Welding Extension Cord failure

[OnlyStihl]

I had a 40' 40Amp (8awg) extension cord fail on me. Nothing plugged into the wall but the cord, and it pops the breaker. I replaced both terminal ends and it still pops the breaker. The welder plugged into the wall is fine. It's just the cord. I stripped off the outer protective sheathing and can see nothing wrong. Nothing, and everything ohms out well, as expected.

I'm thinking poor quality copper, but really have no way to test that, and I think it is the copper only because I cannot imagine what else might be the problem.

Anybody, know what might be going on. I did order a new cord, 25' 6awg.

 

[srcarr52]

Sounds like the cord is shorted out internally or you mixed up and put a line on the ground pin.

 

[misterhandyman]

Check for continuity between wires and look for a single stray strand of wire touching another terminal/wire at the plug ends. Does the breaker blow when you plug the cord in then the welder or just the cord by itself?

 

[OnlyStihl]

Check for continuity between wires and look for a single stray strand of wire touching another terminal/wire at the plug ends. Does the breaker blow when you plug the cord in then the welder or just the cord by itself?

Just the cord by itself. Meter shows no continuity between pins with the old cord. New cord showed up and breaker is stable. If this cable fails over time I'm going to get longer leads to replace the 6' at the welder and leave extension cords out of the mix.

 

[Dustin4185]

Just the cord by itself. Meter shows no continuity between pins with the old cord. New cord showed up and breaker is stable. If this cable fails over time I'm going to get longer leads to replace the 6' at the welder and leave extension cords out of the mix.

How big is your shop/garage? We used 6/3 SOOW cord and a festooning kit to keep it up off the floor. Best decision ever.

 

[OnlyStihl]

How big is your shop/garage? We used 6/3 SOOW cord and a festooning kit to keep it up off the floor. Best decision ever.

This is what I ordered. If weight is any indication then this a quality cord. 25' just gets me thru the garage so I can weld in the open air (barely).

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https://primeweld.com/products/heavy-duty-welder-extension-cord

I'll be testing it out this weekend. Doing some welding on a neighbors Kubota.

 

[Boomer2230]

Driving over those cables kill them quick

 

[OnlyStihl]

Problem solved. It was the breaker. Old breaker powered a Jacuzzi, which is long gone. Repurposed for the welder and plasma cutter, worked for a year. Not being able to test what exactly went wrong, I'm blaming the GFCI. I installed a new 2 Pole 50Amp breaker, and with everything plugged in and on, the breaker is holding. I'll weld in a week or so, but I'm calling it FIXED.