Welding with a pacemaker

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Oldiron440

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So my heart Doctor is trying to talk me into a pacemaker so I'm curious what living with one is like. Can you weld mig or tig, use you cellphone etc.? The thing that bothers me is not welding.
I know theres a few other old farts besides me here what have you got to say?
 
My buddy has a pacemaker, he bring stuff for me to weld.
Or he has me come up and use his welder.
He has to stay a good distance away from it.

So to answer your question, no you cannot weld, or be around it.
 
Cell phone you’d be OK. Welding might be bad. I have a buddy that has one and he got zapped working on a car motor once.
 
That's a good question.

You know how touchy it is to weld on a computer car. Recommended always disconnect the battery before welding.

Don't want that welding current of any type passing through your body to get to ground, could zap the pace maker.

When working on delicate computers they recommended a wrist ground strap to help bleed off any static electricity from your body to keep from zapping the components.

You know like walking across the rug building up static electricity.

Just some thoughts.

Would think you would have to be 100% insulated, standing on a rubber mat, not touching any part of your body to the ground side of the project you are working on. Like your elbows.

Good question, let's hear what others say about it.
 
I read in a magazine that a mig was salf but tig wasn't. But ive gotten zapped by a mig welder but not a tig.
 
I don't know from experience but I'd imagine even if you grounded yourself, had insulating clothes etc. the intense arc from welding might produce an electric/magnetic field strong enough to affect the pacemaker since it's likely less than a foot away from what you're welding. Just a thought though I really don't know for sure.
 
Years ago, when microwave ovens first became popular, and you'd see them at 7-11's, minimarts, etc they would have a warning sign about use near pacemakers. Don't know if that was a real problem then, or if it's an issue, now.
 
Magnets or magnetic fields - Biggest Danger
Cellphone in top pocket bad idea.
Getting zapped by your Accel Super Coil - can't be good.
 
I don't know from experience but I'd imagine even if you grounded yourself, had insulating clothes etc. the intense arc from welding might produce an electric/magnetic field strong enough to affect the pacemaker since it's likely less than a foot away from what you're welding. Just a thought though I really don't know for sure.
This, with the magnetic lines of flux thrown off from the high current going through the stinger (TIG/MIG/Stick) your pacemaker isn’t going to like it. At work we had fairly big degausser for magnetic tapes and there were warning lights to the room we had to turn it on anytime it was powered up so people with pacemakers would know.
 
If the pace maker had an on off switch on it, you could turn it off for welding, then turn it back on again when done.

Maybe there is an app for a phone for that.

Don't know, grabbing at straws here.

Could switch over to oxy acetylene gas welding for the small parts you want to weld, like linkage rods and brackets.

No electricity with gas welding.

And yes working on cars, got to be careful to not get zapped from those high energy ignition systems, pulling a plug wire while running and zap Ouch!

Pace makers, got to be happy to be alive in the first place. Everything else is just icing on the cake.
 
I have a Defibrillator with a pacer as secondary function since 2011
It is not recommended to operate a welder as it generates an electromagnetic field which could interfere with the operation of the pacer or defibrillator
It might trigger it or prevent it from pacing
I called mfg and couldn’t get a straight answer Just not recommended
That said. My unit never went off
I do weld IE TACK WELD ONLY MIG
Intermittently only and I only returned to weld in 2019. Without any issues
I have the welder as far away as possible and my back to it
Now. Should I ? Probably not
Should you ? NO. DEFINITELY NOT
The welding could interfere with the pacing - make it go up instead of down or stop it altogether while it’s trying to pace
It’s the magnetic field that’s the issue
Also NO ignition work with engine running. That’s worst than welding
Hope this helps. Stay alive.
 
If it is needed for a heart rhythm electrical problem vs. just a low heart rate they put in a combo unit pacemaker/defibrillator PM/ICD
You don't want to set one of those off by mistake because it's like getting kicked in the chest by a mule.

Risk vs Reward.
It could save a life for 10 or more years or kill a patient during install.
Messed up part, It keeps going after death and has to be turned off. Believe me...not fun for family.
The survival stats on PMers is very good, those needing ICD not that great
 
I would carefully research this and follow the advice of professionals. High power stick welders generate TERRIFIC magnetic fields. You ever in a shop with a welder---and the leads were strung across the floor to a "job?" The magnetic field will make the welding leads dance

Tig/ Mig you are sometimes much closer to the lead, because of the way the cable is made. I would not cheat on this.

