Identifying the Differences Between a Household and a 650 Welder Connection

Recently, there has been quite a bit of confusion about two connections that look very similar. 

When looking at these two NEMA configurations, it may be hard to tell that one is a regular household connection and one is a 650 welder connection.

Here are some helpful tips to identify the differences between the two: 

• These connections have two very different sizes. The NEMA configuration drawings above will even tell you that.
   
  As you can see, a regular duplex household outlet is much smaller than a single NEMA 6-50 welder outlet.
  
  
• A NEMA 6-50 welder outlet is rated for much higher output.
  The NEMA 6-50 can reach up to 50 Amps at 250 Volts, while a regular household outlet can only get up to 15 Amps at 125 Volts.
  
  
• One other difference to note when looking at the NEMA configurations is the location of the longer vertical terminal. On a 650 welder outlet, the longer vertical terminal will be on the left side. But, for a household outlet, it will be on the right side.
  
  
• A 650 welder outlet will most likely have its NEMA configuration printed on it, too. A regular household outlet most likely won’t, but again, household outlets are much smaller.

For more visual aids, here is a video we created recently on the same topic:

If there are other outlets or plugs that you get confused about, please contact us with a text, phone call, or email.