Welder Plug Question

VTHokieAg

Member
I have what I believe to be a simple question. I have an arc welder with the following plug on it and the house I just bought has the following 220v receptacle. The breaker for the receptacle is even labeled "welder." I would like to change ends on my welder to fit into the receptacle that I have but I want to make sure its okay to do so. I found the correct plug at Home Depot but didn't purchase it yet until I made sure it would be okay.
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I installed that kind of receptacle for my welder 20 years ago No problems yet.I think it is over capacity for the welder , but I had that on hand .I wired the circuit in 8Ga. ....
 
Wouldn't it be easier and just as cheap to change out the receptacle instead of the plug on the end of the welder?
 
The plug is rated for 50 amps. The receptacle is rated for 30 amps. I would check your welder's input requirements and compare it with the size of the breaker and wire feeding the receptacle. Your welder will probably work on this receptacle but you may not be able to use the full capacity of your welder.
 
I just want to add: if the receptacle is 30 amps, the wiring to it might not handle 50 amps. also the breaker may not be 50 amps. And I am thinking at times the welder draws all it needs.

I recall years ago in my late cousin's shop, the 40 amp breaker shortened the duty cycle; If you welded more than X number of seconds, the breaker would trip.
 
Under certain circumstances a 50 amp breaker can be used to feed 30 amp wire (10 gage) for a dedicated welder outlet depending on the duty cycle of the welder. See National Electric Code Article 630 (2008 ed.)
 
Maybe I'm missing something here, because I don't understand why others are talking about your receptacle being 30 amps, and the wiring for 30 amps not being sufficient for a 50 amp outlet or appliance. Your receptacle is the old standard 50 amp configuration for an electric range (now ranges have 4 prong plugs), and, what's more, it says 50 amps right on it. If a 50 amp breaker controls it, there's a good chance, though not a certainty, that the wiring is also the appropriate gauge (should be 6 gauge for 50 amps).

I agree with pipestem that under most circumstances it would be easier to change the receptacle than the plug on the welder, but maybe there's a problem that's not apparent from the pictures. I made adaptors, like short extension cords with different plugs and receptacles, so I can use almost any configuration of receptacle, but I already had most of the parts on hand, so it didn't cost me much.

Stan
 
(quoted from post at 21:14:10 10/15/14) I have what I believe to be a simple question. I have an arc welder with the following plug on it and the house I just bought has the following 220v receptacle. The breaker for the receptacle is even labeled "welder." I would like to change ends on my welder to fit into the receptacle that I have but I want to make sure its okay to do so. I found the correct plug at Home Depot but didn't purchase it yet until I made sure it would be okay.

I don't understand taking a new welder back to an old obsolete receptacle standard ?
As previously stated leave the welder alone and change the house receptacle to a 5-50P.
 
Yabbut, it would be a lot more FUN to hack off and throw away the non-reusable plug on the welder than to simply find the correct (NEMA 6-50R) receptacle to plug it into!
 
Okay here's my take, do with it as you please, NO WARRANTY WHATSOEVER, I'm not saying this is right, I'm not saying its wrong, based only on a very hurried look at NEMA charts:

Looks to me like the Receptacle is a NEMA 10-50R
rated for 250 volts and 50 Amps. (NOTE it says 50 amp and 250 volt right on it)

Looks to me like the Welder Plug is NEMA 6-50P
also rated for 250 volts and 50 amps.


1) THAT BEING SAID I would first insure the wires to that Receptacle are indeed rated for 50 amp??? (Just because its a 50 amp receptacle, Billy Bob or Bubba may not have used 50 amp wire)

2) If you want to use that existing branch circuit to power your welder and if its indeed fed with 50 amp wire, you have two choices:

A) Change the Receptacle to a NEMA 6-50R

OR

B) Change the welder plug to a NEMA 10-50P


It may be EASIER to change the Welder Plug but its your choice to do it however your little heart desires. Its my opinion (unless my eyes, your pictures and the NEMA charts are confusing me) the branch circuit (if it used 50 amp wire) will suffice to operate your welder regardless of your A or B choices above.

Nuff said

John T
 
I agree with John T Check the wires and Breaker first to see what size they are and if they
will handle 50 amp!
Ypop
 
No, you got it all wrong!! We're a nation of consumers, not producers, so the politically correct thing to do would be to buy a new welder with the correct plug and throw your perfectly good older welder away.
 
Just take your linemans plier and bend those prongs on an angle.Just kidding. If an electrician was called to this job and he cut the molded cord off the welder and installed an expensive new cord end ; he would be fired.
 
You haven't seen that PLUG in many years? It's the receptacle which is obsolete (for ranges, at least). The plug is the current configuration for single phase, 220 volt welders.

Stan
 
Thanks for all the responses. When I got home from work today I pulled the cover off the breaker box and verified the breaker is 50 Amp and the wire going to the receptacle is 6 gauge. I am thinking about making an extension cord (since it will be nice anyways) that will plug into my current receptacle and the other end accept the welder plug. Any idea on length of extension cord?

I'm sorry if I caused a little bit of confusion. I didn't realize one plug was a newer style than the other. The house was built in 1978 and the welder I have appears (have no actual idea, Marquette 10-120) to be of the same vintage.
 
That's why I said it was obsolete. But that receptacle was never for dryers. The one for dryers which looked similar was a 30 amp receptacle, and the middle slot was L shaped.

Stan
 
You could have an electric supply house cut you an S type cord and then buy two plug ends [ rubber cord ends not bakelite]. Or you could go the route of longer secondary leads. I found eBay to be way cheaper than any local supply for welding lead. There could be a whole discussion on which is better longer power cord or longer leads. Leads you can get a cheap but decent ground clamp at Harbor-Freight and get a good stinger from a welding supply.
 

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