[mechanic416]

As long as the o-ring seals it will be fine. A little silicone grease on the o-ring will help it seal also.

 

[HRTKD]

Figures the newer model comes out after I order one. Lol Either way. My first tig. Is this still a good kit that was mentioned earlier in the thread:?

https://weldmongerstore.com/collections/frontpage/products/tig-hardware-bundle

Anything else I should look into getting? Only welding I do now is mig. While researching there are all kinds of nifty things to get....

I've read that tungsten colors aren't as big a concern as before with the transformer machines?

Tig welding has a steep learning curve. I haven't even lit an arc yet...

Did you order the TIG kit? I've been looking at that kit, but I don't know enough about the components to know if it fits the TIG225x that I ordered. I know the torch that comes with the 225x is a #17, but that's all I know about it.

 

[HRTKD]

The PrimeWeld manual calls for a 50 amp breaker for 220v. But in the specifications section, it looks like it's only going to pull about 33 amps. I have a 40 amp 220v circuit in my garage that I've used for 20 years for tables saws and an EV. After an email conversation with my electrician (a relative), I think it may take a lot of work and expense to upgrade the circuit to a full 50 amp rating.

I don't want to be unsafe. I really hate half-assing things. But now is not a good time to have to shell out what he's recommending, which is all new wiring from the main panel, to include replacing the existing garage breakers with GFI.

Is the PrimeWeld going to work on the existing 40 amp circuit? I'm not welding thick aluminum, not more than 1/8". This is all small stuff right now, just to learn how and get familiar with the machine.

 

[DavidR8]

I’ve got mine on a 40A and it works great. Had it up to 200A and no problems. At the time the wiring was exposed in the wall and it wasn’t even warm.

 

[mechanic416]

The PrimeWeld manual calls for a 50 amp breaker for 220v. But in the specifications section, it looks like it's only going to pull about 33 amps. I have a 40 amp 220v circuit in my garage that I've used for 20 years for tables saws and an EV. After an email conversation with my electrician (a relative), I think it may take a lot of work and expense to upgrade the circuit to a full 50 amp rating.

I don't want to be unsafe. I really hate half-assing things. But now is not a good time to have to shell out what he's recommending, which is all new wiring from the main panel, to include replacing the existing garage breakers with GFI.

Is the PrimeWeld going to work on the existing 40 amp circuit? I'm not welding thick aluminum, not more than 1/8". This is all small stuff right now, just to learn how and get familiar with the machine.

Yes it will work fine on a 40 amp line. Please don't cut the plug off the welder. Just install a new 6-50R to plug it into.

 

[HRTKD]

I have a question about how to know what the settings are on my machine. The AC Frequency knob has a range of 40 to 200. In the position shown in the picture, what would you come up with for a number? I figured the range is 160 (200 minus 40) so half of that would be 80. 80 + 40 = 120. The knob is just a bit counterclockwise of center, so I'm guessing the frequency is 115 Hz.

 

[Tillerdemon]

That’s correct, you are sitting around 115’sh.

 

[MatHelm]

Mines been working fine on a 30 amp circuit.

 

[mechanic416]

I have a question about how to know what the settings are on my machine. The AC Frequency knob has a range of 40 to 200. In the position shown in the picture, what would you come up with for a number? I figured the range is 160 (200 minus 40) so half of that would be 80. 80 + 40 = 120. The knob is just a bit counterclockwise of center, so I'm guessing the frequency is 115 Hz.

View attachment 1725311

it starts at 40 then the first gray line on the left is 80. Straight up on the gray line is 120. Next gray line on the right is 160 and then on to 200

 

[HRTKD]

That’s correct, you are sitting around 115’sh.

it starts at 40 then the first gray line on the left is 80. Straight up on the gray line is 120. Next gray line on the right is 160 and then on to 200

Thank you for the confirmations.

