Welding woes...frustrating!!

My 100A Craftsman stick welder had a strange plug end, the 2 blades were not parallel, but at a 90. Seems that is a NEMA 5-20 that is designed to only plug into a 20A circuit. I had to change out the receptical for a 5-20 that is backwards compatible to 15A (20A breaker on that circuit anyway) . My air compressor will barely chug along on an extension cord so I took a roll of 12-2 Romex and made a 25 foot extension cord with a single gang box at the end and a receptical. Works great but Romex is expensive now and is very stiff for a portable cord. try it straight off the wall and see if your breaker is a 20A on that circuit. Portable generators are $99 at good ol HF. IIRC they are under 1000W though. 20A @120V is 2400W. not sure what a welder pulls but its alot.

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