So folks need some guidance here. i currently have a 220 in the wall with this type outlet.



The plug on my Lincoln welder is like this.



Do I change the one in the wall? Or do they sell an adapter for this. In my limited looking I haven't found any kind of adapter. Thanks for your advice.

Not an electrician but I vote for an adapter. But that could be a big mistake. Sure Skins will be by to give the "right" answer.

Your outlet is a 40 or 50 amp range outlet. What's the amp rating on your welder?

I would change the outlet.

hammer!
just give it a good whack!

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
Your outlet is a 40 or 50 amp range outlet. What's the amp rating on your welder?

I would change the outlet.

The breakers are tied together 40 amps each

If the outlet is also used for other items with the installed receptacle, you can use an adapter to power a device of lower amperage. Do NOT, however, try to use it to run something with more amperage.

The wiring from the panel is set up for the larger amperage - I wouldn't recommend changing the receptacle with the current supply from the panel.

Adapter

You have a NEMA 10-50R and a NEMA 6-50P: R - receptacle, P - plug; 50 - 50amp. The receptacle is used for appliances that use both 240v and 120v, like a clothes dryer. The welder uses only 240v which is why the plug only has a ground and not a neutral.

Because it is meant to carry current as a part of the normal operation of the appliance, the neutral wire in your circuit should be the same gauge as the hot wires. If you ran a new dedicated circuit for the welder, the ground wire could be a smaller gauge than the hot wires because it does not normally carry current. In other words, using an adapter or changing the receptacle should be fine in your case.

There’s no issue having larger wires in the circuit than needed. As long as your breaker matches the welder’s the requirements, you are good to go. The wire gauge requirements from code are minimums.

That’s my guess.

I agree with Trapper aside of using an adapter. I would swap out the outlet for the correct one. I wouldn’t trust an adapter to not get loose and cause issues of overheating, melting the adapter, or some variation of that. I’m not a fan of adapters at all, and I would never consider one for 220.

Also make sure your 220 is a dedicated double pole breaker. Technically you can use two 110 single pole breakers, but breakers are cheap and I personally would prefer to run a double pole 220 as opposed to two single pole 110.

For 220/40 I would use no less than 8 gauge wire. I ran a 220/60 and used 6 gauge wire. It’s a pain in the ass to fight the wire, but I prefer oversized wire as it won’t overheat when carrying heavy loads.

That’s my $0.02 from a self taught, non certified, guy with enough knowledge to be dangerous.

Swapping the outlet is one way to go, but another option that is probably easier is swapping the welder's drop cord to one with a plug that matches your existing outlet. These are usually attached with screw terminals under a cover plate on the back of the unit.

I had a similar issue and I swapped out the outlets. I also wrote the amperage max, based on the wire size, in black Sharpie under the receptacle. 40A or something.

Thanks guys for the info and advice. The breaker is definitely beefy enough. Trapper189 Thank you for the link. That looks perfect.

The electric label posted above raises a question: doesn't the specification "input - single phase only" imply that the standard wiring practice of using 2x110V "legs" to get to 220V effective power fail to satisfy this specification because these 110V legs are invariably of different phases?

You can make an adapter without much fuss with things available at your local HD/Lowes.

Years ago at work I had to run a circuit to make a work station for the appliance guy to work on our many many many stoves. I made the main run to a box with a 4 prong/50Amp receptacle. Right next to that box, another box with a 3 prong receptacle and 1.5' cord to plug into the first one. I noticed the other day that 20 years later they're still using it.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
The electric label posted above raises a question: doesn't the specification "input - single phase only" imply that the standard wiring practice of using 2x110V "legs" to get to 220V effective power fail to satisfy this specification because these 110V legs are invariably of different phases?

No. The two 120 legs are the same phase and the 240v is single phase.

Three wires come from the transformer to your house. The transformer is made of two coils of wire. Each coil is continuous. The two ends of one coil are connected to the high voltage lines from the power company. The two ends of the other coil are the hot legs supplying one phase of 240v to your house. There’s a third wire tapped from the middle of the house coil in the transformer. That third wire is the neutral. When you check the voltage from either hot to the neutral, you get 120v because you are measuring only 1/2 of the coil. Checking the voltage across both hots measures the entire coil.

I thought it was like you’re thinking until someone here set me straight. I’d give credit and thank that person, but can’t remember who it was.

replace the outlet with the proper one for the welder's plug

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
replace the outlet with the proper one for the welder's plug

That’s what I would do. As long as the breaker is sized for the wire, the 50a receptacle rating is irrelevant.