lincoln ac/cd buzz box question

[Sandy]

Just a little FYI. This is from lincolns 225/125 manual.

"Circuit Breakers
AC/DC models above Code 8800 have an internal circuit breaker
to prevent overheating when welding on DC. The breaker will trip
and shut off the DC welding output if the duty cycle is exceeded or
if the cooling air flow is blocked."

Not that this would be an issue where the welder goes bye bye and won't restore, but it looks as tho they have incorperated one in there for later models. I s'pose one could be faulty.

[chrisr]

Had the on/off switch go bad in mine, I found the switch at a local electrical supply house for about $15.00. Hope this helps.

[TJJ]

Brian

I seriously doubt you over heated the box. Those things are built like a tank. It's more likely a switch or plug or recepticle connection. Check those out first.

Like Hanks says, the weldor is more likely to overheat before the machine does. By the time you chip off the slag and brush the beads and suck down some suds, the welder is waiting for more.

tjj

[brianpgriset]

hey guys - havent had a chance yet today to go over it with any test equipment.

when i flip the switch, nothing happens at all. no fan, no nothing, which leads me to beleive the welder isnt getting and power, and the extension i was using is the real problem...

the dryer does work in the wall mount recepticle, so i know everything up to that point is ok. beyond that im not sure. honestly when i went over to check the thing out right after it shut off the first time, it didnt seem to feel warm at all, so i would really like to beleive i didnt overrun it, but i guess time will tell first. i will try a few test and let you all know the results

thanks for the support!

brian

[ventureline]

Dryer receptacles have 2 live, a neutral, and a ground, what you want to do is connect to the 2 outer terminals on the plug, sounds like you've gone to neutral and a live.

[Weldman1223]

my dryer is a 220v 30A setup

2 hots and a ground

here is a pic
i have yet to see a dryer outlet with 2 hots, a neutral, and a ground

[hankj]

Ahh, Moody.

It's understandable that your half-vast experience as an "electrician" has not yet brought you into contact with a dryer repeptacle that is compliant with the current issue of the NEC. It is, indeed, a 3-pole, 4-wire grounding circuit!

But, again, you'd have to READ the code to know that....

Hank

[Weldman1223]

ok ill look it up

I think I have heard of a 3 poll 4 grounding dryer receptacle before...

[brianpgriset]

well i have an update, although it may not be relevant at all...

so i was drying a load of laundry, when i noticed it was taking forever to dry. sure enough, the heating element is not working in the dryer. the tumbler motor is turning fine though. can these two things be interrelated at all? i couldnt see how though..... my guess is the dryer is broke too. when it rains it pours!

i switched off the breaker and took a pic of the recepticle:

[Sandy]

You're gonna have to measure something with a meter sooner or later. You can only stare at these things as make guesses about so long.

Dryers can be a combination of 120v and 230v operations. That's why the nuetral is there along with the ground. If one side is no longer hot you'll get exactly what you describe.

[MAC702]

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. The dryer receptacle in question is an older style, still quite common. It has two hots and a NEUTRAL. In the older dryer configurations the grounding conductors were bonded to the neutral for the dedicated run back to the main panel.

Newer Code requires the 4-wire receptacles in new installations.

Hooking your welder to an older dryer receptacle is also common. Looks like you need a voltmeter to go any further, though. Check the voltage from each hot to the neutral (white wire): should be 120V, and check voltage from hot to hot: should be 240V

Your problem with the dryer suggests that only one hot is at 120V and the other is probably at 0. Unless somebody has been messing with the wiring in the panel and swapped some wires around...

[Trent Combs]

Two semi-educated guesses: bad breaker in the panel killing one leg or bad connection at the receptacle. My $ is on the breaker - weak enough for the welder to trip/kill, strong enough to have held up to the dryer. Did you try cycling the breaker?

[hankj]

Brian,

While it's not common, many DIY'ers don't realize that a two-pole, 240V breaker should be "ganged". That means that the handles are tied together so that if one leg trips, the other one does too. Check the breaker box. I'll bet one leg is tripped.

It's common for a buzz-box to trip a 30A breaker. Once you get much over 80A output, the load will trip a 30A breaker pretty quick.

Hank

[TOMWELDS]

The 4 wire dryer outlet became code in the late '90's. If you are using a 3wire dryer outlet for your welder, it's ok, if the circuit is wired to the 'Main' panel. The neutral will be the same as a ground. If it's from a subpanel- N.G. On a 4 wire dryer outlet, make an adapter cord using only the 2hots and the ground.

[Charley H]

on an electric dryer the heating coil needs 220.the rest of it runs off 110.had the same thing happen to me once.a 30 amp. 220 air compressor wouldn't run.i thought i measured proper voltage to it.took motor off and to a shop.motor was good.the fuse box at house under meter had one bad fuse.i didn't measure right.