household a/c current question

schnikies79 · 07-27-10, 09:15 PM

I've been given an AC arc welder and I have question concerning 240v and amperage.

The welder is rated with an input of 50amp (if @ full power). Will each hot leg of the 240 circuit be carrying 50amp of will if 25amp on each leg?

I'll never run it at full power, but I need to know for wire gauge sizing.

bchur83 · 07-27-10, 09:32 PM

Both legs will take 50A. You would use a dual pole 50A breaker with at least 6ga wire.

schnikies79 · 07-27-10, 10:47 PM

Thanks! It's only 20% duty cycle so I don't have to run 6ga, but thanks!

NEC Art. 630

Mpegger · 07-28-10, 12:22 AM

I'll probably be wrong on this (I don't deal with any 240VAC circuits), but isn't it 25A on both phases for a total of 50A?

Bobnova · 07-30-10, 08:26 PM

The two phases are connected together, in DC terms think of it as a +120v wire and a -120v wire, all the electrons flow through both wires and hence 50a goes through both wires.

That is one hell of a welder, 12,000 watts?

07-27-10, 09:15 PM	Thread Starter #1
schnikies79 Member Join Date: Jul 2004	household a/c current question I've been given an AC arc welder and I have question concerning 240v and amperage. The welder is rated with an input of 50amp (if @ full power). Will each hot leg of the 240 circuit be carrying 50amp of will if 25amp on each leg? I'll never run it at full power, but I need to know for wire gauge sizing. __________________ Gave up messing with computers for a bit. It's just my Macbook and my iPhone. :) Poop!
	QUOTE Thanks

07-27-10, 09:32 PM	#2
bchur83 Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Land of 10,000 Lakes	Both legs will take 50A. You would use a dual pole 50A breaker with at least 6ga wire. __________________ Main Rig: Asus P8Z68 Pro Gen3 * Core i7 2600K @ 4.4Ghz * 8GB (2x 4GB) Mushkin Blackline PC3-1600 * GeForce GTX 560TI 448 1280MB * 6TB Storage * LG BD/RW * Lian-Li PC-V2000B * Dell 24" 2407FPW & Asus 24" VS248H Backup Rig: Gigabyte EP45-UD3P * C2Q Q9400 @ 3.2Ghz * 4GB (2x 2GB) G-Skill PC2-8000 * Sapphire Radeon 4870 512MB * 320GB Storage * Samsung SH-S203N DVD+/-RW * Apex Full Tower Case * 2x Dell 19" LCD HTPC: Abit IP35PRO * C2D E6600 @ Stock * 2GB G-Skill PC6400 * Geforce 8600GT 256MB * 640GB Storage * Lite On 16x DVD-ROM * 55" Samsung 1080p 3D LED LCD via HDMI Media Server: DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra-D * A64 3800+ X2 * 1GB PC3200 * Powercolor X800XL * 14TB Storage * Lite On 16x DVD-RW Heatware
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07-27-10, 10:47 PM	Thread Starter #3
schnikies79 Member Join Date: Jul 2004	Thanks! It's only 20% duty cycle so I don't have to run 6ga, but thanks! NEC Art. 630 __________________ Gave up messing with computers for a bit. It's just my Macbook and my iPhone. :) Poop!
	QUOTE Thanks

07-28-10, 12:22 AM	#4
Mpegger Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: NYC	I'll probably be wrong on this (I don't deal with any 240VAC circuits), but isn't it 25A on both phases for a total of 50A? __________________ NZXT Switch 810 / Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R / i7 980x @ 3997x6, 4130x1 / 24GiB / 560Ti SLi ESXi server / i7-3770s / 32GiB / 16TB ZFS-z2 ----------------------------- [GB ≠ GiB] [MB ≠ MiB] [kB ≠ kiB] "Apparently, Plaintiff believes that he could sue an egg company for fraud for labeling a carton of 12 eggs a “dozen,” because some bakers would view a “dozen” as including 13 items." - Western Digital 2006 "One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer" - Hitler (Microsucks) Avatar and quote on loan from AntmanMike Heatware
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07-30-10, 08:26 PM	#5
Bobnova Air Superiority Senior Member Benching Team Leader Join Date: May 2009 Location: Humboldt	The two phases are connected together, in DC terms think of it as a +120v wire and a -120v wire, all the electrons flow through both wires and hence 50a goes through both wires. That is one hell of a welder, 12,000 watts? __________________ "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." -- Einstein (maybe) How to check your PSU with a multimeter. 17bXw5t51rEBXGavJFMJsC8g7HQgThUGc7 Heatware.
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