Just joined the group. Have a 1936 Morris Eight & an 1955 Austin A50. Latter was for sale but withdrawn as fed up with Time Wasters.
Just been given an arc welder in good working condition I tried it out at home in my shed plugged into an extension lead from the house but it keeps tripping the electric. What has gone wrong?
CJ Suffolk
It's very unlikely you have an extension lead up to the job. How many watts does the welder consume - it will be on a plate somewhere.
Using too much current. See how thick the mains lead is on the welder? It will be asking for the full 13 amps. An extension lead will almost certainly not handle this, and in addition will be subject to a voltage drop which in turn will further increase the current required.
What type of welder? A stick welder is too heavy for car work and will just blow holes (does a nice job of angle iron and chassis though). For car bodies you need MIG which is "gentler".
Thanks everyone. Tried it out in the workshop at work & it is running ok. The Extension Lead seems to have been the trouble. CJ
I imagine - nothing happening that shouldn't. You say it keeps tripping the electric - is this the trip in the main "fuse" box or a 13amp type one that your extension lead is plugged into? A welder, depending rather on its capacity, takes a heck of a surge of current when it first strikes. Try turning down the current setting on the welder. Presumably we are talking about a MIG welder?
Peter
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