I finally figured out why my tube welds kept failing...

Been doing boiler work for about 8 years now and kept having these tiny cracks show up in my tube welds after a few weeks. Talked to a plant inspector over in Hammond last Thursday and he pointed out I was running my amps too high on the root pass. He said 85 amps is plenty for 2-inch schedule 80 tubes but I was pushing 110 every time. Any of you guys ever get called out on your heat settings by an inspector?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler17627d ago

Boy, that sounds like something I read in a welding magazine a while back. They said a lot of guys run too hot on the root pass because they think it'll give better penetration, but it just causes stress cracks later on. Glad you caught it before it became a real problem.

iris_rivera4427d ago

Oh so now I'm supposed to run COOL on the root pass too? Great, another thing to worry about while I'm already sweating through my hood. I swear next they'll tell me my grinder sparks are flying the wrong direction.