"Mark" wrote in message
om...
I've never welded anything before but always had the interest to
tinker around with metal building stuff so I finally bought a MIG
welder yesterday. Through various friends' input who work in the
sheet metal industry and research on the web I decided on a new
millermatic 175 that I got at local welding supply store for $625.

I still have to wire in my outlet for it and was reading the owner's
manual. It says the input voltage is 230, input amps at rated output
is 20, Max recommended circuit breaker in amperes is 20, Minimum input
conductor size in AWG is 14, minimum grounding conductor in AWG is 12.

I'm not an electrician but I have wired up my electrical box in my
garage but doesn't a 20 amp breaker on a welder seem low? The outlet
is a 50 amp outlet and I had planned on running 4AWG wire to it with a
50 amp double pole circuit breaker switch. Can this still be used
without doing any damage to the welder?

Also, the 4AWG wire I have is solid copper instead of stranded. Is
one better than the other?

Wire it up to a circuit breaker and go. Your wiring is adequate. The
welder will only pull amperage when it is welding, aside from the small draw
for the fan motor.

If you were to weld a piece that is 20 feet long, it would heat up, but you
will be doing intermittent welds with a wirefeed with pauses inbetween, and
you will not even approach popping a breaker.

Yes, it is a welder, but you are welding in a much lower amperage rating
than if you were burning heavy rods. The machine is a 230v. machine, but
you will rarely be welding full throttle, and mostly it will be in the lower
ranges where the amp draw is waaaay under your breaker rating. If you need
to weld anything thick and turn it way up and run it for a long time, you
would be better to do it with rod instead because of cold lap and lack of
fusion in the weld.

HTH. Try sci.engr.joining.welding for additional information and help as
you progress on your learning curve. Lots of helpful guys and gals there,
too.

Steve