Using the drier outlet for 220 welding? Is This Safe???

I have accuired a Tig but my garage is not wired for 220 yet. The clothes drier is about 2 feet inside the door of the garage. With an extension cord it would reach just fine. I KNOW THIS IS WHITE TRASH, but is it do able, or will I burn the house down?

 

If you have to leave the door from the house to the garage open to weld, then yeah, it's probably a fire code violation.

As far as the welder getting the power it needs from the outlet, and the outlet being safe, it's hard to tell from here...as long as the wiring is up to snuff and the welder is happy with the amount of current provided by the circuit breaker and the wire size feeding the outlet, and the ground/neutral situation, it should be fine.

 

You need to worry about the amps you will be pulling will it over load the breaker that the appliance is on other wise this will work.The open door to the house is not a good idea if you have a family in the house the welding fumes will go in for sure f up everything

 

you can't be serious. this doesn't worry you?

 

A dryer circuit is wired with 10 guage wire which is good for 30 amps and should be on a 30 amp circuit breaker. You should be Okay. Don't weld and dry clothes at the same time though.

 

that's some great stuff.. at least I know i am not the only one asking if she's done with laundry so I can weld...

 

It's all I've ever used for my Craftsman buzz-box arc welder. I did route another outlet to the outside wall and unplug the dryer when I use the welder. Never had any problems.

 

i use to do it at my moms house, ran the cord through the cat door. was a 30 amp breaker never popped it once with my miller 185...

 

You should wire the welder up to the requirements of the welder.

 

Years ago, I used to work outside my apartment at night on an older car- in winter I popped the door knob off, ran my drop-light cord thru the hole, shut the door and stuffed a sock in around the cord. Hill-billy-done.

 

First you need to know how many amps the welder pulls. My Miller TIG 200 plate says max draw 56 amps. It would pop the 30 amp dryer breaker, the Miller 210 MIG runs just fine on the same circut. Ran a new circut with 6 gauge and a 50 Amp breaker and has been fine for the last 2 years.

 

It is not a problem and is not going to hurt your welder as long as you use
a 30 amp breaker. If you pull to much current it will just pop the breaker as
it is meant to do. You have to use a #10 cord if you need to get farther away
and keep it a minunum length to avoid voltage drop.

 

Make sure you don't get clotheslined.

 

I used a set-up like this for years without any poblems... Miller buzz box welder.

 

Been there done that but the price of the heavy duty extension cord wire was over a 100 bucks and that was 20 years ago . Hard wire it if your not renting

 

I do it too. I got the largest cable I could find (dont remember where I got it, but Im pretty sure it was either the Metal and welding store here in town, or the tractor supply store). The cable cost me $140 for 50 and another $12 for the plug. Get the flexible kind, not some house wiring to make the extension cord.

 

acceptable?! I thought this was "the WAY"

Here in the UK the voltage is 220 out of every socket... But I haven't tried welding in the kitchen yet.

 

Is the dryer electrical outlet on the wall that backs into the garage?

Even if it's not, it's 2 feet inside the door, how hard would it be to just put an outlet in the garage?

 

I did the same thing after I confirmed breaker amperage was adequate. Since the 3 dryer plug prongs are a different pattern than the welding plug prongs, I also substituted the outlet to match the welding plug prong pattern. Of course, I couldn't use the dryer unless I switched back to the original outlet pattern. Kind of a pain.

 

Seems to me it'd be easier and cheaper to simply pull wire to the garage for a welder plug. If your service box has an open spot, pop in a 50 amp breaker and start pull'n wire. If not, pull cable from the box into the garage and wire in a breaker box for the welder.

Don't know about your wife, but mine wouldn't be very happy with the service door open while I was welding and working on a car in the attatched garage.

Brian

 

Done it for years when I lived with my folks. My dad still does it. Mom gets cranky when she can't dry the clothes though

 

Try to find 10 Gauge or larger 3 conductor flexible wire, and know what you're doing when you wire up the connectors ...

 

30 amp plugin dont know if it is for welder or dryer.Use correct ex cord.Not a big deal to put a plug by your braker box.

 

Works fine. Thats how I roll. Even if you run the cord up thru the bilco doors across the yard under snow and ice and closed in the side door of the garage. Not that I ever did that back in the day at mom and dad's or anything.

 

My father took a junction box, outlet and some 10 gauge wire and made a movable outlet that he would hook a Craftsman stick welder to. I think the other end plugged into the dryer outlet. I don't remember him having any issues. This was back in the days before bike helmets and kneepads though so it's probably frowned on today.

 

I rent. My garage is wired this way.

Garage is not up to code so it can't be wired. I have a small panel with a welder outlet and two 110v outlets, all have breakers, attached to a piece of plywood with 50' of Tek and a dryer plug on the other end.

When I have welding to do or anything else I just plug into the dryer outlet, been working fine for 5 years now.

My buddy is an electrician and set it up for me. "It's not code compliant but it IS safe" were his words, as long as it's grounded and has the proper sized breakers it should be fine.

HOWEVER...

I have a Lincoln 225 and I can crank the welder high enough to pop the 30 amp circuit breaker in the house. Be aware that if you're doing heavy work, you might be starving your welder of power. A smaller MIG should have no trouble though.

Shawn

 

One thing I did with my current setup - which gets power through the dryer circuit - is I bumped up the wire size of my extension cord. The house has 10 gauge wire, my cord has 8 gauge. Theory is this way there won't be as much resistance over the length of the cord to allow the current to drop - if that makes any sense.

 

it'll work, done it before

 

Well fellas I do appreciate it, again its only gonna be there if I need it until the garage is wired up. Im just tired of not being able to weld. The breaker box is really close to the garage, so I know it wouldn't be hard to do, but me and any kind of electrical work just don't mix. Im lucky if I can plug in the fucking toaster. thanks guys
-Andrew