stick welding

[Frank Dodson]

I know this has been discussed but I have forgotten the responses. I have an implanted dual action on demand Medtronic pacemaker(no defibilator). I have been thinking about buying a small 110V stick welder. Do any of you with similiar pacemakers do any stick welding? I use a chain saw and weed trimmer without any difficulty.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Dick L]

I would contact the manufacturer of the pacemaker for that information. They would have had to test it under all current possible conditions which would have been around welders.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Yes, check with the Dr. If the machine you're considering is a DC inverter, it's OK for small rods. If it's just a really inexpensive AC only machine, you won't have to worry too much. It will be in the garbage long before you ever had to worry about your pacemaker! Seriously, The cheap 110 volt AC machines aren't worth having at any price. They will do nothing but frustrate you and give you fits.

 

[504]

All it takes to turn off or on your pace maker is a magnet. You chose.

 

[Bob seND]

http://www.medtronic.com/rhythms/downloads/3071ENp6_Saws_online.pdf

 

[andyin ct]

Talk to your Dr.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PJH]

One of the worst husband/wife ruckuses that I've ever seen was over my pacemaker friend running a chain saw when his wife came home from town. I didn't know there was any danger, but let's just say that I got educated, fast and loud. We were both in the doghouse, and I was innocent, I swear.

To sum it up - it ain't worth the risk.

 

[Buddy]

I wish I could find the answer to that welding question myself.
I received a pacemaker back in Feb .
I use to weld all the time in my occupation but, since the pacemaker I have not touched a welder since.
I have talked to my doctors, talked to the pacemaker manufacture, and the only answer I get is "this is a grey area" What the heck is a grey area????
Well "We cant tell you not to weld but we cant tell you it is ok ether"
Go figure !!!

 

[charles craig]

I have a " Medtronics" pacemaker. my doctor called them right after I got out of hospital and asked them about welding. they replied that I could weld but recommended staying as far as I could away from the transformer.

 

[algar]

LEARN HOW TO OXY /FUEL weld .Much safer,those who didn't answer you can't anymore.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Has to be oxy/acetylene only to weld.

 

[William Fissell]

The main issue with pacers and stray fields is that rhythmic fields could trick a pacer into shutting down briefly. I'm a doc but not a cardiologist. Disclaimers apply.

The magnet issue (some pacers have a diagnostic aid built in where a strong magnet held to the skin over the pacemaker will temporarily pause pacing) shouldn't be a problem.

Many pacers operate in "demand" mode. They stay silent unless your own heart rate drops below some threshold rate programmed in by the doctor. Then they kick in. If you are exposed to something that makes an electric field go on and off sixty to 300 times a minute, a pacer may be tricked into mistaking that signal for your hearts own electrical activity and go silent. Then you got troubles. This, for example, is why you are not supposed to go in an MRI with a pacer. It's not that the MR imager will yank the pacer generator out of your chest; it's that the gradient coils in the MRI (had an MRI? Its the gradient coils that sound like an army of Gnomes hammering away at the dewar) might trick your pacer into backup mode and leave you without much of a pulse.

I probably wouldn't advise stick welding with a pacer because most welders operate with a duty cycle. They are off and on many times per second and I'd bet there's stray fields that could trick your pacer into shutting down. If your cardiologist has the pacer set to operate all the time, and not demand only, you might be ok, but I'd talk with him or her about it. Not every doc has struck an arc or is aware that welders operate with a duty cycle, and even a "DC" welder has a lot of AC going on.

Good luck. Talk to your cardiologist.