Long story short, I borrowed a 200A MIG from a friend as I only have a TIG welder, it's a cheaper unit and he hasn't used it in few months but said it worked last time he did. When I got home, I plugged it in and it immediately popped my 20A breaker but the fan and display did come on for half a second, no bang, sparks or smoke came out. Flipped the breaker back on, tried again and same result, breaker popped open immediately but fan and display came on for half a second. I never had this issue with my TIG welder even under load. The spec sheet on the back states it can pull 20A max on 220. I do have few things plugged in on the 20A circut but it shoudn't be more than 2A so I have about 18A available. I do have a 32A circut with nothing plugged into it but before I try that, I wanted to ask if it's normal for a welder to pull max current when plugged in? I had breakers pop open on me when welding before but it was always when I was actually welding with high high current not from just plugging in the welder.
The welder in question is Hitbox HBM200 which is a Chinese brand from my understanding, I never dealt with these welders. Just to clarify, it popped a 20A MCB, not RCD. Here's a picture of the spec sheet:
The welder in question is Hitbox HBM200 which is a Chinese brand from my understanding, I never dealt with these welders. Just to clarify, it popped a 20A MCB, not RCD. Here's a picture of the spec sheet: