Bad welding... hate it

[Tycho]

For the first time in the 10 years I've been doing this, a few weeks ago, I had the bad experience of having to tell a welder that none, not a single one of his welds were good enough...
I guess I've been spoiled by the company we usually use for welding, since they always deliver premium.

so when I got a welder from another company, I showed him what I needed, and left to deal with other stuff...

when I checked his work the day after, I found this:

[US Iceman]

Was he charging by the number of welds he made, or, the quantity of rods he used?

Those are some bad welds for sure. Did you do any x-rays?

[Tycho]

Was he charging by the number of welds he made, or, the quantity of rods he used?

Those are some bad welds for sure. Did you do any x-rays?

Those were "repair welds" on a ***** plant, so we didnt have to taker x-rays, not that I would have let those welds go and taken x-rays of them my mark-1 eyeballs could see that those were way off by a ballpark

I called his superviser to get a new welder on site, then told the guy currently there to cut out all pieces he had welded on and instead of having them "fix the welds" I had them weld twice the amount to make it right...

Cause I'll rather have to pressure test 30 welds that are ok, than have to accept 15 welds that are ok, but look like shiat just because we arent required to have x-ray on "repair welds" on ***** plants... needless to say, I was hanging over the shoulder of the next guy who came to weld, and he was very good

I mean, I dont have any welding sertificates, and I TIG-weld waaaay better than that, Ï've done many a repair and rebuilds myself that I'm not "qualified" to do, but I'm... I was gonna say a long shot better than that guy, but I'll have to say cruise missile better to do

anyways, I got them to cut out all the bad welds and weld in new pieces of pipe, doubling the amount of welds to make it good.

I always go by saying thet If I was the one paying for this, would I accept it?

If it's not up to something I personally would accept as the paying part, I dont approve it.

It might come of as anal sometimes, but I still havent walked off a site where I didnt feel very confident that what I had delivered wouldnt work

[Andy]

Hi Tyco
what I find is most companies have a few good welders, with more guys making up the numbers. Very few companies have a complete squad of top class welders

I have in the past made welders cut work out, but mostly the problem has been speed, some welders string it out, thinking that as long as they are working you will say nothing, often I have to tell the company that their workers are skivers, punching the time to get the overtime

I am fully qualified as a pipe fitter, and can fit pipe with the best of them, so I can tell straight off if they are compotent or working hard enough. I can tig weld, but never had the need or inclination to get coded and have to stand there day in day out welding

Welders are a race of their own, the most awkward people that I have ever met, they are the first to quote union on an site

Kind Regards Andy

[Josip]

Hi, Tycho

For the first time in the 10 years I've been doing this, a few weeks ago, I had the bad experience of having to tell a welder that none, not a single one of his welds were good enough...

so when I got a welder from another company, I showed him what I needed, and left to deal with other stuff...

when I checked his work the day after, I found this:

Really bad looking welds...for professional welder

But, believe me you are not the only one having troubles with welders..

Just keep those pictures and show them to your new welders telling them what they cannot do

Best regards, Josip

[NoNickName]

That is not even a brazing. Refrigeration weldings shall always be lap joint. Those are not.

[Tycho]

Hi Tyco
what I find is most companies have a few good welders, with more guys making up the numbers. Very few companies have a complete squad of top class welders

I have in the past made welders cut work out, but mostly the problem has been speed, some welders string it out, thinking that as long as they are working you will say nothing, often I have to tell the company that their workers are skivers, punching the time to get the overtime

I am fully qualified as a pipe fitter, and can fit pipe with the best of them, so I can tell straight off if they are compotent or working hard enough. I can tig weld, but never had the need or inclination to get coded and have to stand there day in day out welding

Welders are a race of their own, the most awkward people that I have ever met, they are the first to quote union on an site

Kind Regards Andy

I've been plesantly surprised with the company we usually use, they work fast, and every one of their welders I have had on site have been very good.

On a small site with around 3-500 welds, I'm surprised if I find more than five leaks during pressure testing
and another plus is that since we have always used them, they are getting the hang of refrigeration installs, so no more of 100 calls a day asking if I can come to the site to have a look at something

My boss was naging me to become a certified welder, but I told him no, after seeing how the guys with the creds in order were doing nothing but welding...

[Tycho]

That is not even a brazing. Refrigeration weldings shall always be lap joint. Those are not.

Those are steel pipes...

[US Iceman]

On a small site with around 3-500 welds, I'm surprised if I find more than five leaks during pressure testing
and another plus is that since we have always used them, they are getting the hang of refrigeration installs, so no more of 100 calls a day asking if I can come to the site to have a look at something

That has very tangible merit. I always preferred to work wth the same guys to reduce the learning curve and you always know what to expect.

