On Thu, 30 Oct 2014 14:42:45 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Thursday, October 30, 2014 3:47:56 PM UTC-4, Ned Simmons wrote:


You might look into power factor correction caps for the welder.
There's plenty of misinformation about this online without my adding
to it, but my understanding is that a welder with PF correction will
draw more current at idle, but less under load. Not sure what it'll
do, if anything, about surges.

I think your understanding is wrong. With power factor correction the current at idle will be less. Under load it will also be less, but the difference may be almost unmeasureable.

See the table on page 12 of this Miller manual:
http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o353u_mil.pdf

Idle current with PFC is over 10x the current without PFC.


--
Ned Simmons