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PSA: A job at the Miller Power Plant taught me to double-check my weld preheat
We were working on a high-pressure steam line replacement last month, and my usual method wasn't cutting it with the new alloy steel. The lead inspector, Carl, pulled me aside and showed me how the temp was dropping too fast in the wind. He had me bump the preheat to 350 degrees and use bigger blankets. It made a huge difference in the final bead quality. Anyone else run into issues with preheat on outdoor winter jobs?
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williams.jenny18h ago
Wait, you guys weren't already bumping the preheat for wind? That's like Welding 101 stuff (or at least it should be). I saw a joint fail inspection once because the guy didn't account for a breeze and the interpass temp tanked. Carl's right on the money with the bigger blankets too, the cheap little ones are useless outside.
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jesse_green5512h ago
Jenny's story about the failed inspection is exactly why I'm paranoid about wind now. You can have your preheat dialed in perfectly, then a gust comes through and it's like you never heated it at all. Those little blankets just flap around and let all the heat escape. Gotta get the big, heavy ones that actually trap the warmth, otherwise you're just wasting time and gas.
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