so i've got a POS 220v harbor freight mig/flux wire feed welder... my last place had a 3 prong dryer cord and I hooked it up to that no prob... where I am now has the newer 4 prong style...
I know 2 are hot (black and red) 1 is ground (green) and one is neutral (white) (I think thats right i'd have to look for sure)
my welder has 3 wires and in the past it was hooked up hot-hot-neutral
now i've got the ground to worry about... should I just bypass it?
thanks mark
If the welder has no ground then just don't hook up that prong on the welder's cord. I would not recommend altering your house's wiring to hook up the welder, unless you are pulling a new circuit to the garage just for the welder.
IF IT WAS ME, I would hook it hot, hot and the welder's third to wall Neutral. You do what you want, and, of course, the best safety advice is Hire a Professional.
no changes to house wiring... just an extension cord made for the job
just wanted to make sure it should just be hot-hot-neutral and leave the ground alone.
thanks guys
In my area the "neutral" and the "ground" terminate to the same point indes the bix, I'd guess either way would work but I would go hot hot neutral
If you look in your fuse panel you'll see the neutral and ground are both grounded inside the box. If I did it myself, I'd wire it hot-hot-neutral as well.
3 prong = old school, 4 prong new safer code in most if not all states.
The welder is supposed to be connected to the two hots and the ground wire, not the neutral. The 4th wire connection on newer dryers or kitchen stoves provides a neutral connection for the 120vac controls, timers, etc. on those appliances. A welder doesn't need it.
Were it me, I'd open up the drier outlet and panel box to trace the wires on the 4 prong outlet. Then I would know which way to either modify my welder, or how to make my adapter.
I concur with your assessment of hot hot neutral, just make sure your adapter is doing that into that 4 prong box.
My welder is plugged into a dryer plug in the garage, and that dryer plug is in parallel with a smaller 20A, 3-prong plug for the 5hp compressor. The welder is hooked up to hot-hot-neutral as the OP describes, and everything feeds off of a 50A breaker that is about two feet away in the main breaker box. In this house (built in the early 80's in California), all ground and neutral connections are tied to a common ground bus in the breaker box that is earthed directly under the breaker box.
When the welder is not plugged in, the powder paint baking appliance (ancient Roper electric oven from the previous home) is plugged in, except when the 220v space heater is plugged in. With any combination of things plugged in, I've had zero problems with the appliances, breakers, wiring, or electrical shocks.
To repeat,
stuart in mn wrote:The welder is supposed to be connected to the two hots and the ground wire, not the neutral. The 4th wire connection on newer dryers or kitchen stoves provides a neutral connection for the 120vac controls, timers, etc. on those appliances. A welder doesn't need it.
