Any Pipe Welders out there?
Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 8:26 pm
I have a buddy who owns a mechanical company in the trades industry. He had some threaded three inch gas pipe and found it had to be welded by local code. I told him to hire a pipefitter (one that can weld pipe, not just thread like he has) but like most mechanical companies I know, they think they can do it themselves with what they have and save a buck. I know this because I personally am a sheet metal worker and see it all the time.
So he has his fitter clean up the threads on this pipe and actually try welding it with a little mig welder. I'm laughing as he's telling me this. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't pass code anyways, let alone the cutting oil and pipe dope ended up heating up and running out into the weld. So he cuts out all the fittings, bevels all the edges, grinds off all the mill scale, and goes to weld in the welded style fittings. At this point, he's hours into this thing. I tell him once again to call the hall and hire a fitter that welds pipe or a company that can do it. Nope, he has the same guy use a 115 volt mig welder (with no duty cycle) and weld all these fittings. Hours more on the job. Goes to pressure test it and they all leak. Forgive me laughing but some people don't learn. I do a lot of welding in my industry. Mostly tig and mig, so I go take a look at this because now he's panicking. I can see they all leak at his start and stops. I'm no pipe welder but I've seen it done through my whole career. The only time I've ever seen gas pipe welded with a mig was inside a factory/production shop and they were using flux core I believe. Its always done by way of stick as far as I know.
So now that he knows he's majorly screwed up and is completely embarrassed he is rushing to fix it yet again. I told him he's just going to have to bite the bullet and hire someone competent enough to do the job, but I guess his fitter is going to grind down all the welds and some out of work fitter is going to try and cap them using a stick welder now. He really is a good guy and generally knows his stuff but this is ridiculous. I always say stick to what you know. It was shown threaded on the print, but even in my industry I always check with local code if I'm skeptical before bidding. I'm sure he would have lost money after having to hire a fitter to come in and cut everything out and weld in the proper stuff, but at least it would have been done correctly. Now he's thousands in and about to be thousands more.
Anywho, I figured some pipe welders would get a good laugh. We will be harassing my buddy about this one for a long time to come. Especially if the third go round doesn't fix it, which I don't think it will. Its like I told him, there's a reason they do it the way they do it.
So he has his fitter clean up the threads on this pipe and actually try welding it with a little mig welder. I'm laughing as he's telling me this. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't pass code anyways, let alone the cutting oil and pipe dope ended up heating up and running out into the weld. So he cuts out all the fittings, bevels all the edges, grinds off all the mill scale, and goes to weld in the welded style fittings. At this point, he's hours into this thing. I tell him once again to call the hall and hire a fitter that welds pipe or a company that can do it. Nope, he has the same guy use a 115 volt mig welder (with no duty cycle) and weld all these fittings. Hours more on the job. Goes to pressure test it and they all leak. Forgive me laughing but some people don't learn. I do a lot of welding in my industry. Mostly tig and mig, so I go take a look at this because now he's panicking. I can see they all leak at his start and stops. I'm no pipe welder but I've seen it done through my whole career. The only time I've ever seen gas pipe welded with a mig was inside a factory/production shop and they were using flux core I believe. Its always done by way of stick as far as I know.
So now that he knows he's majorly screwed up and is completely embarrassed he is rushing to fix it yet again. I told him he's just going to have to bite the bullet and hire someone competent enough to do the job, but I guess his fitter is going to grind down all the welds and some out of work fitter is going to try and cap them using a stick welder now. He really is a good guy and generally knows his stuff but this is ridiculous. I always say stick to what you know. It was shown threaded on the print, but even in my industry I always check with local code if I'm skeptical before bidding. I'm sure he would have lost money after having to hire a fitter to come in and cut everything out and weld in the proper stuff, but at least it would have been done correctly. Now he's thousands in and about to be thousands more.
Anywho, I figured some pipe welders would get a good laugh. We will be harassing my buddy about this one for a long time to come. Especially if the third go round doesn't fix it, which I don't think it will. Its like I told him, there's a reason they do it the way they do it.
