Is this possible?

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Well due to some issues (I am in the military and live in miltary housing) I wont be able to run a circuit from the panel box to my garage. That leaves me with only the dryer hookup as the only chance for 220V usage. I took a look at the breaker box and the circuit runs dual 30 amp breakers for a total of 60. No clue what guage wiring runs from the breakers to the outlet. What I am wondering is will this circuit run a SP175 Plus and a 255C? No, not at the same time, only one will be used at a time. I hate living in San Diego and not being able to own my own house, damn houses are expensive here. This was not an issue being stationed in NC but obviously here it is. Please tell me this circuit will work. TIA for all the help.
Reply:I have known people to use an extension from the dryer outlet, and I believe that I also am running 60 amps from my box to my welder.You should be fine, but get a second and third opinion.
Reply:I'm hoppeing you mean dual pole breaker for the dryer circuit.    Dryer circuits seldom go over 40 amps thirty being common.    By the way on a dual pole breaker the current you get is what is stamped on the breaker.   You do not add the currents together.So this means you have a 30 amp 220 volt circuit.   This will work with the SP175 as it is rated at 21 amps at 220 volts.     Now note that Licoln reccomends a 40 amp circuit but this should do, you might just trip the breaker from time to time.As to the buzz box that is a different question altogether.    A similar welder from Miller wiill draw around 48 amps at rated output which is 225 amps.    You are not likely to use the welder at that rating so you could potentially get buy with a 30 amp circuit.    I'd down load Lincolns manual if you don't have a paper copy and see if they have a graph with input current plots.    You may do OK at around 80 amps out on the welder.    Please observe the 'may' in the previous sentence, I'm not convinced that it will be an ideal situation.So you might have trouble with the stick machine.    It might be a good time to trade up to an inverter based machine.   Of course that is money also.What you might want to do is to find out if there are any base hobby or work shops that could support a welder.    Even if you have to wheel your machine in to make use of the power, it could keep you welding.     It may be much easier to get the required electrical outlet installed in a community workshop than in base housing.    One reason is that often the house units are old and simply would not support a 50 amp circuit properly.    The only other option I can think of is a welder generator.    Not ideal at all cost wise but they do have advantages.I realize that none of this is sounds all that good but I can't think of any alternatives.Now as to your power cord for the welder you need to understand a couple of things here.    First consideration is that you will be plugging into a 30 amp or larger branch circuit.    That means you will not be able to make use of a hardware store extension cord.    The first consideration is that the gage of the wire needs to be sized for the branch circuit.    Then you need to look at voltage drop which may lead to a larger cable gage again.     So you are not talking cheap here for the cable, and connectors (cord grips) are very expensive.For example I just purchased a female 6-50R cord grip for an extension I'm about to wire.    Just the cord grip cost me almost $50 and that was with a discount.    Now it is a good cord end but just don't go into sticker shock when it comes time to make up your extension.    By the way this is from COOPER WIRING DEVICES and is part #6709N, an AutoGrip connector, 50 Amps 250 volts.   Or NEMA 6-50R.Now you could build a cord suitable just for the MIG welder, but I'd reccomend sizing it for a 50 amp branch circuit to cover your stick welder, if you should find an outlet for it.    Either way copper has gotten to be expensive do expect the prices to reflect that.    It is likely to be considerably cheaper to build an extension just for the MIG welder, you will have to decide if that is a good investment.    A problem with MIGS is that they require an extension cord due to whip limitations.    Even if you had a garage with an outlet you would still need an extension cord.    I personally wanted an extension that could work with a stick welder, if and when I get one in the future, so I sized the cord for 50 amps.Also note that I'm close to a relatively large city and had trouble finding everything at one distributor.    Suppose I could have called around and gotten parts that way but I was rather surprised that I could not get everything I needed from one electrical distributor without ordering.    It wasn't long after that that it hit me that I should have just gone down to the welding supple store as they had cables right there.    Live and learn.Dave
Reply:You Navy?/Marine? Listen everybody else already gave you the basics,ie., yes the 175 will work fine, provided you get the wiring right .  I'll just offer a few cautions. That dryer might be 3 wire or four wire, you'll need to verify that regardless of what plug (receptacle) is on there so that you can get the right configuration. Some of that military housing can be pretty dern old so I'd take a moment to verify the wire size just for peace of mind.  Sometimes the gov't facilities leave a lot to be desired when it comes to continuity of codes spanning over many many years.  One inhabitant might change out the plug, another put in a larger breaker, well you get the trend here. Now might be the time to take advantage of the training of one of your buddies in your current group. Get someone in electronics/electrical to help you look things over.
Reply:TY for all the advice. Military housing, at least in the Marine Corps has gone through a drastic change in the past 5 years. The majority of it is no longer military owned. Due to the Marine Corps having the most dilapidated housing of any of the services they decided to farm the work out PPV, Public Private Venture. All the old housing has been demolished or is scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt from the ground up. The place I am in now is less than 5 years old and was built by private contractors. I will still pop the panel cover on the outlet and pull out the wiring to check for 3 or 4 wire runs. Yes if your worrying, the ciruit will be dead.I am by no means new so the majority of what was stated I already knew but I am glad it is reiterated. I am sure that there are plenty of people that may have the same question and can get it answered right here in this post. Everyone that comes to my place is in awe when they see my tool collection. I would guess it's valued at 50k. Yes that may not seem like a lot to someone running a business but remember I am just a "hobbyist." So I have no problem forking out the cash for the expensive extension cord which I knew I had to get already. I wont pay the bucks for what what of these runs unless it is just a bit more expensive than it would be to build it myself. If that is the case then I will buy prefabbed but if its not then I will just make one. I am in San Diego and know of A LOT of welding suppliers in the area to include many online sellers. I am sure they will have plenty of whatever I am looking for. I just need to figure out the difference in price of doing it myself vice buying one.I dont have a whole lot of electrical experience with 220V however I have worked with 110 fairly often when I used to own my house back in NC. Hence the reason for this topic. I dont want to jump into something without safety coming first. Wizard, you were right it is a dual pole 30A. Not 60A as I was guessing before.Anyway it sounds as if the 175 will be fine. I will just be safe and not even attempt to run the 255C. I prefer to be safe rather then sorry.Again ty everyone for all of the help. It is greatly appreciated.
Reply:Originally Posted by wizard As to the buzz box that is a different question altogether.    A similar welder from Miller wiill draw around 48 amps at rated output which is 225 amps.    You are not likely to use the welder at that rating so you could potentially get buy with a 30 amp circuit.    So you might have trouble with the stick machine.    It might be a good time to trade up to an inverter based machine.   Of course that is money also.
Reply:yohinan  Semper Fi