The welding inverter has become a popular tool for the home, garden and garage. Affordable price, light weight and huge money savings in terms of hiring a welder to weld the structures you need. The brands of devices on the market are simply huge. We will not speak for certain models, but let's estimate how many amperes to take the inverter so that there is enough power to normally weld with 3 mm electrodes. There is no need for a larger diameter for the house, this is already the lot of production.
In their household welding work, most of all falls on the profile pipe. Rarely buy pipes with a thickness of more than 2 or 3 mm. Only if these are not pillars for the gate, there are 4 and 5 mm. Corner, strip, hinges for gates and doors are the main material for metal structures at home and in the country.
For welding structures made of material of this thickness, we need a maximum welding current of 120-140 amperes. Diameter of electrodes for home from 2 mm, 2.5 mm, 3 mm, this is the ideal set for comfortable welding of these thicknesses. So you need a 140 amp device? No, it is not, see why.
And the answer is simple, most things and products these days are of rather mediocre quality. Welding inverters are no exception. For many devices, the declared power is greatly exaggerated. Exaggerated at best by 30 percent. If a 160 amp device is being sold, then at best it will produce 120 amperes.
So the optimal purchase of welding for the home would be the purchase of a 200 amp machine. Do not think that you are overpaying a lot, the difference in price between 140 amperes and 200 ampere apparatus is only a couple of thousand, and sometimes even less.
You should not save these 2 thousand, otherwise then you will have to weld metal 3 or 4 mm with 3 mm electrodes at maximum modes. And this is bad, it is better to have a reserve of power and not work at the maximum possible, overheating, breakdown, repair or scrap.