[TheForge] extension chord

[Justin Fellenz]

My tig calls for a 100-amp service, 1-guage copper primary wire. I
failed to notice that my (old-style) breaker box has a 200-amp upper
section and a lower section that's breakered at 40A--I put the (very
expensive) 100A service into the 40A side of the box, along with the
rest of the house, and have never tripped anything. Now, to be fair, I
never weld anything more than about 1/8" with the tig...but the point
is the wires are sized for full-tilt boogie with a little fat on top of
that. So depending on your job you might be able to run much lighter
wire with no trouble at all. 

And as someone else pointed out, as long as the wire's not in a wall
somewhere, it'll just hamper your welder's performance and then
eventually burn up like a very long fuse if you overdo it.

Justin.
--- Aaron Stavens <aaron.stavens at nmwco.com> wrote:

> I just put a 40 amp circuit in my garage to power a little 220V buzz
> box. That called for #8 wire. I'm no electrician. I just went by the
> chart at Home Depot with regard to the wire size.
> 
> Aaron Stavens
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:theforge-
> > bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Blacksmith
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 4:29 PM
> > To: Sponsored by ABANA
> > Subject: Re: [TheForge] extension chord
> > 
> >     Mostwelders require 50 Amp service - #12 I believe is 20 Amp.
> > A little on the light side!
> > 
> > Bob Willman
> > The Eagle's Anvil
> > Bowling Green, Ohio
> > WB8NQW
> > 
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mike Shpeley" <mshpeley at uniserve.com>
> > To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 18:14
> > Subject: [TheForge] extension chord
> > 
> > 
> > Hi;
> > I need to make up a 20 ft extension chord for my 225 amp buzz box
> in a
> > hurry
> > for a job and am wondering if I can get away with using # 12 wire
> without
> > stressing it out. Live on an island and that is the biggest size
> that
> is
> > rubber coated  that the hardware store has in stock. I could get
> the
> > plastic
> > coated #10 and put a steel coiled shield around it but it would
> seem
> to be
> > really inconvenient trying to coil it up. Any suggestions. Thanks
> in
> > advance.
> > Mike S
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