Welding and House power supply Question...

[Big Blzn]

I have a Lincoln SP135T that I am using to weld up some homebrew shackle flips. They are 1/4" plate and I have the controls set on The highest heay and the feed on about 3.5, or I guess about 35' fpm. I am going real slow to get it all hot but after several minutes of welding the breaker in my house wants to kick off. It is a 50 year old house and the original main breaker panel but the wiring in the garage is all new back to the main panel. Note that I have a seperate newer panel in my garage that is connected to the main in the back of the house. I have everything else in the garage turned off too to keep draw to a minimum. Am I just stuck with this or should I get a shorter and heavier gauge extension cord?

Also, I noticed that after a fair amount of welding and turning the breaker back on several times the trigger will not feed the wire unless I let the machine sit for 5 - 10 minutes then it will feed the wire again. Does this have anything to do with the duty cycle of the welder.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Does this have anything to do with the duty cycle of the welder.

Do you know the duty cycle of the welder and are you exceeding it?

Breakers trip because an amperage draw is exceeded, that will usually happen immediately if the welder is drawing too much power.

 

[Big Blzn]

Do you know the duty cycle of the welder and are you exceeding it?

Breakers trip because an amperage draw is exceeded, that will usually happen immediately if the welder is drawing too much power.

Don't know but I will have to find out. Lemme check.

 

[Big Blzn]

Don't know but I will have to find out. Lemme check.

Looks like my model has a 20% duty cycle. I assume this mean I can weld for 2 minutes and need to let the welder "rest" for 10 minutes? So to speak.

Also, would it help to not have some of the major appliances in the house running wihen welding in the garage since all the power is coming from the same main?

 

[tRustyK5]

Chances are it's a 15 amp breaker, and most machines the size of yours need a 20 amp minimum. My machine (same size but Miller) does the same thing to the house breakers. In fact I've never found the thermal limit on the machine because the breaker always goes first.

Rene

 

[4X4HIGH]

The new panel in the garage means nothing if the wiring between it and the main wasn't upgraded as well. Also, you need to figure out how much amperage loss you're getting because of the extension cord. It's ok to use an extension cord so long as the wire gauge is suffiecent for the length of wire and amp rating of your machine.

 

[79BRUISER]

You will have better performance with your welder if you run a dedicated line from the main. Before I rewired my garage it all ran on one 20 amp breaker. I had to turn off everything in the garage, even the lights. Otherwise it would do the exact thing your talking about.

 

[Big Blzn]

It's all new wire from the main at the back of the house to the new "distribution" panel in the garage so I am just gonna assume what Rene said and that the main is gotta be my weak link. Well, probably gonna just have to live with it for now. Thanks for the replies fellas.

 

[bp71k5]

Minee does the same thing and it drives me nuts sometimes.

I've got one extra spot in the panel where I'm thinking of running a 20A line out for the welder. I've also got an outdoor ac unit with it's own panel that I have thought about tapping into for a 220v outlet and a bigger welder.

If you've got a big furnace in the garage you might check what that's wired into. Some of the blowers with huge fans are run off of 20a circuits and you might be able to run it off that outlet for a bit longer.

 

[scouthead]

I have a Lincoln SP135T .

question #1) This is a flux only machine right? -runs off 120V?

They are 1/4" plate and I have the controls set on The highest heay and the feed on about 3.5, or I guess about 35' fpm. I am going real slow to get it all hot but after several minutes of welding the breaker in my house wants to kick off. .

Question #2) The breaker in your house? What do you mean? I thought you had a sub panel in the garage? The house Main is tripping?

Also, I noticed that after a fair amount of welding and turning the breaker back on several times the trigger will not feed the wire unless I let the machine sit for 5 - 10 minutes then it will feed the wire again. Does this have anything to do with the duty cycle of the welder.

I am pretty sure this is the same machine I first started welding with several years ago. The one I had was owned by the shop I was working for, and I really didn't care about letting it cool down... did the same thing when it was overloaded. That thing claimed you could work with 1/4" or 5/16" steel, but I beg to differ. I made it work when it was all that I had availabe, but a simalar machine on 240V with a few more amps will show you otherwise...
Sounds like you are pushing the welder past it's capacity. As far as the "breaker" tripping not sure what to tell you... need more info on how you are feeding that steel melting monster...

 

[Big Blzn]

question #1) This is a flux only machine right? -runs off 120V?


Question #2) The breaker in your house? What do you mean? I thought you had a sub panel in the garage? The house Main is tripping?



I am pretty sure this is the same machine I first started welding with several years ago. The one I had was owned by the shop I was working for, and I really didn't care about letting it cool down... did the same thing when it was overloaded. That thing claimed you could work with 1/4" or 5/16" steel, but I beg to differ. I made it work when it was all that I had availabe, but a simalar machine on 240V with a few more amps will show you otherwise...
Sounds like you are pushing the welder past it's capacity. As far as the "breaker" tripping not sure what to tell you... need more info on how you are feeding that steel melting monster...

Chit, Scouthead, you probably live 15 minutes from me. I'm over in Eastside Costa Mesa.

Answer #1; It is a gas/flux core machine. Runs off 120v to. Don't need a 220 to run it atleast.

Answer #2; I have the main panel that is origninal to the 50 year old house in the far back. When I redid my garage he ran new wire from the original old panel through conduit to a "subpanel" in the garage and all the outlet (10 or so) hook inot the subpanel. The subpanel is what is kicking off. Sorry it not clear before. It seems, and from what I have read here, I am at it's upper limits with my machine and working with 1/4" plate but it seems to be burning it fairly well. For the most part I'm getting the blueing effect on the backside of the plate fromthe heated metal.

I do have a hard wired A/C condenser, radiator with the big fan just outside my garage. I'm wondering if that is a 220 source I could have an electrician tap into?

 

[4X4HIGH]

Your machine only requires a 15amp circuit. The use of an extension cord is probably the reason you keep popping the circuit. First make sure the outlet you're using is a 15amp circuit. Can you not get to the outlet without an extension cord? I would try to plug the machine directly into the outlet and just weld some scrap and see if the circuit still pops. Of course if you go beyond the duty cycle of the machine and keep welding it will overload the circuit and the breaker will pop.

 

[chulisohombre]

i have a crapsman welder similar to what you have,but no gas shielding,so just flux core.but it would always pop the 15 amp circuit with heavy welding on the high setting.if you have a newer box out there with dedicated line from your main,you should be able to change it to a 30 amp breaker and the other 9 circuits run at 15 or 20 amp.so the main on your junction box in the garage will stop poping.most little welders like a 2 minutes on and at least 5 minutes off for cooling.once you have overran the duty cycle of the welder by too much it will draw more amps to keep the same amount of power going to the wire and that will blow the circuit breaker also.i started running my welder off the outlet for the washer in my basement with 20 amp c.b.it hasnt popped once since i started doing that.on 15a c.b. it would pop after only a minute or 2.