Vent: Rough day with a boiler tube leak in Gary

Had a boiler tube blow out on me yesterday at a plant in Gary. Took 3 hours just to isolate the leak because the header was still too hot to work near. We finally patched it around 4 PM, but the foreman said our weld time was too slow. Anyone else deal with maintenance guys rushing you on a pressure vessel?

4 comments

4 Comments

xena_bailey181mo ago

Man, 3 hours just to isolate? Ouch. Sounds like they wanted you to weld it while it was still steaming like a teakettle or something. Guess my weld time is only fast when the foreman's watching, but the material has other plans.

the_paul1mo ago

Nail that setup and timing like @nguyen.morgan said, prep while it cools. Three hours is brutal though, seems like they shouldve had you working on something else in between. Just gotta work smarter when the material acts up.

nguyen.morgan1mo ago

For me it helped to let the material cool while I set up everything else, then just hit it quick and clean. Your mileage may vary but rushing it always bit me in the end.

-1

the_max1mo ago

Three hours just to isolate? That's insane. I've never heard of anyone having to babysit a weld that long just to get the material ready. Sounds like your foreman was setting you up for failure honestly. If they wanted it done fast they should have prepped the material better or had a second person on it. Material cooling is the whole point, rushing it just makes a mess you have to fix later. Three hours tells me the setup was wrong from the start.