Wiring for a new 220V Welder

You left out an important part of the equation- the length of your wire run. After you measure that, a quick trip to

and will tell you the recommended C/B rating. THEN you can calculate the required size of your wires.

>

I went to their sites and can't seem to find that easily, can you point me to the right link. I'm guessing I will need about 80 feet.

I see on most of these, this rating...

230 V, 19.5 A, 60 Hz

But, I'm still assuming I need a 30A or 40A outlet, just not finding the information easily, maybe I'm just blind :-)

I went with a 50 AMP recepticle, 6 guage wire (over 50 foot run) 50 AMP breaker. Michelle

Well I figure 50 AMP, 6 guage Wire is the Safest, Biggest to go with, but I wanted to make sure that wasn't major overkill. For example, if it says you need about 30amps, then I would like to go with a 40 AMP breaker, and 8 gauge wire.

I just wanted to find out for sure.

So let's say I use a 40 amp breaker and 8 guage wire. I guess you are saying that is more than enough for something like Millermatic 175 Mig Welder. So 6 years from now, if I decided to go to the Millermatic 210 Mig Welder, would that be enough? They still have much bigger welders than that, so would a Millermatic 210, be fine on a 40amp 8guage setup?

Most of the transformer based welders want bigger input circuits. Rated input amps for various products you might want to upgrade to include:

Millermatic 210 (This is > So let's say I use a 40 amp breaker and 8 guage wire. I guess you are

Check Miller's website it says the Millermatic 210 draws 27 amps at 230

but i've seen a lot more 250's listed used and they draw 42 amps

if you might buy a used welder bigger than yours youre likely to f> So let's say I use a 40 amp breaker and 8 guage wire. I guess you are

I can't image ever needing anything bigger than a 210. I even think the 175-180 models from all 3 companies will be big enough for me. They can all do 1/4" in one pass.

So it sounds like the 175-180 models from the companies could run off of a 30 amp breaker and 10 guage wire. But for future's sake, I'll probably run a 40amp breaker and 8 guage wire to be safe.

Brent Phili> Check Miller's website it says the Millermatic 210 draws 27 amps at 230 >

Personally I went with 6ga and put in the appropiate breaker for the welder hooked to it. If the welder specs called for 40A then use a 40. That way I can upgrade my welder plug with only a breaker change. The difference in the price of the wire wasn't enough to pay for redoing in the future.

I can't image ever needing the 250 machines and higher. I think a

175-180 model machine will last me for a long time and can easily do 1/4" in one pass. Maybe some day if I found a used 210 model and decided I wanted to do 3/8 - 1/2" then I might get one. This is mainly for hobby projects and off-roading skid plates and such. So all of it should definitely be 1/4" and less.

I'll double check the wire prices. If running 6 guage is only about $20-$30 more for the length I need, then I will just go ahead an run 6 guage and use a 30 amp breaker for now with this model. It probably is a good idea to go with the heaviest guage to not worry about re-wiring in the future.

You need to size the breaker to the smallest capacity item in the system. That could be the wire or the receptacle. Otherwise you could end up with a fire, very bad.... Michelle

My Lincoln SP175 came with a 50 Amp Plug and specified a 50 Amp circuit. Michelle

Maybe what I will do then, is run the 6 guage wire and then wait until I buy the welder. Then I will see what kind of plug it comes with and buy that amperage outlet and breaker. Thanks.

The breaker is the smallest, spec'ed for the welder. The wire is overkill.

You'll be able to do a lot of welding with one of these machines if you don't need to do aluminum.

If you have a short run from the panel, you don't need a massive circuit to run any of them. 30A is plenty. 30A breaker, 10 gauge wire and a NEMA 6-50 receptacle.

Remember that welding is inherently intermittent.

I have a 20 amp 12 gauge 240V circuit in my garage that a former homeowner used for his compressor. I routinely run a Miller 172 MIG or a TA185 inverter TIG off it and have never popped the breaker. The TIG could trip it running flat out, but under 100 amps, it will run all day.

As others have noted, if you anticipate a bigger welder in the future, use appropriate sized wire & breaker.

Cheers--Jeff Dantzler

What does a short run mean? I probably will have to run 80 feet of wire.