Almost got hurt today. PSA

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Cope

Fusing with fire
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Was at my buddy's shop and he was TIG welding. I noticed a funny smell and looks over at the welding area and i see smoke.
I walk over trying not to get arc flash and look around to see if he caught something on fire.

I'm not real clear on what happened next as it all happened real quick.

I think I noticed the cord on his new TIG was melting and why I did this I have no idea. I switched off the machine to keep it from getting fried and went to unplug the welder.
he has a long 50 amp cord running to this machine so I stepped on the cord with my shoe and pulled the plug with my bare hand. And BOOM!
THE CORD EXPLODED, big ball of light and a loud arc noise.....

It exploded about 2 or 3 inches from where I had grabbed it..
20190606_141626_zpsdhpcrpn1.jpg


This is a 20 amp cord plugged in to a 50 amp cord on a machine that pulls 40 amps....

Why the hell the machine came with a 20 amp cord and plug I have no idea. It clearly stated it pulls 40 amps right on it....


So let's all keep our hands and skin intact and FLIP THE DANG BREAKER before touching malfunctioning electrical components......

Man I got lucky......

I got hit before with 220 welding in the rain when I was a tower monkey and it took me 3 days before I felt ok...

If this had blown up in my hand it would have been all bad....
 
Agreed! Glad you escaped unharmed. Sadly it is just a simple fact if you weld long enough you will get shocked. Much like roofing houses, it does not matter how many years you have been doing it, occasionally ya smash your thumb with the hammer!
 
Was at my buddy's shop and he was TIG welding. I noticed a funny smell and looks over at the welding area and i see smoke.
I walk over trying not to get arc flash and look around to see if he caught something on fire.

I'm not real clear on what happened next as it all happened real quick.

I think I noticed the cord on his new TIG was melting and why I did this I have no idea. I switched off the machine to keep it from getting fried and went to unplug the welder.
he has a long 50 amp cord running to this machine so I stepped on the cord with my shoe and pulled the plug with my bare hand. And BOOM!
THE CORD EXPLODED, big ball of light and a loud arc noise.....

It exploded about 2 or 3 inches from where I had grabbed it..
View attachment 1715345765

This is a 20 amp cord plugged in to a 50 amp cord on a machine that pulls 40 amps....

Why the hell the machine came with a 20 amp cord and plug I have no idea. It clearly stated it pulls 40 amps right on it....


So let's all keep our hands and skin intact and FLIP THE DANG BREAKER before touching malfunctioning electrical components......

Man I got lucky......

I got hit before with 220 welding in the rain when I was a tower monkey and it took me 3 days before I felt ok...

If this had blown up in my hand it would have been all bad....
I’m glad you are ok, but I am forced to wonder why the breakers didn’t trip before you found the issue?

An overheating and shorting circuit should have tripped them long before you decided to pull the plug.
 
It's strange. It didn't even trip the small breaker on the TIG let alone trip the 50 amp on the wall?

The TIG was still running when I turned it off.

My big question is why a machine that can draw 40 amps came with a 20 amp cord and plug?

It was a Lincoln square wave, about a year old.

Even after the cord blew out the 50 amp breaker was still hot.
 
It's strange. It didn't even trip the small breaker on the TIG let alone trip the 50 amp on the wall?

The TIG was still running when I turned it off.

My big question is why a machine that can draw 40 amps came with a 20 amp cord and plug?

It was a Lincoln square wave, about a year old.

Even after the cord blew out the 50 amp breaker was still hot.
Yeah, multiple things not right there.
 
Yes sir. I'm not sure what is wrong but theres a whole lot of wrong going on.

If that had blown in my hand it was not shutting down.

When I got hit with 220 last time on the tower it was DC and it didn't shut down. Lucky my ground man was on it and noticed something was wrong. My electrode arced to the tower and my other arm locked up on the tower ring. I had burns on my arm through my heavy welding coat.

This should have shut down on its own.
 
Change the plug and then amp clamp it.
Was at my buddy's shop and he was TIG welding. I noticed a funny smell and looks over at the welding area and i see smoke.
I walk over trying not to get arc flash and look around to see if he caught something on fire.

I'm not real clear on what happened next as it all happened real quick.

I think I noticed the cord on his new TIG was melting and why I did this I have no idea. I switched off the machine to keep it from getting fried and went to unplug the welder.
he has a long 50 amp cord running to this machine so I stepped on the cord with my shoe and pulled the plug with my bare hand. And BOOM!
THE CORD EXPLODED, big ball of light and a loud arc noise.....

It exploded about 2 or 3 inches from where I had grabbed it..
View attachment 1715345765

This is a 20 amp cord plugged in to a 50 amp cord on a machine that pulls 40 amps....

Why the hell the machine came with a 20 amp cord and plug I have no idea. It clearly stated it pulls 40 amps right on it....


So let's all keep our hands and skin intact and FLIP THE DANG BREAKER before touching malfunctioning electrical components......

Man I got lucky......

I got hit before with 220 welding in the rain when I was a tower monkey and it took me 3 days before I felt ok...

If this had blown up in my hand it would have been all bad....
...................................

My bad....
You shut it off first.
I'm guessing the insulation melted and the two legs shorted.
 
That sucker was cranked up. It was pulling max amps.

