Hot water heater outlet for running a welder

[BowSlayer]

Every one I ever had was on a 50 amp circuit... Lived in 4 houses with electric dryer, current included and all had either the 3 prong or 4 prong 50 amp plug and circuit breaker...

Then all 4 were wired wrong. Do a quick search on dryer cords and look at the amp rating on them. No residential dryer is 50 amp.

[SaltwaterSlick]

My house in Kingwood actually had 2 circuits for the dryer... One was a regular dedicated 20 amp 115V and the other was a 50 amp... ( 115 volt circuit was for use with a gas dryer)... The house was built in the early '70's. My house in Alief, same thing only just 1 50 amp circuit... Maybe codes have changed, but they sure used to be 50 amp circuits..
had the same plug for the electric stove/stove top as dryer... go figure...

[SaltwaterSlick]

Then all 4 were wired wrong. Do a quick search on dryer cords and look at the amp rating on them. No residential dryer is 50 amp.

You got me curious now... gonna check my house when I get home this evening...
But not necessarily "wrong" unless there's a code issue. Plugging in a 30 amp requirement dryer into a 50 amp circuit is not a problem tho... The reverse however definitely would be tho...

[Greenheadless]

Dryer’s are 30A/240V. Reason why you have an additional 15A-20A/120V circuit because you probably have a Natural Gas option option as well for the dryer.

Receptacles/Plugs are designed according to NEMA configurations that correspond to amperage and voltage used.

https://www.americord.com/nema-charts

Wire should be the base consideration for the breaker/receptacle sizing.

[SaltwaterSlick]

Dryer’s are 30A/240V. Reason why you have an additional 15A-20A/120V circuit because you probably have a Natural Gas option option as well for the dryer.

Receptacles/Plugs are designed according to NEMA configurations that correspond to amperage and voltage used.

https://www.americord.com/nema-charts

Wire should be the base consideration for the breaker/receptacle sizing.

Yea, I knew that 115V plug was to use for a gas dryer. There was a gas outlet there. The house had both gas n lektrik...

[Greenheadless]

So it’s not missed, why would you need a water heater to heat hot water?

[Mike D]

You got me curious now... gonna check my house when I get home this evening...
But not necessarily "wrong" unless there's a code issue. Plugging in a 30 amp requirement dryer into a 50 amp circuit is not a problem tho... The reverse however definitely would be tho...

Charlie it’s not good either way. If you have a 30A appliance on a 50A circuit you could cause a fire if there is an over current fault but not enough to trip the larger breaker.

Whereas if you connect a 50A appliance to a 30A circuit the breaker will trip due to overload.


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[Cory.Shumate]

So it’s not missed, why would you need a water heater to heat hot water?

Haha. The job I came to do was done before I arrived.

[flywise]

I always used my dryer plug

[guru27]

I ran my welder off of my hot water plug for a couple years until my shop was built. I made a pigtail for it, and it worked like a champ. I never tried to run it at max capacity, but for the welding I did it worked fine. Only downside is when you’ve been welding all day and you go to get a shower and you have forgotten to plug the heater back in.

[Take Dead Aim]

You got me curious now... gonna check my house when I get home this evening...
But not necessarily "wrong" unless there's a code issue. Plugging in a 30 amp requirement dryer into a 50 amp circuit is not a problem tho... The reverse however definitely would be tho...

You are incorrect.

[Texastaxi]

In my old house, my breaker panel was full, so When I needed to run my welder, I disconnected my electric dryer (50 amp) and connected my welder to that circuit until I got a add-on box installed to make room for the new circuit...

I'm sure it's not "within code", but I piggy backed off of my dryer plug, to run an air compressor, in my first house. Just had to make sure to turn the compressor off, when I wasn't using it and make sure that Tina didn't start a load in the dryer while I was using air.

I'm sure the dryer circuit was larger than needed for the compressor. Not an ideal situation, but it worked.

[Kelmat]

So it’s not missed, why would you need a water heater to heat hot water?

Thought you guys were slipping. Glad you covered it.

[Bow-TechAggie]

So it’s not missed, why would you need a water heater to heat hot water?

I knew I couldn't slip anything past yall!

I did a little more research and based on manufacture specifications, a 30A circuit is what is recommended. So I am good to go with my dryer outlet that I have. Now I just need to wire up a 30 ft extension chord that will allow me to work with it out in the driveway.