An Electrical Warning

[dennishoddy]

I think we’re missing each other here. He is running 60 amps through a 14ga wire. The math to determine exactly when it burns would be what? If you wanted to make a fuse for a 15 amp circuit, what gauge would you use? 28?

Most 250 amp welders use 12 gauge wiring to supply them.
I'm not a big fan of the common analogy of using a water pipe as an example but it does make sense.
Amperage is like water standing in a pipe without movement.
Voltage is like the water pressure that moves it.
https://www.electricalclassroom.com/difference-between-volts-and-amps-vs/

 

[SoonerP226]

I didn't quite understand why a welder with very low voltage and hi amperage was used as an example of home or industrial wiring that can run up to 480 volts, and sometimes much higher.

According to the title card for his video, he was trying to show what would happen in residential wiring, so 240V is all he would need for the demonstration.

 

[montesa]

According to the title card for his video, he was trying to show what would happen in residential wiring, so 240V is all he would need for the demonstration.

That’s what I thought too. But does it matter what the voltage is if you’re trying to determine amperage before the wire burns? If you up the voltage you lower the amps. This is the basic stuff we all seem to get other than he’s just trying to burn it and figure out when. I’m wondering if an electrical engineer could sit down and show work that matches the numbers in his experiment.

 

[TerryMiller]

Not meaning to derail the thread, but I recall a Christmas party in Oregon some years ago wherein an electrician and an electrical engineer got into an argument. Most of the rest of us all stayed the heck away from those two for pretty much the rest of the evening.

But, it was still a good party.

 

[wawazat]

Not meaning to derail the thread, but I recall a Christmas party in Oregon some years ago wherein an electrician and an electrical engineer got into an argument. Most of the rest of us all stayed the heck away from those two for pretty much the rest of the evening.

But, it was still a good party.

Ive heard rumors of electricians having a special rate when doing work for EE's if they take the job at all.

 

[TerryMiller]

Ive heard rumors of electricians having a special rate when doing work for EE's if they take the job at all.

They probably DESERVE a special rate. I worked with the EE at the retreat center for about a month as they trained us to do the job. He might have known his electrical engineering theories, but he wasn't mechanically inclined. The "ranch" had a riding lawn mower that he kept covered up for all of his time on the ranch as a manager, claiming that he couldn't get it running. I had it running and cutting grass in less than 30 minutes, and most of that time was changing the oil.

 

[wawazat]

They probably DESERVE a special rate. I worked with the EE at the retreat center for about a month as they trained us to do the job. He might have known his electrical engineering theories, but he wasn't mechanically inclined. The "ranch" had a riding lawn mower that he kept covered up for all of his time on the ranch as a manager, claiming that he couldn't get it running. I had it running and cutting grass in less than 30 minutes, and most of that time was changing the oil.

Yeah, I have found in my career that my bias is towards mechanical concepts more than electrical theory. I have to deal with quite a few EE's and a few of them have been awesome. The rest make me want to bang my head against the wall since we have to make their circuits work with our mechanical systems.

I have an in depth understanding of DC, but AC is a foreign language for anything beyond basic house wiring concepts and safety.