Welding Tips and Tricks

OK! Someone please help me out here!!! This power stuff is baffling!!

I have an Everlast I-140E MIG 120v setup. It says that for optimum performance, it needs to be on a 30amp breaker. I plug it into the washing machine 20amp outlet when using it.

My question is - If I NEVER trip the 20amp breaker, is there any reason to upgrade to a 30amp circuit??

While typing this it just occurred to me - Do welders sense the available amperage and adjust themselves accordingly?

Forgive my ignorance. I learned about electricity a long time ago but it revolved around boys, urination, and electric fences.

I’m no electrician either, I probably shouldn’t even be throwing in my 2 cents here lol.

No the welders don’t sense how much they get, but they do only pull as much amperage as they need. If you’re using the machine at half the max amperage (in you’re case 70ish amps) then no you’ll use nowhere near 30 amps. The “optimal performance” as they call it means the machine completely maxed.

Basically if you crank your machine up to the max and run it till it overheats you will need 30 amps from the wall. Your 20 amp will trip before your welder overheats and kicks off.


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Yup. Max out the wire-speed and voltage and run it full-bore on a thick piece of scrap metal, and then tell us if your current breaker survives.

keep in mind that circuit breakers take a while to trip even when overloaded. you can run 25 amp through for a short time without it tripping.

however the other thing to consider is wiring size and voltage drop.
older welder will run a bit lower powered but a lot of modern welders will draw more current to make up for the power lost due to voltage drop. also many will run with reduced duty cycle at lower input voltage. so i would still recommend making sure wiring size is more than adequate.
if you wire a new outlet in for the welder, use the next size up cable if at all possible.

Yup. Just like Oscar and Tweake stated....twist things up and run them full tilt and see if the breaker will keep things lit. My wife is after me asking "Honey, why is our electric bill so much higher since you're welding again?"

I blame the increase in the bill on the kids and the grandkids (they live with us for now). Ya know, they seem to always be running the A/C too much, fans and TV on all day and night, etc. Hate to throw them under the bus, but hey, someones gotta take the heat. Better them than me, LOL

Thanks for all the responses.

This will save me a butt-load of money because I was going to wire up a new 30amp circuit in the breaker box. And had it gone as well as my welding, I would be having to answer to a lot of people as to why I blew the house up!!!