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PSA: The 30 year guy on my crew said always hydro test the tube welds hot, and he saved my butt on a 600 psi drum
Back when I was still green, this old hand named Dale on a job in Gary told me to run the hydro on a hot drum right after welding instead of letting it cool overnight like I'd been taught. I thought he was nuts, but he explained the metal contracts as it cools and can hide pinholes under stress, so you catch leaks when the steel is still stressed. We tested that 600 psi steam drum that afternoon and found 2 weeping welds on the mud ring that never would have showed up cold. Dale retired 4 years back and I still run every drum hot because of him. Any of you run into a leak that only showed hot, or do you swear by the cold test?
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the_julia23d ago
Man, that Dale sounds like he knew his stuff. Had a buddy down in Texas who did the same thing on some big old vessels and he swore up and down that testing hot caught stuff the cold test never would, said he pulled three weeping welds off a drum one time that were bone dry the next morning. He always told me the cold test can give you a false sense of "she's good" and then boom, six months later you got a problem. So yeah, I get why you still run every drum hot. Some of that old timer wisdom you just can't argue with once you see it work.
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