confused on 110v 120v standard housing elec?

Thread Starter

stanman11

Joined Nov 23, 2010
228
i'm really confused because i've always nown it to be 110v and in books that ive had and manuals for electronics always saw 110v but im guessing they are reduced to 110?
also some breakers say 110v 20amp or 220v 30amp

so the wires coming in to the house are 120v now?

my brand new welder ive had for almost 4 years thats never been hooked up needs to be used!!!

Thanks
 

PackratKing

Joined Jul 13, 2008
847
120 will be just fine......just make sure you use an adequate conductor for the length of hookup from AC Panel to place you actually use it.

Afterthought........When I bought my little 100 amp "buzzbox" it's power cord was a #14.....way too light duty to draw 26 amps. The proper # 10 leadcord makes a whopping difference in the welders performance
 

BillB3857

Joined Feb 28, 2009
2,570
Household voltage standards in the US have changed over the years. When I was younger, it was 110, then went to 115, then to 117 and is now 120. By raising the voltage, the same number of Watts (power) can be delivered with a lower amount of current. Old equipment designed to operate on 110 will probably be OK. Exceptions may be things with heating elements with no thermostatic control. They will run hotter than original design by about 9%
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
True. The voltage at my house is claimed to be, "240 +/- 5%". I really get 250 volts and it regularly melts the 1800 watt heater element in my clothes dryer because my clothes dryer was designed for 1979 voltages.

ps, do not try to "fix" this for me. I have already redesigned the machine and it works.
 
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