water filter question for Ernie

Ernie a short time ago you responded to a question about tig torches that you ran a water line to your welder from a faucet and back to a sink drain. You said that you ran the water supply through a filter before entering your torch.

Could you explain why you routed the inlet water through a filter? I can think of a few reasons but I do not know why for sure. When I took a night class at our local adult education they had several tig machines that ran water right from the municipal supply line to the machines and then into a floor drain. You had to open and shut a valve on the water line that ran along the wall. I did not notice any filters. Some guys seemed to have trouble remembering about the valve.

Reply to
bitternut
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TIG machine from the 50's through the 70's came with water solenoids to turn the water on and off along with the gas. This was because most shops used city water to cool their torches. The whole water cooler thing is much more recent, and I feel massive overkill for lmost low to medium amperage welding.

I use a filter because where I live in Renton WA, we get our water from artesian wells. Ground water tends to be fairly high in sediment. The last thing you want is a clogged TIG torch head because of hard-water sediment.

The water filter is a standard drinking water filter used for under kitchen sinks. I think it cost about $50 to set up.

I would never run a TIG off of unfiltered water simply because of the sediment issue.

I think in the old days the torches tended to burn out long before them clogged.

TIG torches actually use very little water. I measured mine and it was about 2 gallons per hour. That is pennies. Most schools don't pay for city water. It is supplied for free.

I also like how quite things are with a noisy water cooler fan whirring away.

Since my Syncrowave 250DX has Fan-on-demand, I rarely ever hear it's cooling fan.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

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