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Chocolate Lab

Chocolate Lab

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roughneck266 said:
240VAC is still single phase. You shouldn't have gotten any sparks no matter which wires you went across with a meter unless you made a mistake and had the meter on ohms maybe, even then it shouldn't have done it. Did it trip your breaker?
The 110 outlet coming out of it is definitely not code. While it is technically half the hots from a 240, it isn't a good thing to run it that way, because the breaker will definitely not function correctly like that.
If you can post some pics of the outlet, I can tell you where you should put your meter leads to check the voltage, but it sounds like there is definitely voltage there unless the sparks tripped the breaker.
Click to expand...
Thanks, man.

I made sure the meter was on AC volts. But right, it should read 240 across the hots and 120 across either hot and the ground, right? It didn't trip the breaker - maybe I pulled it away too fast. I did get this later in case as another way to check:

Heavy-Duty 3-Way Voltage Tester

Heavy-Duty 3-way voltage tester tests AC/DC Voltage at 120, 240 and 277 V. Individual indicators for each voltage range assures reliability. 24" test lead is long enough for convenient testing. Unit is both durable and compact. Testing applications include outlets, panels, light fixtures...
www.gardnerbender.com www.gardnerbender.com

This was wired so long ago, I wonder if our guys did it and did something janky. My dad had the welder at his house and later moved it to the shop and the guys set up an area with a welding table, etc. so I wouldn't be surprised if they wired this themselves with the regular 110 circuits that were in the area.

I found out since I posted last that this is just a regular consumer welder, so not 3-phase. Those 3-phase circuits were for some really old woodworking equipment down there.

Welp, literally as I was typing, the electrician called and I'm going to meet him right now, so I guess I'll have this solved when I get back.
 
roughneck266

roughneck266

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Any meter is capable of testing 3 phase. No need to get anything special like that. You are correct, that is exactly what you should see. I will be interested to hear what he finds. Those outlets are pretty notorious for rats, and ants, they love building nests in them because they stay fairly warm. Could just be moisture too, or it could be someone wired something weird. Good luck bud.
 
roughneck266

roughneck266

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Chocolate Lab said:
Thanks, man.

I made sure the meter was on AC volts. But right, it should read 240 across the hots and 120 across either hot and the ground, right? It didn't trip the breaker - maybe I pulled it away too fast. I did get this later in case as another way to check:

Heavy-Duty 3-Way Voltage Tester

Heavy-Duty 3-way voltage tester tests AC/DC Voltage at 120, 240 and 277 V. Individual indicators for each voltage range assures reliability. 24" test lead is long enough for convenient testing. Unit is both durable and compact. Testing applications include outlets, panels, light fixtures...
www.gardnerbender.com www.gardnerbender.com

This was wired so long ago, I wonder if our guys did it and did something janky. My dad had the welder at his house and later moved it to the shop and the guys set up an area with a welding table, etc. so I wouldn't be surprised if they wired this themselves with the regular 110 circuits that were in the area.

I found out since I posted last that this is just a regular consumer welder, so not 3-phase. Those 3-phase circuits were for some really old woodworking equipment down there.

Welp, literally as I was typing, the electrician called and I'm going to meet him right now, so I guess I'll have this solved when I get back.
Click to expand...
I just looked at the tester, thats a new-fangled Wiggy basically. They work fine. Don't tell you much other than there is voltage there, and it's within around 20% of the correct voltage.
 
Rev

Rev

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Have you tried licking your fingers before touching the wires?
 
Smitty

Smitty

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Is there any online tool that will allow me to upload a picture of carpet and they can find the best match that I can then buy? I want to put carpet in a room I finished but Lowes and Home Depot don't have anything that I think is close.
 
roughneck266

roughneck266

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Smitty said:
Is there any online tool that will allow me to upload a picture of carpet and they can find the best match that I can then buy? I want to put carpet in a room I finished but Lowes and Home Depot don't have anything that I think is close.
Click to expand...
Interior design is definitely Cottons area of expertise.
 
Chocolate Lab

Chocolate Lab

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Well just to resolve this, the outlet was fubared but the wires inside were fine. The reason for the low amps was the wire size was too small and the run was 125+ feet. The cord on the welder was worse than I realized and probably a connection came loose inside when I wrangled it out of the shitty socket.

He said the 110 hooked up to it definitely wasn't proper but he didn't have a problem with it.

Turns out I probably could have done that myself, but oh well, at least I found out what was going on from someone with some expertise.
 
Cotton

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roughneck266 said:
Interior design is definitely Cottons area of expertise.
Click to expand...
You shut yer damn mouth. I will have you know I have wired an entire barn and patio. I'm pretty much an expert. Or something.
 
mcnuttz

mcnuttz

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Cotton said:
How do you remember that? That had to have been like 10 years ago.
Click to expand...
Everyone remembers the pergola.

Much like skid's busted up ankle, y'all wouldn't let us forget.
 
Cotton

Cotton

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mcnuttz said:
Everyone remembers the pergola.

Much like skid's busted up ankle, y'all wouldn't let us forget.
Click to expand...
It's true. I was proud of that pergola.
 
UncleMilti

UncleMilti

This seemed like a good idea at the time.
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Chocolate Lab said:
Well just to resolve this, the outlet was fubared but the wires inside were fine. The reason for the low amps was the wire size was too small and the run was 125+ feet. The cord on the welder was worse than I realized and probably a connection came loose inside when I wrangled it out of the shitty socket.

He said the 110 hooked up to it definitely wasn't proper but he didn't have a problem with it.

Turns out I probably could have done that myself, but oh well, at least I found out what was going on from someone with some expertise.
Click to expand...
Glad you got it figured out. Normally it’s the outlet and normally an electrician will take everything apart and test the wires exposed bypassing the outlet.
So what’s the plan…you going to run 10ga from the breaker to a new outlet for the welder?
 
mcnuttz

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