1. A welding system including an arc monitor for monitoring the quality of the weld against predetermined weld parameters and limits, the welding system comprising: a power supply for providing welding power to a weld; a weld parameter feedback sensor for monitoring at least one of a current feedback and a voltage feedback signal from the weld; a memory adapted to store a programmed weld in a memory structure; and a controller programmed to: sample a weld command parameter and a weld feedback parameter during a weld and to store the weld command parameter and weld feedback parameter as a programmed weld in the memory; associate arc monitoring data including a user-supplied limit corresponding to an acceptable range of welding command parameters and a user-supplied limit corresponding to an acceptable range of weld feedback parameters with the programmed weld; selectively switch control of the power supply between a programmed weld mode where programmed commands are active and the welding command parameter is retrieved from the stored programmed weld and a monitor mode where programmed commands are inactive and an external welding command is received from a user for driving the power supply to a selected voltage level; and in the monitor mode, to compare the external welding command to the corresponding weld command limit and to compare the actual weld feedback parameter from the weld feedback sensor to the corresponding weld feedback limit, and to store an identified fault in memory when the external welding command or the weld feedback exceeds the corresponding limit.