words that can be said on this forum that can solve your problem in any other way.

Best case scenario, you will trip the breaker when your welder exceeds the current draw for that circuit. Worst case scenario, you either don't have a breaker/fuse in line, or the breaker/fuse will fail to function properly. Either case in that worst case scenario, the wiring will burn up and cause a fire.

So don't run a 30+amp welder on a 16A circuit.

i am assuming i have to upgrade my power supply/electrical circuit. my questions i intended to find out what is needed to use the welder so it works, up intil the max current it pulls at max load and balance the costs with what amperage i will need. it is the amount of amperage of the outlet that i can afford that i am trying to find because i am poor as fuck.

luckely, the house i live in have modern circuit brakers and double or triple safety features so i am not scared to overload a breaker once in a while when pushing the max of the braker.

To the OP, I have the exact same machine as you do and run it on a 40amp circuit. I haven’t had any problems as of yet and have run it at its highest settings. I would assume that a 30amp circuit would be enough but there are many factors that play into the equation that is your question. I believe that the machine that you have is capable of running on 110 volts but at half it’s capable output. Welding machine power supplies are often under sized from what you would generally think they would be. For instance a have a Millermatic 250 that has always had a far to small cord on it. I’ve tried to weld constant for long periods just to see if the cord got hot but haven’t ever noticed it even getting warm. A few electricians I’ve talked to have muttered something about using the duty cycle of the machine to mathematically downsize a welding machines power supply circuit. In the end there are a bunch of correct answers to your question and there are ways that wouldn’t be recommended but will still work depending on what you want to do with your machine. For you and your home/shops safety I’d recommend a getting 50amp circuit to use. 50 amps probably Isn’t necessary to run your machine but you’ll then have it should you ever need a bigger circuit. Prime weld won’t answer your question because they don’t want to be liable and I don’t blame them.


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There are some questionable answers being posted here....not pointing fingers, but this can be a safety issue.

First off, the power cable attached to the machine is routinely quite a bit smaller than what would be correct per code for normal circuit wiring. The power cable isn't hidden in a wall so it can't melt without you knowing about it, and it has an ample supply of air around it for cooling purposes.

Second, wire and breaker sizing rules per the National Electric Code are different for normal circuits compared to dedicated circuits for loads that are non-continuous (welders). I don't know if that's the case in the OP's situation, but the electrical principles are the same regardless of location.

Assuming the NEC is similar to what other countries use, there is a special section for circuits dedicated to non-continuous loads...it's called Article 630. They use a combination of duty cycle, amperage draw and a multiplier to determine what size conductor and breaker is acceptable.

The Primeweld 225X shows a duty cycle of 40% at 225A output and calls for 33.3A at 230V. The NEC Article 630 chart shows a multiplier of .63 for a 40% duty cycle. You take 33.3 x .4 and wind up with 20.979A for sizing the conductors.

In theory the OP could use 2.5mm2 (equivalent to 14ga wire in the U.S.) and be okay per code, but it would be smart to go at least one step bigger.

As far as breaker sizing goes, the NEC allows it to be up to 200% of the welder's rated current draw or the conductor's rating (whichever is lower). In this case let's say the OP goes one size bigger for conductors....12ga which are rated for up to 25A. He could use a 50A breaker and be within code.

A dedicated welder outlet should be marked as such. Obviously, if the OP wants to run much heavier wire it won't hurt anything, but it's not really necessary or beneficial.

Thanks G-man, I have wondered for a long time how they size welder circuits smaller than the maximum amperage rating of the machine. I learned something new today thanks to you. I’ve probably asked 4 different electricians for the formula that you just gave and was always answered with murmurs, shrugs and upturned palms.


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has anybody measured the current leakage from the Tig225x? or what leaking current rating is best for a choosing a residual current device?
it is the only missing information to choose the specs of the "residual-current device"