"Ill gona wire a new plug on it tomorrow so I can plug it into the 220 socket and see what happens."

Brilliant, and so will be the flash if it's wired wrong.
Idealarcs have been made for many years. I'd look up the literature at the makers site. They are excellent welders.

Here's a link to operators manuals:
http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Cat...ualsearch.aspx

Is this the welder?

content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs/products/literature/e270.pdf

 

The Idealarc 250 is a single phase welder. In its former life, it was most likely plugged into a 460 volt three-phase system, but would have only used one of the phases.

The welder has a tapped transformer. You can configure the welder for the proper supply voltage by removing the cover plate and connecting the incoming line voltage to the 208/230/240 volt taps on the primary coil, and then insulating the now-unused 460 volt tap.

If you miss-wire 240 volts to the 460 volt taps the welder will probably not blow up. But it won't work very well either. The cooling fan may burn out, and the welder will not produce the amps it is supposed to at the various settings.

It is very typical of auction companies to mis-label welders as being "3-phase welders" just because they have a big fat 3-phase-style plug attached to them. Most older welders are actually single phase -- the constant-current-source saturated-inductor type design wouldn't work on three phase anyway.

As an aside, the availability and pricing of 3-phase power varies regionally.
In rural areas it is often available at a relatively modest expense. I have 3-phase on my farm, and the monthly "base" cost is only $5.00 more than single phase.

 

IS the machine in the link what you've got? If so, then yeah, it single phase and yes, it can be re-linked for 230 volt. Mind you, at full output it will draw close to 100 amps on the primary. Most people, however, will probably only run at around half or a little over, of the max, so you might 'get away with' a 60 amp circuit, (but I didn't say that) While there are a VERY few exceptions to this, (most notably very new inverter machines), here's a general rule of thumb: If you are looking at a welder, and it has an AC output , then it has to be a single-phase machine. BTW, that particular welder is a very well-built machine and they hardly ever break. Generally speaking, about all that ever goes wrong with them is an occasional diode shorting. Also, the polarity switches sometimes go bad, but mostly only if they are switched under load. The mechanical current indicator on the lower front panel will break sometimes, but they make a 'kit' that includes the linkage arm, plastic indicator, and some moly lube, that is only around $50.

 

They accidentally hooked up my duplex to 208/120 3-phase, fortunately not 480/277. Because the 3-story apartment building next door has an elevator, there is a 3-phase line. My point is that it may be already available, you just have to ask the power company.

Jim

 

Well I pluged it into the 220 and it works, I didnt try it on a high setting tho because I didnt have that big of a rod, But I never weld anything that big anyway.

Thanks for all the input guys!!