Stuck a 3-inch patch on a 30-year-old Erie water tank and the base metal started cracking under the weld

Pulled the grinder out and found stress cracks running about 6 inches in both directions from the original leak. Foreman wanted to just stack beads over it. I stopped and drilled stop holes at the crack tips instead. Took a plasma torch to cut out the whole bad section and fit a new plate. Took an extra 4 hours but that patch is still holding a year later kid working there told me. Anyone else run into hidden cracks that forced you to redo the whole repair plan?

2 comments

2 Comments

kevin2183d ago

Did you at least get to keep the piece you cut out as a souvenir? My garage is FULL of "lesson learned" metal that looks like modern art.

spencer_perry772d ago

Wait, you just keep random chunks of metal with messed up cuts laying around? That's honestly kinda wild, my guy. I've got a junk drawer full of stripped screws and bits of old angle grinder discs but nothing that looks like modern art. You should post pics of your garage wall, sounds like a real conversation starter.