![]() ![]() ![]() Before you call the electrician, you can check for any obvious loose connections and double-check to make sure that absolutely nothing else is running on the circuit. If you’re operating with an older electrical system, it may be worthwhile to make sure that the wiring and breaker are still functioning as intended. Older wiring with aged breakers can decay over time, become weak, and trip more easily than they’re supposed to. If you’ve verified that everything should be working, and it isn’t, then something may be in disrepair. It’s possible that even if you’ve got everything set properly and your breaker is rated for an amperage high enough to support your welder, you’ll still run into problems. Is the Breaker/Wiring Functioning Properly? Try running on the lower option, you won’t necessarily be running on full power, but it’s better than not running at all. Changing the voltage of the welder will necessarily affect the amperage. Anything you changed could have increased the output of the welder and therefore increased the strain on the circuit.ĭual voltage welders are of particular concern. If you’ve got a machine that’s been working fine and now suddenly isn’t, make sure that you haven’t changed any settings. The way you’ve got the settings turned on your welder will affect its output. Contact an electrician to see if a dedicated 50 Amp breaker can be added or if your existing system can be upgraded. If the amperage of the welder exceeds the amperage supported by the breaker, then no amount of fiddling is going to fix it. The manual and settings of your welder should allow you to determine how many amps you’re pulling. You can usually find the amperage for your circuit breaker marked on the handle. Even a large 240V outlet used to power a refrigerator or dryer may be too small to run a welder for an extended period of time. The breakers installed standard in most homes are often not large enough to support even a typical welder. There may not even be anything wrong with it. The most likely cause of your problem is the breaker itself. Have we mentioned that welders use a lot of electricity? Turns out, it takes a lot of juice to melt solid steel into a puddle. Related reading: How Many Amps Do I Really Need for a MIG Welder? Does the Breaker Support High Enough Amperage? That being said, there are a few questions to ask yourself to narrow down what is causing the welder to repeatedly trip the circuit breaker. If the welder pulls more amps from the circuit than the breaker will allow, then the breaker will trip. This requires a circuit which is designed to allow a high amperage without causing damage or tripping the circuit breaker. Welders are powerful tools which use a great deal of electricity. This breaks the flow of electricity and prevents accident. When the amperage increases to unsafe levels, the electromagnet will pull with greater force, moving the switch and opening the circuit. Most conventional circuit breakers do this by placing an electromagnet integrated into the circuit near a switch. To prevent accident a circuit breaker interrupts the flow of electricity before the amperage can get too high. If the amperage increases too high, it can cause the resistance in the wires to increase to the point where they get hot and can become a fire hazard. When the amperage of a circuit is increased, the electrical resistance in the circuit is increased as well. What Causes the Breaker to Trip While Welding?Ī circuit breaker is designed to prevent damage to your home. ![]() Is the Breaker/Wiring Functioning Properly?.Does the Breaker Support High Enough Amperage?.What Causes the Breaker to Trip While Welding?.Then, it should be fairly simple to fix your setup so you can weld without issue. The key is to narrow down which issue is causing the problem for you. There are a number of problems that could cause the breaker to trip every time you try to use your welder. This may be because the breaker doesn’t support a high enough amperage for what the welder is pulling, or it could be that there’s a defect in either the breaker or the welder. What should you do if your welder keeps tripping the breaker? The simple answer is that if the welder is causing the breaker to trip, then it’s trying to pull more power than the breaker can supply. If your welder is continually causing your breaker to trip, it becomes pretty useless. ![]() However, if it’s a repeated issue, it can become a real issue. This may be fine as an occasional occurrence when you’re trying to use too much on the same circuit at one time. It should come as no great surprise that a welder can overload a circuit breaker and cause it to trip. It’s no secret welding tools use a lot of power. ![]()
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