[AT] Wire size for welder?? Help welder people!

[Robert L. Holtzer]

Greg, I'm not the correct police and I agree that lesser than code wiring 
can be used without evident problem.  However, should the unusual problem 
occur one might run into insurance coverage problems if a claim is 
made.  Just a thought.  Possibly worth what you paid for it!

Bob Holtzer

At 12:00 AM 12/8/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>John:
>
>At the risk of being arrested by the "correct police", I will give what I 
>consider to be a "common sense" approach.
>First of all, that amperage rating is only at the very top end of the 
>usage scale.  I have a 150-amp wire welder and a 250-amp AC/DC stick 
>welder.  I have been running both of them on a no.10 wire since I built 
>the shop 10 years ago, and have never had a problem with the wires getting 
>warm, although I did use a 50-amp breaker (on the advice of a licensed 
>electrician) to take care of the sudden amperage jolt when striking an 
>arc.  A big thing in my favor, however, is that my biggest run is 25 feet 
>from breaker box to welder.  If you are already wired for a welder, I 
>would say go ahead and try it because if you are properly fused the worst 
>that could happen is that you would trip a breaker or blow a fuse.  I 
>would guess that most of the welding jobs you would do would draw less 
>than 30 amps anyhow.  If you want to be correct, I would go with a no. 6 
>copper or no. 4 aluminum entrance cable or Romex, whichever it's called in 
>your area.  (Aluminum must always be one size bigger than copper to carry 
>the same amperage.)  No. 8 copper would be sufficient for 45 amps, however 
>in our area it is next to impossible to find and costs more than no.6, 
>which is why I recommended going with the heavier cable.  Just an opinion.
>
>Greg Hass
>
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