Extension cord?

[newbiesmith]

How safe is it to use a homemade/store-bought extension cord for a welder? I'm thinking that the extension cord will need to be 50' for it to go from the car port, through the mud room and down the steps into the baseement to where it will plug into the dryer outlet.

If it is safe, any recommendations on guides on how to make one? Also can I have the ends of this cord setup so that there is a different end that plugs into the dryer from the one that will plug into the welder (basically a way of adapting the plugs.

I've been uncomfortable with tackling something like this since it could cause a fire but if it can be safely done I'd like to give it a try.

-Dan

[BORZ]

normally it shouldn't be a problem.i've been using my welder more than less with extension cables,and had no problem about safety.they should not be winded up,and must have correct grounding.I use a thick cable,not to loose power.(i dont have experience over 180 amp., but under it i never had problem).on my mig i put industrial plugger,so i made an extension cable for that setup,it works for 10 years now.(about 15 m-maybe 45 feet - long.

[Dodge]

I had to make such a cord and used it for many years. Mine was actually 120' of 3/10 cable. (3 wire, 10 ga).There was some voltage drop and resistance which seems to effect the duty cycle of the welder but, Ya do what ya gotta do It would get slightly warm after long periods of welding; not uncomfortably warm to the bare hand, but it worked. You certainly can and may have to put different ends on the cord as was my case. The male end needs to fit the dryer outlet and the female end needs to fit the welder. Otherwise, you would have to change the welder cord (I did not want to do this), or you have to change the dryer outlet. Don't know about others, but my wife would frown if she could no longer plug in the dryer. You could change that too but where does it end?? LOL. I have since installed three 220 outlets in my garage so I don't need the cord. I can plug in welder, plaz, and air compressor without unplugging anything else. (With the exception of air use with the plaz, I don't use any of these at the same time so there is no overload on the 50 amp circuit). True, the compressor may cycle during plaz use but as the compressor is only 15 amps and the plaz is 27 max, I'm still within the 50 amp capacity.

[newbiesmith]

Blast it. After reading your posts I decided to go for it. I went down stairs to get the configuration for the dryer outlet and discovered that my landlord is just like me. He's pretty frugal. The dryer is wired directly into the 220. So no outlet. So I'm back to where I started. I think I may just give him a call and see if he has an outlet hid somewhere out in the shed. He's renting us his old home and gave us free reign of his shed and out buildings.

Hopefully he'll be receptive. I'm pretty sure he had a welder in there because I saw a helmet hanging on the wall and an old box of rods on a shelf in the corner. Keep your fingers crossed for me guys.

-Dan

[Speeddy]

What size welder?How far are you going to run it?

[JAllcorn]

I bought a 100' roll of #6-2 w/ ground, put ends on it and use it from my Miller Trailblazer 302 to power my Dynasty 200 TIG machine on the 2nd and 3rd floor of buildings. Just be sure your wire is large enough to accommodate the amps and allow for voltage drop. Don't EVER cheat on wire size, always go UP if in question.
JA

[welder19]

You should be able to find a wire size for amperage chart on-line that will tell you what size wire to use for specific amp load and the max length, you can only go a certain length then you have to go up in wire size.
Extension cords are perfectly safe as long as they are made properly and to spec.

welder19