 

[ceejaye]

hi all,
bought a primeweld tig225 but having trouble connect the device to power supply. i live in europe and we have 230v, 16A here in standard outlets but according to primeweld 16A is not enough. in the user manual there is only mention of "rated input current" of 33.3 Ampere @230V but no mention of a current range for the input for the machine to work. the primeweld employee i emailed refused to answer the question multiple times so i am turning you to you wonderful beings.
so my question is: what is the lowest current of power supply @230V that worked for you?

 

[mechanic416]

230 volts 33.5 amps minimum if you want to use all 225 amps of output. On a 16 amp service you will only be able to use about 1/2 the output or about 120 amps.

 

[G-ManBart]

hi all,
bought a primeweld tig225 but having trouble connect the device to power supply. i live in europe and we have 230v, 16A here in standard outlets but according to primeweld 16A is not enough. in the user manual there is only mention of "rated input current" of 33.3 Ampere @230V but no mention of a current range for the input for the machine to work. the primeweld employee i emailed refused to answer the question multiple times so i am turning you to you wonderful beings.
so my question is: what is the lowest current of power supply @230V that worked for you?

I wouldn't expect a company to answer that sort of question, for a number of reasons. They base their specifications on a certain input power and all of their charts and performance specs are based upon that. They may not have even tested a machine at half rated amperage to see what happens...no real reason to I can think of. Here in the U.S. the lowest amperage 230V circuit you will normally see is 30A. In many cases you can get rated output power with a circuit breaker quite a bit smaller than the specs call for, but how much will vary on a number of factors....actual voltage, quality of the circuit breaker, size of the wires, etc.

There's a good chance you'll get somewhat more than 50% output amperage on 16A input, but until you hook it up and try it, there's no way to know.

 

[ceejaye]

I wouldn't expect a company to answer that sort of question, for a number of reasons. They base their specifications on a certain input power and all of their charts and performance specs are based upon that. They may not have even tested a machine at half rated amperage to see what happens...no real reason to I can think of. Here in the U.S. the lowest amperage 230V circuit you will normally see is 30A.

thank you for your answer. the fact that the lowest amperage of a 230V circuit in america is 30A gives me some idea of assumptions made.
would love to know if anybody has tested the welder at 25A, an local electrician told me that creating anything above 25A would cost an arm and a leg.

In many cases you can get rated output power with a circuit breaker quite a bit smaller than the specs call for, but how much will vary on a number of factors....actual voltage, quality of the circuit breaker, size of the wires, etc.

how would that work? i am not following you.

I wouldn't expect a company to answer that sort of question, for a number of reasons. They base their specifications on a certain input power and all of their charts and performance specs are based upon that. They may not have even tested a machine at half rated amperage to see what happens...no real reason to I can think of.

i personally do not know a company besides primeweld that does not specify the assumptions for power supply in their own specs AND plainly refuses to answer the question what current range is needed for a device to work. as of the reason why to test and show those specs: because the world is bigger then the USA and everywhere are different standards in power supply so some need to make adaptations to their power to make the welder work if it does not work with their standard power supply : all other brands work with 230v/16A without a problem.

 

[duramax-rob]

the 230v 33amp rating is to protect you, your house wiring and the machine. all three need protecting. the house wiring has to match the the circuit breaker size, no smaller but wire can be bigger than rated breaker or fuse. just not smaller. if smaller and breaker doesn't trip, could start fire from overload and burn house. that why welders arte rated at a MINIMUM amperage.

hope this was stated right. if not please correct

 

[ceejaye]

the 230v 33amp rating is to protect you, your house wiring and the machine. all three need protecting. the house wiring has to match the the circuit breaker size, no smaller but wire can be bigger than rated breaker or fuse. just not smaller. if smaller and breaker doesn't trip, could start fire from overload and burn house. that why welders arte rated at a MINIMUM amperage.

hope this was stated right. if not please correct

i totally get that the wiring from the breaker to the welder should be able to take more current then the breaker rating.
not following how you arrive at the conclusion that welders are rated at a MINIMUM amperage. would you be willing to explain?

the only thing i can imagine is that if the welder asks more power then the rating of the circuitbreaker it wil switches off during welding. but this would be more like an inconvinience then a safety issue if the circuit braker is the designed bottleneck and not the wiring. please correct me if the reasoning is incorrect.

