Reality check

[D100guy]

I like a lot of people purchased a Longevity welder some time ago and realized i should not have. When it came to getting service and parts the support was simply not there. That was my personal experience. I mean they could not even answer 1 email. I had bought a 160pi. I barely knew much about welding during that time and have developed a lot more skills since my purchasing that machine. A few years later I purchased a Miller 212 and i was delighted at its performance. Anyway I wound up repairing my Longevity machine myself. I had a couple resistors and varistors burn out. So i soldered in some new ones i purchased from China. I still had a problem with gas valve that would stick open. I ordered an exact replacement from a source in China and the problem still persisted. I thought it may have been another problem. So it sat for a while and i mostly used my Miller 212 on projects. So one day recently i decided to fire up the Longevity 160pi because i hated having a machine sitting there that i could not use. The gas valve would only close intermittently when using and it got really annoying plus i noticed some more resistors had burned out. I truly believe this (the burned resistors) to be from the stick weld function when it would sometimes stick to the material. Once again this was during my earlier days of welding so it is a good chance that my have been from inexperience. So for the third time I opened up the machine (1st for the resistors,2nd for the replacement gas valve that did not work either, and third for the second set of resistors) and went through the process of unsoldering parts, replacing parts, re-soldering things back together. However this time while having the cover off I ordered a gas valve from ebay made by WIC. My machine now works flawlessly i was completely shocked. However i no longer stick weld with the machine although i have become a lot better at stick welding I do not want to risk burning anything else up on this crappy machine with now support. I have a nice mig welder to do what is needed plus the Miller has more amps. In a nutshell if your machine is no longer working and you cant use it at all and you can not get any warranty work done on it making it basically a boat anchor. Open it up and see what you can find. Hell if it does not work anyway what do you have to lose?

[DannyPhilips]

I like a lot of people purchased a Longevity welder some time ago and realized i should not have. When it came to getting service and parts the support was simply not there. That was my personal experience. I mean they could not even answer 1 email. I had bought a 160pi. I barely knew much about welding during that time and have developed a lot more skills since my purchasing that machine. A few years later I purchased a Miller 212 and i was delighted at its performance. Anyway I wound up repairing my Longevity machine myself. I had a couple resistors and varistors burn out. So i soldered in some new ones i purchased from China. I still had a problem with gas valve that would stick open. I ordered an exact replacement from a source in China and the problem still persisted. I thought it may have been another problem. So it sat for a while and i mostly used my Miller 212 on projects. So one day recently i decided to fire up the Longevity 160pi because i hated having a machine sitting there that i could not use. The gas valve would only close intermittently when using and it got really annoying plus i noticed some more resistors had burned out. I truly believe this (the burned resistors) to be from the stick weld function when it would sometimes stick to the material. Once again this was during my earlier days of welding so it is a good chance that my have been from inexperience. So for the third time I opened up the machine (1st for the resistors,2nd for the replacement gas valve that did not work either, and third for the second set of resistors) and went through the process of unsoldering parts, replacing parts, re-soldering things back together. However this time while having the cover off I ordered a gas valve from ebay made by WIC. My machine now works flawlessly i was completely shocked. However i no longer stick weld with the machine although i have become a lot better at stick welding I do not want to risk burning anything else up on this crappy machine with now support. I have a nice mig welder to do what is needed plus the Miller has more amps. In a nutshell if your machine is no longer working and you cant use it at all and you can not get any warranty work done on it making it basically a boat anchor. Open it up and see what you can find. Hell if it does not work anyway what do you have to lose?

Yes, you had a lot of trouble with Longevity. Are you sure that their whole line of machines is unsuccessful, maybe you got a defective one?

[jonesg]

I like a lot of people purchased a Longevity welder some time ago and realized i should not have. When it came to getting service and parts the support was simply not there. That was my personal experience. I mean they could not even answer 1 email. I had bought a 160pi. I barely knew much about welding during that time and have developed a lot more skills since my purchasing that machine. A few years later I purchased a Miller 212 and i was delighted at its performance. Anyway I wound up repairing my Longevity machine myself. I had a couple resistors and varistors burn out. So i soldered in some new ones i purchased from China. I still had a problem with gas valve that would stick open. I ordered an exact replacement from a source in China and the problem still persisted. I thought it may have been another problem. So it sat for a while and i mostly used my Miller 212 on projects. So one day recently i decided to fire up the Longevity 160pi because i hated having a machine sitting there that i could not use. The gas valve would only close intermittently when using and it got really annoying plus i noticed some more resistors had burned out. I truly believe this (the burned resistors) to be from the stick weld function when it would sometimes stick to the material. Once again this was during my earlier days of welding so it is a good chance that my have been from inexperience. So for the third time I opened up the machine (1st for the resistors,2nd for the replacement gas valve that did not work either, and third for the second set of resistors) and went through the process of unsoldering parts, replacing parts, re-soldering things back together. However this time while having the cover off I ordered a gas valve from ebay made by WIC. My machine now works flawlessly i was completely shocked. However i no longer stick weld with the machine although i have become a lot better at stick welding I do not want to risk burning anything else up on this crappy machine with now support. I have a nice mig welder to do what is needed plus the Miller has more amps. In a nutshell if your machine is no longer working and you cant use it at all and you can not get any warranty work done on it making it basically a boat anchor. Open it up and see what you can find. Hell if it does not work anyway what do you have to lose?

Once you get them running right they seem ok over the long run.
Mine is still working after 10 years. 200 amp tig/stick/plasma.

[Steve_12]

Yes, you had a lot of trouble with Longevity. Are you sure that their whole line of machines is unsuccessful, maybe you got a defective one?

That's probably an apt remark.

[jonesg]

Once you get them running right they seem ok over the long run.
Mine is still working after 10 years. 200 amp tig/stick/plasma.

spoke too soon, it blew up 2 weeks ago.
I could rebuild the power supply but I'd rather get something newer, not longevity.