Help! Learning to weld

[Sodo]

Attach a bulb across one leg of the circuit while the welder's plugged in, see if the light goes out when you turn on the welder. Then try same on the other leg. This might suggest which lag is unable to supply power.

I had to change a stove outlet recently, and was quite surprised to notice that all three of the screw connections on the back of the outlet were less than finger-tight - loose actually. And clearly it had been that way for years. You might check all screws. Also in the panel, check the screw tightness on the supply breakers.

 

[newbury]

Okay so I tested the welder a my friends house, and it works fine... So the issue is with the power in my garage. How can I tell if the outlet is single phase? I wondering if that is the issue because the welder says input: single phase. <snip>

Good to hear it works!
Like I wrote - it's EXTREMELY RARE to be dual or two phase anywhere except Philadelphia, and it's also rare for residential to have three phase. If you do have three phase count yourself lucky, many of us would give our eyeteeth for three phase.

 

[grsthegreat]

you have single phase.

i agree that its looking like an issue with receptacle. if it works fine at friends house, and not at yours theres as issue with outlet.

when you plug it it, is it hard to plug in, or does it easily plug in?

the terminals might be oxidized. yoiu can always buy a new receptacle at home depot fo $10 and give that a try

 

[dsparks1024]

GOT IT!!!! Haha after closer inspection of the outlet I noticed that the contact for the left side was really far back in the outlet. The left prong on the welder cord was not making contact with the left side so in effect it was only getting 120V. I got a new receptacle and she fired right up!

 

[HCJtractor]

Great news. Now that you have successfully turned the welder on, the rest is easy!!! Now just weld!

I'm a beginner too. Get ready to be humbled!

 

[CNC Dan]

GOT IT!!!! Haha after closer inspection of the outlet I noticed that the contact for the left side was really far back in the outlet. The left prong on the welder cord was not making contact with the left side so in effect it was only getting 120V. I got a new receptacle and she fired right up!

Great! Glad you found it. Those kind of problems can drive you mad.

I had a friend that built a new house, and his clothes dryer quit drying. I thought that was odd, so I checked the outlet. One hot leg was dead. Checked at the breaker, both hot.
Some where between the two, someone had severed one of the hot wires. I taped off the breaker and called his electrician to come and rewire the outlet. He couldn't believe what I was telling him untill he saw it for himself.

I still want to cut into the walls to see how it happened.

 

[Industrial Toys]

If you had removed the receptacle and plugged in the welder, taking a resistance reading off the terminals of the receptacle, as I suggested, you would have discovered the fault. Just saying for educational purposes.

GLAD you solved your problem. No one had to die, nothing got burned down!

 

[roadhunter]

GOT IT!!!! Haha after closer inspection of the outlet I noticed that the contact for the left side was really far back in the outlet. The left prong on the welder cord was not making contact with the left side so in effect it was only getting 120V. I got a new receptacle and she fired right up!

Dont' ever tell anyone on this site that you tried welding with 110v power. Folks can't handle that for some reason. Sodo can explain.

 

[k0ua]

Dont' ever tell anyone on this site that you tried welding with 110v power. Folks can't handle that for some reason. Sodo can explain.

Didn't work very well now did it"

 

[BukitCase]

"in effect it was only getting 120V"

In the interest of even more ejumication , you didn't even have 120 volts if it was wired correctly - 240 volt wired plugs (3 prong) have two hot wires 120 volts and 180 degrees out of phase, and an equipment GROUND - no neutral. So even though you had 120 volts at one contact, there was no return path so no current could flow.

An equipment ground is supposed to be ONLY connected to the chassis/frame of the equipment so an internal wiring problem cannot cause the outer parts of the device to be live.

Newer stuff, especially with a motor of some type and/or electronics, uses a 4 prong plug - it has the same 3 wires as a 3 prong, with an added neutral so 120 volt power can be had and still meet code. On those units, the neutral is only connected as a return for any 120 volt components, and the ground is only connected to the frame.

I know it seems weird at first, but even though BOTH the ground and neutral attach to the same buss bar in your panel, the ground is NEVER supposed to carry current unless there is a problem - but a neutral will carry just as much current as the hot wire since it is the return.

HTH... Steve