Extension Cord for welder

rcowan · May 8, 2012

Chris I don't know anything about the NEC (and very little about welding). I raised the door on the welder and it said not to use anything less than 14ga. So I bought 12.

RC

dynasim said:
Is Hobart suggesting we violate the NEC?

Chris

dynasim · May 8, 2012

So did I!

Chris

undercut · May 9, 2012

Going through the same anguish with my power needs. Want to connect to the dryer outlet to about 50 feet. Welder is 140 amp stick welder. Went through all of the same questions about breakers and gauges, etc. Finalized on getting 50 feet of 10 gauge. There are RV extension cords that I might be able to use. Not sure what I want to use for ends though. Use the existing ends and put conversions or chop them off and put the ends specific to my welder .... decisions, decisions, decisions.

Groo · May 9, 2012

I picked up a 50 amp RV extension cord farily cheap, then made an adapter for it. I have a welder plug inside the shop, and a range plug in the garage to plug that cord into. the 6/4 was about the same price as 6/3 for in the wall too.

undercut · May 10, 2012

May I ask where you purchased the cord from? And can I be so bold as to ask how much it cost?

Groo · May 11, 2012

I got it from Amazon for about $80. I wanted to get 2 or 3 (I was thinking of skipping putting in a sub panel at another location), but figured I better see what 1 is like. As soon as I got it, and looked back on-line to order another, the price jumped more than $30. I still only have the one. I am checking on prices every so often, but haven't found another deal I liked enough to jump on it. I did see a 50' welder cord for about $120 on ebay recently.

Here is what I got;
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Camco-55195-Extension-Cord-Handle/dp/B0024ECIP0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336760069&sr=8-1[/ame]
looks like the price is below $110 now, but still a far cry from my $80

crazyal · May 11, 2012

Groo, that's a 30' cord. The price of copper has gone through the roof.

spo307 · May 11, 2012

50amp 6 gauge, i made one 30 feet long connected one end the the 50 amp breaker the other a box with the recepticle, welders pull a lot of amps, if wire is too small you will not get proper welds

Groo · May 11, 2012

crazyal said:
Groo, that's a 30' cord. The price of copper has gone through the roof.

I know. Copper was crazy when I got that one too, but they hadn't updated the prices yet. I was considering getting a 100' roll of 6/4 SOOW, and making my own cord. That would have been a real handful. The price of that wire shot up about 50% since then too.

a more current example of prices that haven't yet been updated to reflect the price of copper would the the Lincoln tombstones at Home Depot. That are the same model number and about $100 cheaper than anywhere else on the web.
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...&langId=-1&keyword=ac/dc+welder&storeId=10051

I am also on the verge of ordering some 2 gauge jumper cables from Walmart for the same reason.

undercut · May 11, 2012

Thanks for the info. Yes, the prices are much higher now which is why I wanted to know where you got yours from. Can't really find anything thicker than 10 gauge without the price jumping up pretty high. I won't be pulling more than 30 amps @ 220v and my extension cord will be 50'. Should be OK(?)