i recently bought a lincoln electric mig pak 140 welder. its a 120v welder but i havent tried to use it yet cuz it says that i need a 20a circuit to supply power to it. my question is would i be able to use it on a 15a circuit for welding thin stuff? cuz to buy the wire to run it to my garage outside is gonna cost $140+

 

get used to spending money, it doesnt end.......

 

you can use it on a 15a circuit just fine as long as you don't have the output amperage cranked too high.

 

plut it into the washer outlet, it's an 20amp

 

$140 is cheap, your welder cost atleast $400 you gotta pay to play. Ive spent 1000s on wiring every year in our shop

 

the garage where i have my tools is detached from the house at the back of the backyard. i didnt know that using a welder would need a 20a circuit. the house is rented so i dont want to run $140 worth of 12gauge wire. mostly i'll be using it to weld sheet metal for body work. i guess the worst that could happen is that the breaker trips.

 

I ran mine on a 15amp breaker with 25' 14/3 extension cord plugged into a 12/3 powerstrip. and the only time it ever tripped was when I welded a long run after a few short runs. I found that if I kept my runs to 4-6 sec I never had a problem. I ended up running a new circuit.