Did I hit the duty cycle?

[Merkava_4]

I was running multiple passes with the machine set on 1/4 inch steel when all of a sudden it quit feeding wire.

I looked at the display and it said "Fan Error."

I stopped long enough to clean the crud out of the nozzle and went back to welding just fine. Multimatic 220.

[ryanjones2150]

Hit a thermal overload of some sort, be it the duty cycle or maybe the fan isn’t working like the display suggests. On my old regency power source, I was doing some modifications to a boat and running the spool gun pretty hard, apparently and unbeknownst to me, the thermostat that turns the fan on when she gets hot had failed. But there’s a second thermostat in there that will shut the machine down when it hits it’s thermal overload, and without that fan running it was pretty quick. To get me through the job, I pulled the side off the machine and stuck a box fan up next to it and it worked like a champ until I could replace the $7 part.

Make sure your fan is working.

[MAC702]

Just remember that the thermal cut-off switch is NOT the duty cycle. It just gives you a chance of protecting the machine from serious damage after you've already long exceeded the duty cycle. It is up to the operator to understand the duty cycle and stay within time limits to protect your machine.

As for "fan error," did you read page 46 of your owner's manual?

https://www.millerwelds.com/files/owners-manuals/O281426C_MIL.pdf

[Merkava_4]

Just an update: The machine is working fine and the fan is running fine. I used it last night and it did fine.

MAC702 - I just now read that message in the manual that you pointed out. I think what the error message should have said is this:

Overtemp−Please wait while the welder cools down.

That's what immediately came to mind even though it displayed the fan error.

- ryanjones2150
- MAC702

Thank You both very much for replying.