Shop-talkers: a few months ago I picked up an arc welder at a neighbors
moving sale. It's an older Lincoln model AC-225-S, which you probably
all have seen as the big red box with the top corners cut at a 45 degree
angle. Its output is AC only , 225 amps max. My question comes with
the input:
The input is 220 volts, 50 amps. The circuit to my home garage is 40
amps using # 8 gauge wire that is in cable form, not conduit. When I
went to the electrical supply store to buy a 50 amp receptacle and
utility box the salesman said 50 amps input required a # 6 wire, but
that if I didn't intend to use the max output of 225 amps (and I
don't--I'd probably use between 75 to 120 amps output) I would probably
be ok with leaving the #8 wire and not running anything else in the
garage at the same time that draws a lot of current.
Any thoughts on #8 vs #6 in this situation? I'd really like to avoid
having to run another line out to the garage.
PS The #8 run from my main house panel to the garage subpanel is about
40-45 feet.
In the near future, I'd like to get a small 220 volt mig machine for
sheet metal on up to about 1/8 but my understanding is that these
machines only require about 40 amps input.
Thanks for any help
Gene
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