"grounding" a 230V welder

[MAC702]

Here's one for you guys. I was recently told by an old electrician that if I were to take the equipment grounding conductor of my 230V welder (with a transformer, not an inverter) and tied it in to a suitable earth ground (like a cold water pipe) that it will cause an impedence and greatly decrease the amount of wattage read by the meter. Anyone else ever heard of this? I'm going to try it this week. I don't know if I still keep the original grounding through the panel as well or not, but I'll try it both ways.

[ROCK]

MAC702.......... Well that is a new one on me. But hey you never know give it a shot. Unfortunately I'm sure that the power company's have all figured it out by now. I remember my grandfather always putting a copper penny behind the meter saying it will slow the wheel down. I watched it when he was welding and never seen it do anything but speed up ..............Be safe....................Rock..


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[luckydog]

grounding

Imagine this: Your Service from the pole does not have an equipment ground; it is what we call the nuetral. When your wires get to your panel the grounds and nuetrals can tie in together on the same bus and you have a screw that touchs the nuetral bar to your panel which grounds any metal parts to protect you. Technically the nuetral and ground is the same at this point. From the nuetral you need to run a wire to your water pipe which bonds your panel and creates your ground this is why when you touch a meter to both phases you get 240 volts but when you touch one phase to the nuetral you get 120 volts. The water pipe creates your potential difference. If your equipment is 2-wire 240 volts two wires and a ground you have two hots and a ground. The ground doesn't do anything except protect the equipment or user in this situation. If you have a 3-wire 240 volt which more than likely has a black/red/white - ground wire than that means some of your equipment is using 120 volts which is why the nuetral wire is there; and without this ground could effect your equipment. Remember both nuetral and ground go to the same spot in your panel. If you have a sub panel fed off your main panel the nuetrals and grounds are seperated entirely. I hope this helps a little.

[luckydog]

grounding

But technically won't decrease your wattage enough to be worth playing with. Just my opinion.

Electrician: Local 351 South Jersey

[MAC702]

So far, yes, that part I think we all knew (electrician here, too), but since some of it is still magic (even to science) and I've learned (I'm sure we all have) that sometimes the old-timers know tricks that we can't get in the schoolbooks and some of those old wives' tales really have merit. We don't dispute that old-timers used to put coils in the rafters of their shops to draw inductive power off of high-voltage overhead lines. Yet to those of us with little electrical experience, that seems like magic and probably absurd. So, even to those of us with a good deal of electrical experience, there still may be things out there that do work, yet have been forgotten in the era of "It's not in the book, so we aren't allowed to learn it." But for the record, I don't see how it could work either; I'm just going to try it. A valid part of the scientific method is formulating a hypothesis and testing it, even when you doubt it will work.

[luckydog]

Hey Mac: I threw this question to an old time inspector that agreed it would lower the wattage in theory. This person also felt that it would only save you pennies and would not even be worth the effort. He also stated that removing your ground as you know would decrease your safety. Hope it helps. Let me know what you do and how you make out as it is interesting theory.