Using the drier outlet for 220 welding? Is This Safe???

White trash?-count me in. I made romex extention cord to get 220 to my air compressor and powder coating stove in the garage. Now if I only had enough hair for a mullet and a Trans Am.

 

i've been using it for about 15 years and no problems (mig and arc). my dryer is gas so the 220 isnt used, put on a welding plug, the breakers are 2 20amps (40amp), made a 25ft extension cord from 6/3 (i dont like welding inside, i'm paranoid about fire with all my crap in there). it does trip with the arc welder at full power, but never the mig. the only problem i have is i only have one plug right now so i have to share it with the compressor (i need to put in another plug...of course you can only run one thing at a time).

 

Not if it's a gas dryer....

 

I have done it and lived to tell the tale. Fortunately, my new house has 220 and 100 amp service out in the shop.

 

Too many of you guys are betting your house and your lives on the idea that a 30 amp breaker will always trip when it becomes overloaded. What are you going to do when smoke starts coming out of the wall where the feed line runs??
And do not replace the 30 amp breaker with a 40 or 50 unless you want the results guaranteed. Why do you spend every available dollar on your rod and yet skimp on something that is actually important??? If you live alone and have no neighbours then go for it...if you have family in the house you need a reality check.

 

Okay, now I want to see a Trans-Am made out of welded hair.

 

O.K. another suggestion. My electric water heater is in the garage and on a 230 vac 30 amp breaker. I put in two disconnects on the wall where the water heater power comes out. I wired the feed to the supply side of both disconnects. The outlet side of one feeds the water heater, the other feeds a 230 vac outlet for the MIG welder. Normally the disconnect for the water heater is in and the welder outlet is out. When I want to weld, I pull the disconnect for the water heater and power up the welder outlet. I ran 8 gauge wire from the disconnect to the welder outlet like my electrical engineer friend told me was necessary. Simple straight forward and no extension cords and or open doors. And the wife can dry clothes all day long while I'm welding.

 

I unplug my hot tub to weld.

 

just do it. it's ok

 

Before I had my shop wired up in La. I would weld like this with no problem. All the time.

 

ive done it. My 220 in my garage is wired off the same breaker the drier is and thats how my house was originally done, i didnt put it in. Ive welded on it a bunch and ran the compressor with no problems, and Im sure the previous owner did the same. My house was built in 64 so im sure it would have burned down if it was going to.

 

To continues beating the dead horse, I just welded up a set of ramps with my Lincoln 225 crackerbox plugged into my dryer outlet. Works fine. I did trip the breaker once when I ran over the duty cycle. The breaker is wired to protect the gauge wire in the house so no matter what load you put on it the breaker will trip before you get in trouble.

Oh, and who you callin' white trash boy?

LOL
GV

 

i do it pretty much daily. never had a problem. you people need to stop over thinking things here on the Hamb, haha

 

if your living in a trailer (mobil home) DON'T DO IT!! your wireing is aluminum! and it WILL start a fire! wound with a "roomate" for about 6-months because of that! and he wound up in divorce court!

 

Aluminum wiring was banned years ago because of this very problem.

They used it in real houses too.

It shouldn't start a fire if your house, mobile home or shop is wired properly. The breakers and wire are gauged for a certain load and they don't care what kind of load it is.

A circuit breaker doesn't know the difference between a dryer, range, welder, T.V. or toaster. All it does is protect the circuit from overload.

If you have a 30 amp circuit and you draw 30 amps, no problem. If you draw 50 amps then yes, the breaker will trip.

If you do what some dipshits do and swap a 30 amp breaker for a 50, you WILL overload the wiring and probably start a fire. The wire gauge won't be heavy enough to handle the increased load because it was designed for 30 amps and you're trying to put 50 through it.

The aluminum wire caused a problem because when it corrodes or cracks from fatigue, it can't carry the amount of current it was designed for, overheats and catches fire.

AFAIK aluminum wire hasn't been used since the late 1950's.

Hell, the knob and tube wiring in my 1920's house is safer than aluminum.

Shawn

 

The house i live in was built in 1932, fairly sure the wireing is no newer then the 60s if that. seems to work fine when welding, and its a rickity ass old house!

 

My last house was built in the mid '60's with aluminum wire. There was only one 220 circuit. It ran the stove and the dryer. I tapped into it and ran a large old compressor and a phase converter for my 3 phase lathe and mill. The only time it was a problem was when the better half would forget I was working and try to cook or do laundry. Then the circuit would pop open. The compressor was the main culprit, I used it a lot for media blasting. The lights started getting dim after about 20 years, a buddy that was an electrician checked it out and found the screws that clamp onto the aluminum wire were all loose. Good as new after he tightened them up. The house will probably never have that kind of electrical load again, and the new house will sustain it safely. Maybe I was lucky, maybe it was just minorly pushing the limits, I don't know. I wouldn't do it that way again though. I had no clue aluminum wire was used, didn't even know it existed. My bud told me to make sure we didn't run more than one thing and we'd be fine.

 

I think we need a new tag for these post's stoopid chit or dear abby

 

I have personally seen circuit breakers that welded themselves closed and would not trip when overloaded. Please don't intentionally overload a circuit counting on that breaker to save your ass every time. It may fail and the price you pay could be high.

 

I made a 30ft extension 8 gauge extension cord and it works great.

The Lincoln welder only pulls something like 23amps [ or something like that ] and as long as you dont go too hard on it with the duty cycle you will be fine.

L