amyr57•12d ago

Tried welding a crack in a used boiler drum with a standard rod and it embrittled the whole section

Had a 2 inch crack in a 20 year old drum and used E6010 rod because it was what I had handy, then the inspector flagged it as hydrogen cracking risk and made me grind it all out and redo it with low-hydrogen rod, so now I always check the rod specs before touching anything over 15 years old.

2 comments

2 Comments

jason_stone12d ago

Man that sucks but honestly you got off easy. I had a similar thing happen with a 30 year old boiler drum and tried to save time by welding it hot with a 6010 rod. The whole weld area turned into glass basically, cracked right through when we hydro tested it. Had to cut out a 6 inch section and weld in a patch plate with 7018 rod that was properly baked and stored. Now I treat anything over 10 years old like it's made of butter, always use low hydrogen rods and preheat the area to at least 300F before touching it with an arc. Learned that lesson the hard way on a friday afternoon when the inspector was standing right there watching me burn through rods. These old drums just hold moisture and contaminants in the metal layers that make regular rods turn everything brittle real fast.

aaronlee12d ago

I used to treat old steel the same as new until @jason_stone's story got me rethinking everything. Makes you wonder how many other shortcuts are just ticking time bombs, right?