Ideal power supply for home use.

[spaf4]

Hi all,

Would appreciate your suggestions for an ideal power supply from the house to my workshop. Want to start up a small enterprise. Mainly tack welding so no long beads going down. Needs to be a fail-safe supply as my place is rented so can't afford to have it burn down.

Also, the age old question of what machine to buy. Bear in mind that for the vast majority of the work I will only be putting down tack welds and it won't be used for hours on end. It will need to be air cooled, reliable and within the £150/200 range. I'll only be stick welding using no more than 10's gauge rods (not sure what that is in mm)

At some point in the future I may offer one to one training at which point I would be looking for an oil cooled machine, probably an Oxford. But my requirement now is an air cooled machine.

Tanks in advance.

 

[Robotstar5]

Get some quotes from local sparkies for the supply as it will need to be tested & certified, might be worth checking if your landlord has a favourite sparky with decent rates?.

...and welcome to the forum.

 

[jonnyBMX]

what thickness metal will you be using? may aswell just get a 32 amp supply fitted if you ever think you might need it...

 

[spaf4]

Hi. Sorry for not getting back sooner. Like the idea of asking my landlord who he uses. He's a farmer so he must know a reputable electrician.

I'll be welding 8mm- 10mm mild steel, so 3.25 rods will be adequate.

I came across a post on here with a link to a supplier of an inverter which, they state, runs off 13amp. But I can no-longer find the link and I can't remember the make of the machine. Anyone help me with this.

Thanks.
Steve.

 

[Robotstar5]

Like the idea of asking my landlord who he uses. He's a farmer so he must know a reputable electrician.

I wouldn't bank on it, farm wiring is notorious amongst pro sparkies!

 

[spaf4]

I wouldn't bank on it, farm wiring is notorious amongst pro sparkies!

Good point. Guess I'll go for a sparky who isn't a pro.

I could do it myself. Just take a spur off the shower cable. As I live on my own, it's unlikely I'll be taking a shower and welding at the same time.

 

[Robotstar5]

Good point. Guess I'll go for a sparky who isn't a pro.

I could do it myself. Just take a spur off the shower cable. As I live on my own, it's unlikely I'll be taking a shower and welding at the same time.

I probably didn't word it very well, I'm on a pro sparkies forum and see some of the comments about the state of farm wiring when a pro is eventually called in to sort out problems caused by the farmer.

I would still recommend you get a couple of quotes from professionals as they are qualified to test & certify the installation ( useful from an insurance point of view)

 

[PTvor]

I could do it myself. Just take a spur off the shower cable. As I live on my own, it's unlikely I'll be taking a shower and welding at the same time.

I can't see why that shouldn't work and be safe, it should only blow the fuse or trip the breaker, even though it would overload the cable to use both at the same time, but I have a good idea it's completely outside the regulations and you shouldn't do it. It's far better to stay inside the regulations as far as you can.

Rather like using a cooker point for a welder. You can use the circuit for either a cooker or a welder, but you shouldn't have both connected at the same time.

 

[spaf4]

Ah, now I'm with you. I've had similar experiences. Been called in to sort out welding abortions that a someone else thought they could do.

Ideally I'd like the outlet socket to be on it's own breaker and that isn't a job I would tackle myself, therefore I would always try to find someone who's competent and get a couple of quotes beforehand. I would be comfortable breaking into the shower cable, but not running a cable back to the main board and wiring from there. I know my limitations. Best to do it right the first time and do it once.