 

[frieed]

I think Rob was referring to minimum power circuit amperage to handle the maximum current draw of the machine.

 

[TheWeldingMan]

I am completely new here but this thread and alot of other research has led me to purchase this machine. Welding is my career and have been at it for 16 years.
I'm pretty excited to purchase it. I did own a lincoln square wave 175 about 12 years ago.
The main thing that I've been searching for at this point is who is making them in china. What Factory. Is it a big name or new comer. There's a few machines that all look alike but this one has been getting a cult following like none other

 

[G-ManBart]

how would that work? i am not following you.

I'm not an electrician, much less an electrical theory expert, but I think the basic theory isn't too complicated. When you're talking about circuit breakers, amp draws, etc there are a lot of factors involved. The machine is only 230V in theory....in reality it's capable of working properly within a range of voltage. Then there's the supply....it might be called 230V, but often it's different (often higher). Then there's your breaker....it might be labelled 30A, but it takes more than that to trip them, and no two are identical and then there's a time factor as well.

Manufacturers are going to be conservative when they say how much power you need to supply just in case someone is trying to just barely get by, or a machine happens to wind up with a component that's a bit less than ideal. That means the listed required input power is probably a worst case scenario. Then you've got a supply which is probably a bit higher than listed....so you're really getting 240V rather than 230V and that lowers the amp load. Then you've got a breaker which takes more amperage to trip than listed, and it doesn't happen instantaneously. All of that adds up to a situation where the welder might have 50A listed as the required input for rated output, but the machine will have no problem putting out rated output on a circuit with a smaller breaker.

As an example, my Miller Syncrowave 250DX is listed as needing 96A at 230V to put out 250A. I normally run it on a 60A breaker, but have run it at 250A output on a 40A breaker with no problems. I'd love to know what the actual amp draw is, but I can't imagine you can pull 96A through a 40A breaker for more than a few seconds without tripping the breaker.

i personally do not know a company besides primeweld that does not specify the assumptions for power supply in their own specs AND plainly refuses to answer the question what current range is needed for a device to work. as of the reason why to test and show those specs: because the world is bigger then the USA and everywhere are different standards in power supply so some need to make adaptations to their power to make the welder work if it does not work with their standard power supply : all other brands work with 230v/16A without a problem.

I certainly can't speak for any welder manufacturers, but all the machines I've owned list a required input power to achieve rated output power and seem to leave it at that.

 

[G-ManBart]

the 230v 33amp rating is to protect you, your house wiring and the machine. all three need protecting. the house wiring has to match the the circuit breaker size, no smaller but wire can be bigger than rated breaker or fuse. just not smaller. if smaller and breaker doesn't trip, could start fire from overload and burn house. that why welders arte rated at a MINIMUM amperage.

hope this was stated right. if not please correct

When it comes to welders, and the National Electric Code, this isn't actually correct. The NEC has a dedicated section to non-continuous loads, with a section on welders and how you calculate the wires and breakers for them.

The short version is that you can have a larger breaker for a given wire size than you would in a standard circuit. Since welders aren't continuous loads the wires have the opportunity to cool off, so the load can be higher. The code has a chart with multipliers....you factor the amp draw, duty cycle, etc and it will tell you how big a breaker you can run on a given wire size. In many cases you can go as much as double the breaker size compared with a standard circuit.

I believe it's code that the welder outlet is clearly marked so someone doesn't plug in something like a compressor and run it for 8 hours straight bead blasting a car frame or something similar.