My hobart 125 is constantly flipping breakers

After about 10-15 seconds of welding the breaker goes. the welder is FORSURE at max duty cycle welding notch/frame/ bag mounts and the heat is maxed out. I still dont think it should be popping breakers all the time. I have tried multiple breakers in my house even the outside plugs hoping they would be rated a little higher but still no luck. The house i live in was built within the past 8 years so the electrical should be fine.

I know running a generator would probably solve my problem but i dont really want to spend 500 on one. Does anyone know of a device that would stop my 110 plug welder from flipping breakers?

I would like a larger welding so i could run 225 but my garage isnt run for it nor do i want to spend $1000+ on a new welder right now. Is there a sort of 225 adapter for a 120 plug? The laundry room is right inside the garage door so if there is such a device it would work out.


thanks for looking

What are you welding, and what size breaker is used for the circuit your welder is on? Have you tried preheating your metal?

thanks for the quick reply. i have been welding the notch and the front bag brackets to the frame so 3/8th to frame and notch to notch to frame. I dont know forsure just a regular household breaker, i could pull the panel and see if it shows the ratings.

I have not tried preheating the metal but that sounds like a good idea. do you really think this could stop the breaker from going? when i say going im not talking about 5 minuts, im talking ALL the time constanting having to run downstairs and flip it with ever 3" of weld

thanks!

It could help the welder not have to draw as many amps if you preheat the metal. I also use a 120v welder but my breakers are 15amp. You should see what size breaker it's on. If you know what else is on the circuit you could try unplugging everything else so the welder is the only thing on the circuit. You've probably done this but make sure the metal that the ground is connected to is clean, and closer to where you are welding.

You probably just have something else on the circuit that is drawing a considerable amount of amps.

The ground is close to the weld and i have every thing else unplugged on the circuit besides a dewalt battery charger i JUST remeber about behind my work bench. I will have to try to preheat the metal and see how that goes.

thanks!

What size is the breaker? Also know that any breaker is really not meant to be used to handle more than 80% of it's rated load. So if you've got a 15A breaker, it shouldn't see more than 12A. I'm willing to bet you're welder wants a 20A...

I'm 99% sure that preheating will not help your issue at all, if it does, it'll be negligible. It will help you get a good amount of penetration and start your puddle easier, and sooner, but thats about it. If you're dialed in to be putting 100A though that steel, you're putting 100A through that steel. How efficiently that 100A is being put to use is that is going to change for you. Not what is being drawn.

Also, it would be better to get this sorted sooner, rather than later as, I'm sure you know anyway, but starting and stopping you're welds on a large piece like that isn't the best as you're constantly going back over the last weld a little to make sure you got good penetration and burn back over you're cold, porous stuff from when the breaker flipped. Just not that great, and a real PITA.

You could try looking behind that breaker. If the wire gauge/run length in there is appropriate for a 20A, you could just put a larger breaker. Just MAKE SURE you've got heavy enough wire to handle that much current. The longer you're run, the heavier gauge wire you'll need. But unless you're getting upwards of 100', 12g would be fine for that. There's a chance thats what was used too, but may have gone with 14g, in which case, you're maxed out...




Oh yeah... I guess a big question is whether this is a new issue or not. If this hasn't been happening all along, forget everything I said and have your welder serviced. Something aint right.

If you have a pretty normal house, it is likely that you already have 20A breakers.

If you think about this, you are creating an artificial short at the end of a circuit, You are drawing so much current that the breaker is unable to keep up with the demand.

You are going to have a certain amount of resistance in the circuit, which lowers the amount of current available at your welder.

There are formulas to demonstrate this.

So one thing you can do is get your welding setup closer to the fuse box. Less distance equals less resistance due to the wire travel.

I wouldn't keep trying to weld through a breaker telling you no. You are overloading your circuit. If the breaker gets stuck you might end up starting a fire inside of your walls somewhere.