So my father in law bought us a MIG welder, 220V. The panel (Siemens 200amp) in my shop came with a spare 50 amp circuit breaker. Ran the 4' of 6/3 wire from the breaker to a newly installed outlet (box secured by screws to a stud in case the plug is stout or sticky) right below the panel. Short run, heavy wire, heavy breaker, should be set there. Got the 4 wires heading into the 4 prong recepticle installed. All that is GTG.

The head scratcher is that the power cord from the welder has 3 wires. Black, white, and ground. Do I need to wire a jumper from the red to the black on the plug attached to the welder to make this welder run?

Thanks!

Well I'm just a novice electrician but you started with 6/3 at the panel and somehow ended with 4 wires at the box?

6/3 has 4 wires. Red and black wires (connected to each side of the double 50 amp breaker), white (neutral/common) connected to the common wiring strip, and ground that is connected to the ground wiring strip. The two hot wires (red & black) are needed to get the 220V at the recepticle.

Where I am getting confused is when the machine I need to run has only three wires. It would appear that I need to cap the white(common/neutral) wire at the outlet box and use a 3 prong outlet. The common and ground are connected via a crossover bar in the panel, so this makes some sense to me.

Now then, the MIG welder power cord has white, black, and green. Green = neutral, got that. Black to black, got that. Red to white for the final plug prong?

I am a novice as well, wired the house and shop myself, but had help at the panel for 220 circuits for heater, dryer, hot tub, etc.

NO....Black to red will just pop your breaker....Did you use a double pole breaker?

Bare wire should ground the box. I take it the plug and receptacle are a 3 pronged matched set.

Your best bet would be to go with a three prong recepticle using black red 110v and your common with ground mounted to recepticle box....

http://www.xomba.com/how_to_wire_a_220v_wall_outlet


I can't see what you have there but maybe this will help.

Yes, I have a two pole 50 amp breaker, Red goes to one pole, black to the other. Common attaches to the common/neutral strip. Ground (bare) attaches to the ground strip. This gets me to a 4 prong recepticle.

I am guessing that one wire is not needed, and it is the neutral, as I need two hots and a ground. Assuming I have polarity correct.

DF, give me a call. I am not a sparky, I do however have 3 on speed dial and can pass their numbers on to you. .. . two of them fish ... one you met at the Derby last year with me. . .


GO PACK ! ! ! !

DF,

I recently ran into a similar 3-prong, 4-prong situation. I'm pretty sure you have it correct. White = common/neutral is connected to the same buss bar as the ground. What I has was: red = hot; black = hot; white = ground, common/neutral = all the same; green = ground.

I was going to wire a 4 to 3 prong pigtail, but talking with a guy at Lowes who used to do lots of these electrical installations (according to him), he said to change out the cord to a 4 wire cord, and have the white and green go to separate grounding locations on the appliance (not a welder). But I checked and both bars that I grounded to on the appliance were connected, i.e., common ground.

I have no idea why, but it's due to changes in the electrical code.

Sg

All you need is your 2 hots and a ground. If you look in your panel, you will see that your neutral and ground bus bars are connected and bonded together. You only need your red and black to the breaker poles and a neutral or ground wire. Best thing to do is change the receptacle to match the chord on the welder and change your wiring to match as it wouldn't be wise to have an unused wire in your panel and probably against code.

Dogfish, Use the black, the red, and the bare wire with a 3 prong plug.
Cap the white wire off and push it in the back of the box and leave it.
I have been a liscenced electrician for almost 20 years. You dont even have to hook the white wire up in the panel if you dont want to.
The white is a "Neautral" which you would only use if your welder was a 220volt welder with a 120 volt roll feeder or something like that. All you need is the 2 hots (black and red) and the bare which is a ground.
If you need to ask any questions I sent you my number in a PM.
Tom

Thanks!

BTW Marsha, it is a 230V MIG welder with a 3 wire plug. Double and triple checked.

Yeah, the four "prong" receptacles are typical for dryer and ovens where you need a 100V circuit for the timers/clock/controls and such.

Cool. Got the 3 prong plug and socket today.

I run my 220v arc welder off my generator with the same wiring you speak of. No problems.

Got it all hooked up and running. Thanks OB-1! I suck at welding. Hmmmm. I'll be getting some gas so my MIG is a MIG instead of a M--.

Yeah, gas makes a HUGE difference in the quality of your welds, even if you are using the supposed "gasless" wire. Get some regular steel wire and a bottle of gas and once you get the wire speed and the amperage set right, you'll be sizzlin' like bacon in no time!