Electrical help

Loganwayne

Loganwayne

#BTL
Joined
Feb 15, 2013
Location
Clyde, North Carolina
Needing to adapt from a 4 plug dryer plug to a three plug for my welder. Do they make adapters or am I going to have to make one
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You will need to make a pigtail if you don't want to remove the borrowed plug.

You just need Hot, Neutral, and Ground. Not sure how the dryer outlet is wired. Some of the members more versed in electrical can likely help more
 
Yeah, either take off the welder plug and splice it to a 4-pin dryer pigtail (they don't sell dryer plugs separately), or buy a dryer pigtail, a 4" square junction box, strain relief clamp, and a 3-prong 50A socket to match your welder plug. Basically make up a little transition cable that goes from the 4-pin dryer plug to a welder receptacle. If you think you might use it more often than that, go ahead and make the "pigtail" piece 25 or 50ft or whatever long.
 
shawn said:
Yeah, either take off the welder plug and splice it to a 4-pin dryer pigtail (they don't sell dryer plugs separately), or buy a dryer pigtail, a 4" square junction box, strain relief clamp, and a 3-prong 50A socket to match your welder plug. Basically make up a little transition cable that goes from the 4-pin dryer plug to a welder receptacle. If you think you might use it more often than that, go ahead and make the "pigtail" piece 25 or 50ft or whatever long.
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That's what I was thinking I was going to have to do but was hoping someone had already marketed a ready to go adapter
 
Don't think there is an adapter. I used the dyer plug at my former house, with a 25' extension cord. Already having that, when I moved, I wired in the correct dyer receptacle, for my cord & plug. Same on the welder, so I can plug it directly in, or use the extension, to get the welder outside the basement.
 
Will that not just plug in only missing the ground? I have a bunch of different adapters for my floor sander. It seems no 2 houses are the same when I needed to work so I built a short pig tail with the correct female end and the other has just the blades connected to the wires. I only have to change the ground blade out occasionally and use the needed plastic clamshell and electrical tape it shut. I also have a 300' cord with a 50A breaker on one end and 4 bus breaker panel and attached outlets in the other. I'll snap a pic or two tomorrow to help make sense.
 
GotWood said:
Will that not just plug in only missing the ground? I have a bunch of different adapters for my floor sander. It seems no 2 houses are the same when I needed to work so I built a short pig tail with the correct female end and the other has just the blades connected to the wires. I only have to change the ground blade out occasionally and use the needed plastic clamshell and electrical tape it shut. I also have a 300' cord with a 50A breaker on one end and 4 bus breaker panel and attached outlets in the other. I'll snap a pic or two tomorrow to help make sense.
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Fancier than our floor guy. Their sander just had three bare wires on the end of the cord, which they would stuff into the appropriate hole. Every once in a while, they'd pull on the cord too hard and have to come stuff one of them back in the hole.
 
Replace the wall plug with a 3 prong. Any home improvement will have what you need for a few dollars and it's very simple, maybe 3-4 minute fix at most. I would imagine an adapter would cost over twice as much as just a plug anyways. You don't really want to change the welder plug for all 220V welders are 3 prong and your's would then become an odd ball???

Make sure you have the correct wire gage with distance to the box and the correct sized breaker.
 
6BangBronk said:
Replace the wall plug with a 3 prong. Any home improvement will have what you need for a few dollars and it's very simple, maybe 3-4 minute fix at most. I would imagine an adapter would cost over twice as much as just a plug anyways. You don't really want to change the welder plug for all 220V welders are 3 prong and your's would then become an odd ball???

Make sure you have the correct wire gage with distance to the box and the correct sized breaker.
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If I change the dryer plug then Id have to change the dryer wire as well
 
If you don't have at least 10 gage for a short run if not 8 gage depending on the distance than yes, it is HIGHLY recommended to replace the wire to reduce the chances of overloading the wire. How far is the panel box from the outlet?

Most dryers are 30 amp. Most welders are 50 amp. If you put a 50 amp welder on a designed to be 30 amp circuit then you better have good fire insurance. But if the wire is adequately sized, then all you do is abandon one of the wires for the welder only needs 3 wires.

To replace the wire isn't much a big deal either with a fish tape if you need to upsize it. You basically abandon the old one and run a new one. You can cut out the old one just at the holes and run the new one up the old holes.

But I know enough to be really dangerous Loganwayne. I stick to 110V and let my brother do all the rest. He's the licensed electrician in the family and I just remember what all he did for my house, my shop and how we wired my dad's house and shop to get them up to code. Maybe one of the Licensed Electricians on here will pipe in for a better secure answer. Either way, it's still pretty simple.
 
My miller 212 is 27a,

I run it on both 30 and 50 amp circuits regularly.

Check the electrical spec chart on the welder, make sure the input amps is less than your dryer breaker. If it is, you "should " be ok for your wire size, as long as it was wired to code.

Disclaimer: I'm not an electrician.

Easiest solution is a piece of 6/2 or 6/3 with ground, 4 prong male end to match your dryer, 3 terminal female "welder" receptacle on other end.

Acts as extension cord and adapter for your welder.
 
6BangBronk said:
Most welders are 50 amp.
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No, they're not.

"Most" are 20-30A at 240V, and even then, it depends on your output power. If you're not running the welder full-bore, it's not pulling full rated power from the wall.

And if, by chance, you happened to plug your big ass 50A welder into a 30A dryer receptacle, it would pop the breaker. That's all.
 
shawn said:
No, they're not.

"Most" are 20-30A at 240V, and even then, it depends on your output power. If you're not running the welder full-bore, it's not pulling full rated power from the wall.

And if, by chance, you happened to plug your big ass 50A welder into a 30A dryer receptacle, it would pop the breaker. That's all.
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I looked it up and yes, most MODERN welders are indeed 30 amp. Both of mine are 50 amp and are dinosaurs... My bad.

But if your wiring is inadequate and you KEEP popping that breaker what is bound to happen???:popcorn: Like the whole purpose of correct wiring.

Guess we start with "What amperage is the welder we talking about? Know knowing no 2 welders are the same???
 
I would make a pigtail adapter with 3-wire #8, leaving the neutral off for the 3-wire side. Leave it long enough to rest comfortably on the floor, etc. Do not let it hang....
 
6BangBronk said:
But if your wiring is inadequate and you KEEP popping that breaker what is bound to happen???
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You'll probably have to buy a new breaker. Tripping them will wear them out.
 
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