Welders come in all sizes and some require much more power than others. We offer welders in both 120V or 240V that a hobbyist or professional can use. If your welder is tripping your breaker in the fuse box of your garage or home there could be a few reasons why. Make sure you troubleshoot the issue immediately to make sure that you don’t cause a dangerous situation. Below are the common reasons we’ve seen welders or plasma cutters causing a breaker to trip.
1.Breaker Size Adequate- Believe it or not most welders do require a larger breaker than an average home would have as standard. For instance if you’re using a 240V outlet that was meant to run a dryer or another common household item it might have a breaker that’s on the small side for a welder. For instance our MIG 250 welder has a potential 250 amp output and we suggest using a dedicated 50 Amp breaker with it. A smaller 30 Amp breaker may work, but if you’re doing longer welds on higher settings you will likely trip the breaker. Check with your electrician on if an extra dedicated 240V outlet can be added or if your existing can be upgraded to a 50 amp breaker.
2. Old Wiring or Breaker- If you have an older building you’re working out of it may have an older breaker box and the breakers themselves can go bad or get weak overtime and trip much easier. If your welder is functioning fine but is tripping the breaker quickly you can try replacing the breaker itself to see if it will work better. We suggest having an electrician look over the wiring and breakers first before changing anything out.
3. Dual Voltage Welder- With modern inverter welders more and more companies are offering welders that work off of 120 or 240V input and this means while the machine might be able to output up to say 200 Amps that doesn’t mean it requires less voltage input. So this means if you have your welder plugged into a 120V outlet you can’t necessarily weld at 200 amps as it will trip the breaker. Most dual voltage welders and plasma cutters can only run at about half their potential when on 120V. If you’re having trouble try turning the machine down and see if you can weld at a lower amperage.
4. Welder Functioning Correctly- Occasionally welders do fail and they can trip the breaker. If your welder trips the breaker as soon as you plug it in try plugging another known-good item into that same outlet and see if it does the same. If not it may be your welder. Try it at another outlet and see if it does the same at another outlet. Most welders that fail completely like this will trip the breaker as soon as you plug it in. Contact your welder manufacturer immediately to troubleshoot. Eastwood backs their welders with a 3 Year No Hassle warranty on all welders and plasma cutters.
Find our entire welder, plasma cutter, and fabrication accessories at Eastwood.com .