My crew in Omaha argued about pre-heating thick plate for three hours last month.

One side said it's a waste of gas unless it's below freezing. The other said skipping it on anything over 2 inches is asking for cracks. We had a 3-inch thick repair on a steam drum. What's your shop's rule on this?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_nina16d agoMost Upvoted

Hold up, you guys were welding on a steam drum? That changes everything, man. The pre-heat isn't just about the thickness, it's about the stress in that thing. Skipping it on a pressure vessel repair is how you get a real bad day, not just some cracks. My old boss would have fired someone on the spot for even having that argument on a drum job. You gotta follow the code to the letter for that work, no shortcuts.

uma68515d ago

Fired on the spot? That's how serious this is.

sean_johnson168d ago

Guess I never realized how big a deal that was.