bits of extension cord and 110 volt vs 220 volt outlet related info.

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
I don't know about your shop, but in mine I have over decades found that you'll need access to several reasonably long extension cords,
and in most case commercially available extension cords are both rather flimsy and certainly not made correctly,
to handle the electrical loads you more than likely require.(especially if you want to plug in a 220 volt tool like a welder on any extension cord!
extension cords you generally see for sale for home use are almost always designed for 110 volt outlet use
if you don,t understand the differences in 220 single phase and 110 volt single phase you need an electricians help
,or at least you should take the time to do related research,

if you require an extension cord for a 220 volt welder you'll generally have to fabricate it yourself ,
out of 8 ga stranded copper cable and connectors you purchase for that custom made application,
its rather easy to do but its not cheaply done!



110 volt outlets have one hot lead, one neutral and generally a ground,
where a 220 volt outlet as two hot leads and a neutral, and in many case a fourth lead (ground)

Each 110-volt circuit connects to a single bus bar and has only one hot wire, so only one circuit breaker is needed.
By contrast, a 220-volt circuit connects to both bus bars, so two breakers are needed – one for each bus bar and each wire that connects to that bar.



you also need to have both 110 volt 20 amp outlets and 220 volt outlets generally the 220 volt outlets require a minimum of 10 gauge wire and 8 gauge wire is frequently mandatory on higher amp draw applications such as a welder.



A 110V outlet (and plug) has only one hot terminal, and the hot wire is always black. ... if you use the standard wire config
Because 220-volt circuits carry higher current, they require 10 gauge or larger wire,
whereas the normal maximum wire size in a 110-volt circuit is 12 gauge. The terminal screws in 220V plugs and outlets are accordingly larger.
a v220 volt outlet generally has
a black power lead,
a second RED power lead,
a white neutral lead ,
and a green ground conductor,
yes a 220 volt welder can be set up to use a three conductor extension cord,

I was recently over at a friends shop where he was trying to use a portable MIG welder out in his drive way,
to do minor repairs and he just could not understand why the MIG welder kept tripping the shop breaker every few minutes,
and he could never get the MIG welder to work at all.
he was using a 100 ft long 16 ga copper extension cord on the MIG, welder , plugged into a dual 110 volt wall outlet that was rated at 15 amps:crying::swearing:
not only was this a 220 volt welder, he was trying to use with a jury rigged 110 volt extension cord,
but he was trying to use it with a jury rigged adapter, on both ends
where he had wired two 120 volt plugs from the same dual electrical outlet, :worried::swearing:
thinking that would allow him to operate the 220 volt welder on an existing 120 volt extension cord,
I looked at this and gave that rig an (A) for effort
but then had to explain that a 120 volt outlet on the same phase on both sides of the fuse panel would never provide a 220 volt feed and the extension cord would almost instantly melt, the extension cord,
even if he had managed to feed that absurd/ dangerous, jury rigged wiring

he was one of the guys who only reads instruction when all else fails

as a general rule Id strongly suggest you bite the financial bullet and kick in the added cost to purchase ,
nothing smaller in gauge than three conductor ,10 ga copper wire ,
if you want to have few issues and work safely, with a 110 volt extension cord,
and yeah there's a difference between stranded wire and solid copper electrical conductor cord ,
used in wiring a structure, which is generally far stiffer and noticeably more difficult to work with.
yeah, if you take the effort to actually read the info on the extension cords you own chances are rather good,
that many are made from much smaller gauge wire.
if you require a 220 volt extension cord it will require a 4 conductor 8 ga cable in most cases and the male and female plugs generally look fare different than a 110 volt outlet most home use, it will generally look like the drier or stove outlet and require a dual pole breaker
Wire-Gauge-Chart.jpg

the diameter of the cable and insulation is generally NOT a reliable way to check or verify the gauge or current carrying capacity of the extension cord, and yes any decent extension cord is going to be rather expensive compared to the more common crap sold and used by many of the people who just don't understand why conductor gauge maters
many people will look at something like this, linked extension cord and simply opt for a much cheaper extension cord,
from some vendor like home depot pr Walmart.
then be clueless as to why the tool they use, connected to it, just does not function correctly.


now this cord linked below is certainly not ideal, and you can fabricate one yourself from easily available cable and connectors
but its sure to be far better made and cheaper in the long term, in cost than purchasing several lower quality extension cords , that many of the guys buy , extension cords most of us use before we understood what current. amps and voltage terms meant

read a few links






 
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