How to Wire a 220 Outlet For a Welder | 15 Easy Steps Explained

Last Updated on December 28, 2022 by John Patterson

Before I start guiding you on how to wire a 220 outlet for a welder, let me put out a disclaimer first.

Look, you must take care of your life first, then money.

Getting into any electrical installation and any other work requires proper knowledge. Otherwise, it will cause significant injury to death or perhaps a fire.

So, if you are not 100% sure that you will wire the 220V outlet for the welder without any trouble after reading this instruction guide, I recommend hiring an electrician wiring for a welder.

But if you are confident enough and pretty sure that you are rather handsome to deal with electrical equipment, let’s proceed.

According to Jordan Vellutini, managing director of Westline Electrical Services (Perth/Australia), you don’t have to be a licensed electrician to successfully wire the gear.

So, hold your horses and read through the simple list. I will give you a step-by-step guide on wiring a 220v outlet for a welder.

Remember, this is the way I wired a 220v outlet doesn’t mean this is the only way and set up to do the task. You can modify any of the following steps per your house setup and requirement.

Of course, I will try to generalize the steps as much as possible.

Let me first list down the necessary equipment for welder outlet wiring.

Without further delay, let’s jump into the procedure step by step.

How to wire a 220 outlet for a welder: Step-by-step 

Step 1

First and foremost, power off the circuit breaker and lock the handle. The main circuit breaker should be dead. Before that, don’t go to step 2.

Step 2

Once you’ve powered off the circuit breaker, snap the 50 amp two-pole breaker into the box.

Make sure your box supports a two-pole breaker, as it requires two spaces for the two-pole breaker.

I haven’t asked you to do anything with the wire yet. Once you’ve placed the breaker into the box, proceed to step 3.

Step 3

Then attach the flush mount to two gang boxes on the wall, and screw it in place.

Step 4

Time to play with the wires now.

Whenever I do wiring, I want to have a minimum of 6 inches of wire inside each receptacle box and some sheathing exposed in both the receptacle boxes (circuit breaker box and two gang boxes).

So, first, you pull out about 6 inches of the plastic sheath of the #6 wire (using the cable ripper) that will be used inside the two gang boxes with the outlet.

Step 5

Now pull out about 12 inches of the plastic sheath of the #6 wire using the same cable ripper. This part of the wire will be used inside the circuit breaker box.

Step 6

Then you strip about 1 inch of the sheath of each wire with the wire stripper.

Step 7

Now bring one end of the wire inside the circuit breaker box and the other inside the two gang boxes.

Step 8

Now the process of implementing the wire connection begins.

First, work on the wire inside the two gang boxes to connect with the outlet.

For this receptacle, you need three wires: the black one, the red one, and the bare wire.

The bare one is the ground. The fourth white wire is neutral; you don’t have to use that. So wrap the white wire with electrical tape and neatly coil it inside the two gang boxes.

Step 9

Then put the non-corrosive stuff at the tip of the wires to keep the connection from rusting.

Step 10

It’s time for the three wires (black, red, and bare wires) to be connected to the receptacle. Hook up the correct color wire against each screw. Meaning connecting the black and red wire with the two-prong terminal and the bare wire with the ground terminal.

Step 11

That’s it for the outlet part. Place it, screw up and put the cover on, and screw the cover properly so that it looks professional.

Step 12

Now connect the three wires to the breaker. Before that, do the same thing with the neutral white wire as you did just a moment ago at step 8.

Step 13

Strip these wires if you haven’t done them already at step 6. Put the non-corrosive stuff.

First, hook up the ground wire.

Step 14

Hook up the black and red wires. Follow the breaker manual to know the accurate terminals to connect the cables.

Step 15

That’s it. You are done. Now cover the circuit breaker box. Power up the main circuit breaker and turn on the 50 amp breaker.

Happy Welding!

220v Welder Plug Wiring Diagram

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In Conclusion

To float your boat, I explained the procedure in layman’s terms.

I hope it will be a piece of cake for you now to wire a 220v outlet for your welder. But as mentioned earlier, if you are not confident enough, hire a licensed electrician.

Keep in mind you got to purchase the breaker rated equal to or above the amp required by your welder, and the welder’s plug got to match the outlet.

Not to mention, you must consider buying quality materials for this project. Don’t go cheap. You are already saving your bucks by not hiring an electrician.

Have you got anything to ask? Comment below.