The problems TO a pacemeaker are entirely different between a welder and a microwave oven, or a cellphone. With the last two, the danger (if it exists) is that they radiate UHF/ SHF radio waves. The welder generates HF or MF radio waves with the arc, and very high magnetic fields with the current through the leads
 
There are at least three ideas being mixed together here.
Magnetic fields
Electric fields
Electric shock

Magnetic fields from welding come primarily from the welder transformer. It is very difficult to shield from magnetic fields. The metal case of a welder does nothing for a magnetic field. The good news is that the magnetic drops off with the square of the distance. That means that means that if you move from 1 foot to 10 feet away, the magnetic field drops by a factor of 100. So keeping as far away from the welder as possible is a good idea.

Electric fields are caused by the current flowing in the welding cables (magnetic fields are generated too, but are small). A lot of electric field is caused by the arc of the welder. Electric fields can be easily shielded by metal, however the container would need to be well sealed for maximum shielding. Electric fields are also generated by ignition systems. Electric fields also fall off with the square of the distance. Bad news is you can’t stay away from the arc very well when you are welding.

Electric shock has to have a physical conductive path. You have to get your hand on the plug wire, or get close enough for it to arc to you. You don’t have to be very far away to keep from getting shocked. High voltage stand off in air is about 10,000 volts per inch. For a 40,000 volt ignition system, that means you only need to be about 4 inches away. *****edit, did my math backwards*****

Modern electronic devices like pacemakers are hardened to all of the above threats. How much? It is hard to say if you are safe without knowing a lot of detail about the threat.

I don’t really have an answer after this long winded explanation. I just am trying to identify the threats. If you understand the threats you can be better prepared.

If you are worried about magnetic or electric fields, then a drill held too close to your chest could be a big threat.
 
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There are at least three ideas being mixed together here.
Magnetic fields
Electric fields
Electric shock



Electric fields are caused by the current flowing in the welding cables (magnetic fields are generated too, but are small). t.

No that is not quite true. The high current in the cables generates strong magnetic fields, which is what causes and why I mentioned the cables "dancing around." A magnetic field, for example, is what causes a traditional type "clamp on" ammeter to operate, what we used to call an 'amprobe'. The magnetic field(s) generated by the current in the welding cables is nothing to sneeze at.

If you want to "see" this sometime, and if you have a good 200 or more amp DC welder, coil one of the cables up somewhat, and strike a big heavy current arc. The cables will MOVE!!

The transformer field is actually quite contained, by some measure. This is simply because the conductors are wrapped around the core, and the core poles are (such as E core) form what you might call a magnetic circuit. Something that is much better is a toroidal core (a doughnut core) These, used primarily for higher frequency transformers such as switch mode power supplies, computer supplies, just about any "wall wort" of late have very very little magnetic leakage because of the construction of the core
Arc gouging at 400A


 
Wow. I've got a pacemaker/defibrillator and I never thought about welding issues. My cardiologist did recommend not putting a cell phone in a chest pocket, as someone mentioned. I believe on later models, it is okay to use high frequency cleaners that the dentists use. You can check with the AICD maker, but it is hard to get an answer. If the defibrillator goes off, you will never forget it. I lived in fear every second of the day for the next three months after mine went off. I was even afraid to cough. Now I need to ask about welding.
 
Well and it might be "of note" that some modern ignition systems output are just plain LETHAL--regardless of pacemaker or not, your age, or condition of your heart. Some of these modern systems, if you were to get a good solid zap from one arm to the other IE through your chest, could kill you, and if not directly, might cause you to fall into the engine.
 
The other issues I "could guess" with welders that add trouble spots are plasma and TIG, which both use HF components (arc starter/ stabilizer, etc) and these, along with the arc, generate tremendous interference across the RF spectrum. As a radio amateur (who is no longer very active at all) I cannot imagine living anywhere near a welding shop or even an avid home fabricator. Any welder can wipe out radio reception on many frequencies for a very wide area, on many frequency bands. Regardless of the contention by some that FM radio is less supceptable to RF noise, this generated noise raises the "noise floor" and can reduce weak signal reception. In other words, "it's annoying."
 
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