Following the demise of my 20 odd year old 120amp welder I've now bought a
150A jobbie. The salesman in Machinemart said I need a 30A supply. The
mains cable on it is no thicker than my kettle so is 30A really needed ?

I bloody hope not....

I think it's unlightly, even then only if you are using it at full power

I say that because I just bought one myself...

[Edited on 29/10/09 by dogwood]

I regularly run my 180A mig at full power on a 13A supply.

Regards
Davie

150 Amp welder theoretically needs a 16A supply for full power. Though many people get away with a 13A plug (be prepared to change the fuse every now and then).

quote:

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Originally posted by iank
Be prepared to change the fuse every now and then).

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i think he meant 16A

anyway, it'll work on a 13a fuse, but on full power mine blew fuses. maybe thats because i was trying to weld axle tubes *, i don't know, but yeah, it'll be fine on a 13a plug

anyway, i put a 16a circuit in my garage, along with a proper blue plug

* i did give them to someone else with a much bigger welder to do them. a guy at the MoD submarine base in fact, he also xrayed them to check they were welded properly

[Edited on 30/10/09 by blakep82]

My 150amp SIP was fine on 13A.

It managed a fully welded in floor fine too.

Cheers,
James

Mine protamig 180 worked for about a year on a 13Amp plug. Eventually chanegd it to 16 A as the cable was a bit short to go to the 13amp socket.....

No - Probs with either

the circuit breaker - the thing that is under the stairs - trips.

I plug into the cooker sicket - 60 A and no probes ever.

chance are it won't draw 16 A continuously but in bursts - and hte burst will trip the breaker - won;t melt the cable though.

I bought 16 A caravan cable off ebay - approx £ 13 and use that for the welder .

if you use extension , never have it wound up but lying loose and loopy.

Most ring mains are rated to 32 amps, more than enough for a welder. Poroblem is the puny 13 amp plug is not up to delivery much more than 13 amps and as it gets hot that goes down.

I bought a 16amp commando socket and plug (from Toolstation for a fiver) and have my Portamig plugged into that.

Whereas my old arc welder used to make the lights flicker in the house the now (more powerful) Portamig doesn't.

Yeah, i shouldn't need a 30amp take off.
- However as said, they will tend to blow a 13amp fuse fairly readily, hence they tend to get wrapped in tin foil or similar. Very bad practice indeed, but sadly common non the less.

If you where doing a lot of welding i personally would certainly thing about fitting a 16amp take off (or even a 32amp takeoff) to the garage.
- The ring main will be fused at 30/32amp so the 13amp limit is only the plug/socket.

We had these all round the workshop at school years back, but you could do similar with a 16amp socket.
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/10398/Electrical-Supplies/Weatherproof/Weatherproof-IP66/56-Series-IP66-13A-1G-RCD-Skt


Daniel