My boss told me to always double-check the old welds on a retrofit job

We were working on a 40-year-old boiler in a plant outside of Toledo. The foreman, a guy named Carl with about 30 years in, pulled me aside on day one. He said, 'Kid, the prints might say one thing, but the metal tells the real story. You look at every old weld like it's trying to lie to you.' I thought it was just him being overly careful. But on the third day, I was prepping a section for a new fitting. The old weld looked solid, just some surface rust. I gave it a good tap with my chipping hammer like he said, and a whole six-inch section just crumbled away like stale bread. It was full of slag and cold lap. If I hadn't checked, that new fitting would have been sitting on a foundation of sand. It added half a day to the job to cut it out and redo it, but it saved a major headache down the line. Has anyone else had an old-timer's advice save their bacon on a retrofit?

3 comments

3 Comments

shanek6224d ago

Ever have a boss tell you something so simple it sounds dumb until it saves you? Mine made me check every single bolt on a scaffold setup twice. Found three finger-loose ones that would've been real bad.

uma_webb283d ago

My buddy's foreman made him double-check a simple weld. It was cracked.

veramiller24d ago

Oh man, "foundation of sand" is the perfect way to put it! It's wild how something that looks totally fine can just turn to dust with one tap. Those old guys aren't just being fussy, they've literally seen it all fall apart before. My old foreman used to say a visual inspection is just a guess until you put a tool on it. Sounds like Carl saved you from a world of hurt and maybe a very loud, very bad day.