joel50•12d ago

Question about a bad flange weld on a feedwater heater in Gary

I was on a job at the old steel mill in Gary, Indiana, and we had a flange on a feedwater heater that kept weeping after the initial weld. My old foreman, Frank, always said to just lay more bead on it, but that never sat right with me. This time, I stopped, ground out the whole seam, and found a hairline crack in the base metal we'd missed. We cut out a six-inch section and re-piped it, and it held perfect pressure. Has anyone else had a weld fail because of a base metal flaw you couldn't see at first?

2 comments

2 Comments

robinson.leo12d ago

Used to just weld over leaks like Frank said. Finding that hidden crack made me stop for good. Now I always grind it clean to check the metal first.

kim_martin12d ago

Sometimes you just need a fast fix, not a full rebuild.