Breaking in new people is normally not very pleasant.

[NoNickName]

Those are steel pipes...

Oops, I'm color blind. Sorry

[aawood1]

Welders are a race of their own, the most awkward people that I have ever met, they are the first to quote union on an site :

Hi Andy I was a welder for 18 years working on steam boilers and pipe work, Not all of us are like that. Moved over to refrigeration 22 years ago and the company that I work for now would not keep my tests and papers up to date. ( what is up setting to them is when you show them your old papers)
All the best Arthur.

[NH3LVR]

Tycho;
Just a couple of questions, as I am curious about how things are done in your Country.
These look like badly done Oxy/Acetylene welds. Is that correct, or are they TIG or other process?
In the USA we do not have to X-Ray welds under most circumstances. Are you required to do all welds there or just over a certain size?

[aawood1]

Hi when I started at work if I had done any weld's like the one's in the picture's, The 1st. thing I would get was a Kick up the A** and a hacksaw to cut it out. On
4" Shd 80 pipe no fun even as it was on only work shop training with the company boss. At tec. spent one year on gas welding and the 1st. time I went to use it on a steam boiler 1/2" gauge glass line the boiler inspector stoped me and said gas welding was not up to the statutory requirements now on steam boilers now, so one year down the drain.
It looks like we need some old type of training in how to weld.
Arthur

[Tycho]

Tycho;
Just a couple of questions, as I am curious about how things are done in your Country.
These look like badly done Oxy/Acetylene welds. Is that correct, or are they TIG or other process?
In the USA we do not have to X-Ray welds under most circumstances. Are you required to do all welds there or just over a certain size?

He was welding with TIG, and the first thing that hit me when I saw them was "How on earth can someone make a tig weld on a clean pipe look like it was a bad oxygen/acetylene weld on a rusty pipe"

All welding on our plants is TIG.

Regarding the X-Ray, I might remember wrong here, so dont shoot me (the guys in the office usually takes care of the x-ray, I'm just there to watch as they shoot the pictures)

On shipboard plants we have to x-ray 10% of all welds if one of the pipes have a dimension of DN100 or over (outer diameter 114.7mm or over), if there are no pipes larger than DN100 I dont think we have to x-ray if the plant is *****.

I do think that on ammonia plants we need 10% x-ray regardless of pipe size...

[Tycho]

Hi when I started at work if I had done any weld's like the one's in the picture's, The 1st. thing I would get was a Kick up the A** and a hacksaw to cut it out. On
4" Shd 80 pipe no fun even as it was on only work shop training with the company boss. At tec. spent one year on gas welding and the 1st. time I went to use it on a steam boiler 1/2" gauge glass line the boiler inspector stoped me and said gas welding was not up to the statutory requirements now on steam boilers now, so one year down the drain.
It looks like we need some old type of training in how to weld.
Arthur

Dont know if it was so wasted after all

I've noticed among our own engineers that the guys who has done gas welding migrate faster and better to TIG welding than the guys who havent.

Plus gas welding is great for patching up hard to reach leaks where you cant clean the surface good enough to use TIG...

[Andy]

Welders are a race of their own, the most awkward people that I have ever met, they are the first to quote union on an site :

Hi Andy I was a welder for 18 years working on steam boilers and pipe work, Not all of us are like that. Moved over to refrigeration 22 years ago and the company that I work for now would not keep my tests and papers up to date. ( what is up setting to them is when you show them your old papers)
All the best Arthur.

That's me told off

no offence mean't, it's only my opinion on the majority of welders I have dealt with
Yes there are a few good easy to get on with welders, I can think of two.

Kind Regards Andy

[aawood1]

Hi Andy,
Thats OK I know what You mean I have seen some BAD welding in my time and some welders I would not like to meet on a new site. Back on a power station site near London working on 500psi steam pipe lines I had seen some S*** welds. I did not know how some of them got away with the welding they done
Arthur

[coolincab]

seagul could av done better

[Paulajayne]

Was he a graduate of the Stevie Wonder welding skool?


Paula

[andrew lennon]

hellfire that is rough aint it??

[TSK]

We used to have a guy who claimed to be a coded welder, we knew he was the real deal, all his welds contained dots & dashes!

[joe magee]

Looks like they used a mapp torch. Fire him.

[micha1]

Nice one! I once had a RN "nuclear welder" ? join the pipes on a ship at sea, The best I could do was silver solder all the holes for him.
It happens!