Old foreman said to ditch impact drivers for manual ratchets on boiler tube work

A veteran boilermaker named Carl told me to stop using my impact driver when tightening tube sheet plugs on a job in Gary back in March. He claimed the impact would crack the ferrules over time, leading to leaks. I figured he was just old school and blew him off. Sure enough, after 6 weeks on that condenser, I had three tubes weeping and had to redo them all. Should have listened to him from the start. Anyone else had an old timer give you advice that ended up saving your ass down the line?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_riley1mo ago

Learned that exact same lesson the hard way on a tube bundle in 2019.

river_scott1mo ago

Did you ever figure out if there was one specific thing that started the whole mess, or was it just a slow build over time?