Welder Repair Help!

So I was at my grandpa's house the other day and I saw this old Century 120 Volt wire feed welder buried in his garage. The plug was cut off the end of the power cord and he said he hasn't used it in a while. He told me I could have it if I fixed it. (Hell yeh)

So I got a plug that would work with it and wired it on. It turned on fine, but as soon as the fan kicked on it sounded like it was drawing power or something. Like it had the normal operating noise but then it would suddenly droop down for a second then back up again. Also, the lights in my garage would dim every time it drooped. I've used all sorts of power equipment on this outlet before so it SHOULDN'T be the outlet.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm pretty handy with fixing things and working with electrical equipment but I know practically nothing about welders so any information would be helpful.

 

To me is sounds like its pulling a lot of amps for the breaker max to the breaker. or the Lights are on the same breaker that the welder is on. (which is the case most likely) My compressor would do that before I gave it its own outlet and breaker. My welder is also on its own breaker and outlet.

 

ok I'll look into that tomorrow. Also, I just tried the gun and the wire feeding spools didn't spin

 

Yea my 110v welder would dime the lights then blow the breaker, so i had to put it on its own breaker.

 

The Spool motor may be out.

Yumatrd on here works for the company that Lincoln and Miller send all of their warranty items to. He would be able help you with this. He is the one that works on the welders. He's a super nice guy.

 

awesome. thanks for your help

 

Make sure it's the correct voltage. Some run on 220v. There maybe a short somewhere in the welding circuit. Have it serviced before you burn it up, or get the service manual for it. Then you can test it yourself.
Regards,
Dave

 

Missed the 120v tag on your post, sorry.

 

Does the welder have a plate stating the amps that it draws?

If you have 12 gauge wiring and a 20 amp circuit breaker with no load from anything else you should be rated for up to 16 amps continuous power draw from the welder. If you have the newer 14 gauge wiring (smaller) and a 15 amp breaker you should be good for up to 12 amps continuous power draw. You can go up to the amp rating of the circuit breaker for a second or two on a standard slow-trip breaker.

 

This could be a loose connection on the trigger circuit, a relay that is bad, or the main contactor is out. Send me the model number and specs and i should be able to pull out the wiring diagram.