I just cant understand why a machine that states it pulls 40 amps came with a 20 amp plug and cord?
 
I'm not sure but it hadn't been running long.
Maybe 5 min?

I have used this machine and it welds good. He has a water cooler hooked up and it runs on a dedicated 50 amp circuit.
 
That sucker was cranked up. It was pulling max amps.

I just cant understand why a machine that states it pulls 40 amps came with a 20 amp plug and cord?
........................................

As current goes up, duty cycle goes down.
The duty cycle should be labeled on the machine.
 
I assume you are saying this is a 20A cord based on the plug?

The specs say that the machine will pull 21A on single phase 120VAC, or 22A on 220VAC, if in the highest current mode (lowest duty cycle). (I don't see a 40A input current rating anywhere in the specs you provided.....???) So it looks like they are counting on your observing the duty cycle limits and current limits to make the cord survive.

I suspect post #10 is correct: the individual wire insulation inside the cord started to melt, either due to a fault or to excess duty cycle use, and you grabbed it in a way that moved the wires into direct contact.

BTW, running this on a 50A circuit is a problem. Breakers do not trip instantly at 1 A over current. They usually have both a thermal and a magnetic trip mechanism. The thermal is for long term mild overloads and the magnetic is for quick, very high overloads. You're not even close to tripping the thermal mechanism with this load. So only the magnetic portion would have helped here, but the magnetic trip rating is many times the faceplate rating on the breaker, so the cord's short circuit blew before the 150-200A magnetic trip rating of the breaker. It is not the right breaker rating for this load. Your buddy needs to put this on a 30A breaker IMHO; this looks like an inverter machine, so should not have a high overcurrent peaks like an old buzz box.
 
Was at my buddy's shop and he was TIG welding. I noticed a funny smell and looks over at the welding area and i see smoke.
I walk over trying not to get arc flash and look around to see if he caught something on fire.

I'm not real clear on what happened next as it all happened real quick.

I think I noticed the cord on his new TIG was melting and why I did this I have no idea. I switched off the machine to keep it from getting fried and went to unplug the welder.
he has a long 50 amp cord running to this machine so I stepped on the cord with my shoe and pulled the plug with my bare hand. And BOOM!
THE CORD EXPLODED, big ball of light and a loud arc noise.....

It exploded about 2 or 3 inches from where I had grabbed it..
View attachment 1715345765

This is a 20 amp cord plugged in to a 50 amp cord on a machine that pulls 40 amps....

Why the hell the machine came with a 20 amp cord and plug I have no idea. It clearly stated it pulls 40 amps right on it....


So let's all keep our hands and skin intact and FLIP THE DANG BREAKER before touching malfunctioning electrical components......

Man I got lucky......

I got hit before with 220 welding in the rain when I was a tower monkey and it took me 3 days before I felt ok...

If this had blown up in my hand it would have been all bad....

Might otta thank GOD !!
 
Man that's scary stuff! I'm glad you are a
Ok!! Electric stuff has always scared me.
 
Electrical safety tip of the day.
Never stand directly in front of a breaker box to energize or disconnect.
Stand to one side using one hand to do the task.
 
Electrical safety tip of the day.
Never stand directly in front of a breaker box to energize or disconnect.
Stand to one side using one hand to do the task.
Yep... I have the habit of putting one hand in my back pocket. Story: I found the main 200A breaker tripped on my house near Ft Wayne..... used a 3' long wood stick to reset it..... BLAMO! Like a grenade going off... due to a dead short between the 2 phases inside the panel. Glad I was 3'-4' away 'cuz I really jumped!

I used to work on some Navy 50,000W transmitters..... working around 5000-10,000 volts DC will make you veeeery careful.
 
And another thing.....
The breaker shouldn't be getting hot.
Heat equals resistance, is this in a damp location ?
 
I’m glad you are ok, but I am forced to wonder why the breakers didn’t trip before you found the issue?

An overheating and shorting circuit should have tripped them long before you decided to pull the plug.

It's strange. It didn't even trip the small breaker on the TIG let alone trip the 50 amp on the wall?

The TIG was still running when I turned it off.

My big question is why a machine that can draw 40 amps came with a 20 amp cord and plug?

It was a Lincoln square wave, about a year old.

Even after the cord blew out the 50 amp breaker was still hot.

I'll bet dollars that the breaker is Made In China.

Did someone swap the lead so it would fit the existing outlet? Sounds like someone has a 20 amp outlet on a 50 amp circuit breaker?
 
I looked at the welder again today. I was wrong. Its 40 amps on the settings not 40 amps draw.

It's a 50 amp cord with a 20 amp pigtail.

We tested it again with the 220 cord off his MIG. about 2 min and that cord was melting. To rule out his 50 amp circuit we switched the machine over to 110 and put the 110 cord on and it instantly melted that one also so we took the machine in and dropped it off. Lincoln. Is gonna warranty it. We also gave them the 3 burned cords.

They wont pick it up till next Thursday so it will be a while before we hear what the problem is.
 
Wow. Lucky.
Buddy’s son was unplugging a ventilation fan on a grain silo, done it 100’s of times.
Bad end went boom. He got nailed. 3 phase.
He got lucky. That is stuff you dont mess with.
 
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