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Folks -I am setting up my shop to accommodate my current and future welding and cutting gear. My question is - how do I determine the power requirements for a TIG welder? Say a 220V, single phase unit with output up to 250 amps? Do I need a 250 amp breaker and line capability? Revenos
Reply:Most of those will run from a 60 or 70A breaker at rated outputs. Is this a one or two-man shop? How many big machines might be in use at any given time? A 200A service is usually plenty for most shops. You can do almost anything with 125A service if you manage it right.
Reply:Hi Revenos;For the feeder t the welder: no you don't need a 250 amp breaker. The welder will use either a transformer or an inverter to deliver high current at low voltage. There cn be very large differences between what an inverter draws and what a transformer based machine draws current wise.So in effect you question becomes; what size breaker do I need for the feeder or branch circuit to the welder? The answer is it depends on the welder you get. If you go through the catalogs or web sites you should be able to find the specs for the welders. Usually they are listed along side the voltage input ranges and are in amps. That will give you maximum current draw at maximum rated output of the welder. The manufactures might reccomend a larger breaker than that current to reduce tripping of the breaker.As Mac has indicated RATED amps can vary between 60 and 70 amps for 225 amps out. Do be aware though that sometimes the specs are missleading in that a machine might be rated at 225 amps output even though it is capable of as much as 300 amps out on the AC side. At max current you may actually draw much more that 60 amps of current. So it pays to read manuals and make sure you installe a feeder and breaker that will handle your usage of the machine. These numbers are for a transformer based machine and are rough.An inverter based Maxstar 300 is rated at 200 amps and a current input of 40 amps on a 230 volt line. Maybe not a huge difference to some but it can impact your facility costs signifcantly. You still need to be concerned about maximum draw also. Again manufactures reccomendations ought to be considered.All of this doesn't even take into account your cutting gear. For example Millers Spectrum 1000 is rated at 80 amps out put and will require 62 amps to get there at 230 voltsThe numbers above are all single phase numbers. Go three phase then things change a bit, lower of course but how mcuh lower varies a bit. Again though consult the manufactures manuals. Ideally you would have a circuit for both the welder and plasma machine.The problem is that that might be doable (a circuti fo rthe welder and a circuit of rthe plasma) on a 250 amps single phase service but might not work to well on a 150 amp service. Depends a bit on your discipline.Thanksdave |
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发表于 2021-9-1 00:16:38