Electrical Question

[Bsawyer1]

Hello everyone new guy to all this so I got a few questions for you lovley gents.

I acquired a welding setup for myself from my company I work for while they were liquidating old equipment. I picked up myself a miller xmt 350 cc/cv ,22a wire feeder, and a HD251D tig welder and coolmate 3.

My company was running it 3 phase 30a 250v. Wana use it at home. So i was going through the manual and it was showing different Amp and volt ranges. Kinda stumped on it. What would be more useful in my application. Running a single phase 30a or 60a for this setup?? Wana get everything wired up in the garage before winter.

I'm new to welding just to happen be in the right place at the right time for this overkill starter setup lol. Please let me know your thoughts I'm out of my element

ty to all that comment in advanced!!

[ASKANDY]

For most home garages I'd say use it on single phase 50 or 60 amp. Just drop the red lead in the power cord. The white & black will be your hot 240 volt and the green will be ground.

[ryanjones2150]

You have a really solid setup there, new guy. Welcome to the forum.

[Bsawyer1]

For most home garages I'd say use it on single phase 50 or 60 amp. Just drop the red lead in the power cord. The white & black will be your hot 240 volt and the green will be ground.

Alrighty what I was thinking as well. Get the full use out of the unit.

[Bsawyer1]

You have a really solid setup there, new guy. Welcome to the forum.

Ty. I'm lucky to get it. Looking forward to learning from you guys and from the machine

[Bsawyer1]

I guess now my next question would be what outlet and plug is best for this application. as of right now it's got the nema 30 twist lock on it do they make that style in 60a or go to a different style plug.

[Sberry]

A 50 recept wouldnt bother me for home use but,,,,,, if a guy looks at the manual I believe it shows it hard wired. Main reason for this isnt really this machine but others. A 50 recept is really designed to imply that this is a current limited circuit and good for machines that come 50 end. Other machines are not designed to be plugged in tpo the common welder recept with breakers above that.
This machine has a fairly high duty cycle, they size up the wire for it.
If this is an only welding circuit in the garage hard wire it to a Jbox or limit it to 50 which I bet be more than dandy in all but a trailer building welding shop and maybe even then.

[Bsawyer1]

A 50 recept wouldnt bother me for home use but,,,,,, if a guy looks at the manual I believe it shows it hard wired. Main reason for this isnt really this machine but others. A 50 recept is really designed to imply that this is a current limited circuit and good for machines that come 50 end. Other machines are not designed to be plugged in tpo the common welder recept with breakers above that.
This machine has a fairly high duty cycle, they size up the wire for it.
If this is an only welding circuit in the garage hard wire it to a Jbox or limit it to 50 which I bet be more than dandy in all but a trailer building welding shop and maybe even then.

Just looking to get the best use out of it and have a plug. I don't have any interest in it being hard wired cause it's on a cart and moved around the garage regularly

[Sberry]

Well if its moved would still need to be connected to the wall. Ideally a 50A recept has a 50 breaker. You got to be reallty smokin to get to that, its a lot of power. I believe, I dont recall exact but I think its an 8 wire machine. It also calls for 8 ground due to the fact it might be allowed on circuits above 60 depending on wiring method. They kind of assume the supply will be a single circuit in pipe with upsize ground.
Since this is likely home brew a cable wouldnt cause any sleep loss especially at 50A.

[ryanjones2150]

A nema 6-50 will suit your needs.

[Bsawyer1]

A nema 6-50 will suit your needs.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09225GPNC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A5AC1RKZTZD48&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GY447RJ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

So Running these 2 with a 8 Gauge AWS and a 50 AMp breaker and ill be golden, sound good?

[Sberry]

Ya, those are good. As I mention there is a little "wont cause sleep loss factor" with these circuits and there is a bit of assumption goes with this in the sense that,,,, the code assumes that the machine plugged in will come with a plug.or that the installer is "qualified".. Its worth noting and maybe I mention but the 8 is for single circuit in pipe. There are a couple things that does, it allows the ground to be sized up and the wire ratings are a bit different. If I was running cable would be a 6, this leaves the ground in the cable a 10 but if its current limited to 50 wouldnt bother me.

[Sberry]

It cam take a bit for the novice to get the mind around the fact the breaker does not protect the wire for thermal in these circuits. It is the applied load and that is how the wire is sized. Simply the wire being big enough it wont overheat. The breaker is an off on switch and for short circuit protection, both for the wire and parts of the equipment including the cord. The breaker needs to be large enough for the current to pass to operate without tripping.
In other cord recept circuits the outlet, the wire and the breaker match. The outlet rating says,,, it has adequate wire and that it is current limited to that rating.

[Sberry]

My cousin is a remodler. He is a pretty fair mechanic and has a sparky bud who answers questions for him but has done a poor job of training. He add a panel to the garage in the family cabin and I said, mind if I take a look. Whoa,,, and hje starts,,, I was always told,,, the famous code guy,,, ha,,, but I had to stop and say,,, what I am going to explain is the way it is, its not an opinion I came to or figured out on my own. They had a bunch of stuff floating, about half of it connected to a ground rod, I think the box was floating as I recall but some of the connected equipment was including a feed to large RV on 50A.

[Sberry]

Mac is normally the resident master here, we offer advice but its more like instruction,,, the advice part may include options for various methods but the instruction is to try to be clear with DIY to end up with code compliant install.
I just about got run out of another forum,,,, like I really care over this where there is always a Johnny one norte with the same half baked answer to this with a lot of cants and shoulds. Some of it not dangerous, some of it is but very incomplete and often induces other code violations which are not so obvious which are important. Seems simple and what can it hurt but I had a service call the other day where the addition handyman had put 2 wires under a screw in the panel.
I dont care for all the adapter stuff,,, if a guy can make one he can change a recept type and there is kind of assumption all "220" is the same and hard to understand why we dont simply use a larger wire if all the breaker does is protect the building wire. Seems loigic would indicate that there is a reason it takes long study, if it was so simple we could get chimps to do circuit design.