Looking for a new mig for site work, 240v 16amp.

[blondyuk]

Hi, i have been looking for a new mig welder to take on site. I have a kennedy emw220 we take on jobs, it runs off of a 16amp blue plug. I was wanting something with more power but to still use the 16a supply.

Not sure how old the kenedy is but we got it not working and change the wire feed board to fix it, it has done us ok but it is temperamental on the top setting (6) sometimes it will weld but mostly it will trip the breaker as soon as you spark up. Not sure how many amps it is as on the label it says 180a and 220amps.

Can anyone recommend any sets to look at, it needs to be in the hundreds rather than the thousands.

Thanks

 

[Barking Mat]

Rtec

 

[eddie49]

Hello and welcome to the Forum !

The fact that your 180/220 Amp MIG welder trips the breaker on a "16A" supply when at the highest setting does not mean that the welder is faulty. You probably need to use power sources fitted with "slow" breakers rated for high inrush currents.

A modern inverter welder ( such as the R-Tech 180 or 250, or Paton 250 ) is more efficient than a traditional transformer-based one, and the capacitors it contains will tend to reduce demand spikes. It will also be much lighter!

 

[premmington]

Enter:

MIG Welders Archives - Warrior Welders

www.warriorwelders.com

 

[Rrobson]

The clue here is that number in the l1 max box. It suggests the machine will draw a maximum of 34a. Even if you use the highest setting and the fastest wire speed, I’d be doubtful you’ll actually draw 34a but realistically your not limited by the size of the machine, your limited with the size of the supply.

On a 16a supply, the most you can reliably expect to get is 200a from a welder without starting to trip breakers. Yes, inverter machines are slightly more efficient so they would be a better choice but you aren’t going to get a huge amount more.

What thickness material are you welding?

 

[blondyuk]

Thanks for the quick response, i took alook at the r-tech 250 that would do the job being a lot light than ours as well but it still mentions the 32a plug for full power. The sites we goto are limited with very few industrial sockets and even sometimes have to use a 13a to 16a adaptor, depending on the job. Thickness ranges from 2mm brackets to 10mm wear plates.

I will take a look at the warrior site later as i was watching a youtube vid last night (welderfabber) i think it was and they were using one of those on there.

 

[blondyuk]

Sorry not sure how to include previous replies in my messages yet.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Sorry not sure how to include previous replies in my messages yet.

Click on reply to the lower right of the message you want to quote.
The +Quote option allows you to quote multiple replies.

 

[blondyuk]

Click on reply to the lower right of the message you want to quote.
The +Quote option allows you to quote multiple replies.
View attachment 482182

Thanks

 

[hotponyshoes]

Why not keep the mig you have for stuff upto 5/6mm then get a arc inverter for the bigger stuff?

Regardless of how good or how expensive a mig you get 180a is going to be pushing it on a 16a supply.

You could mess about with wire and gas to push it to the limit of the supply but, for site work on 10mm I'd think arc would be quicker than a multi-pass mig run anyway.
Plus you can use a long lead which saves moving the machine around as much.

 

[blondyuk]

Why not keep the mig you have for stuff upto 5/6mm then get a arc inverter for the bigger stuff?

Regardless of how good or how expensive a mig you get 180a is going to be pushing it on a 16a supply.

You could mess about with wire and gas to push it to the limit of the supply but, for site work on 10mm I'd think arc would be quicker than a multi-pass mig run anyway.
Plus you can use a long lead which saves moving the machine around as much.

We get by with the kennedy on site so far but would like a more reliable option, thinking inverter mig as it is half the weight to lift into the van and would still run higher amps on the same plug.

As for the stick option, the customer for some reason didn't want it used for repairs. Which is good for me as i had limited use of stick in the mid 80's on an old oil filled oxford stick machine and that was an antique then. I have since used 2 rods on a tig machine just to try it but am not confident with, still in the process of getting to grips with the tig process. As for jobs coming in to the workshop the Kempi is still used for anything more than 4mm.

I still want to practice stick when i have the time tho.

 

[eddie49]

Might be worth mentioning - and you probably know this already - all inverter MIG welders in this class will also offer the option of stick welding. They can do Constant-Voltage for MIG and Constant-Current for stick. So when you want to, you can practice or use the same box for both methods.

 

[blondyuk]

Might be worth mentioning - and you probably know this already - all inverter MIG welders in this class will also offer the option of stick welding. They can do Constant-Voltage for MIG and Constant-Current for stick. So when you want to, you can practice or use the same box for both methods.

Was looking at this mig https://www.warriorwelders.com/product/warrior-250-single-phase-mig-welder/

Amy thoughts?

 

[eddie49]

No direct experience, but I have spoken to Phil Weeks and I rate him and his company's products highly.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Was looking at this mig https://www.warriorwelders.com/product/warrior-250-single-phase-mig-welder/

Amy thoughts?

Give them a ring and have a chat.
They are pretty straight to deal with.
Tell them you want to run from a 16a socket and they'll tell you what the machine will do on that