Pipe job coming up.

admin

wellll next month we have a fairly large scale pipe replacement project coming, its a steam loop off the turbine. One of the most critical lines in the plant, 3500psi of superheated steam. 8" pipe with roughly a 1-7/8" wall thickness, J-bevel, 2 1/4% chromoly. preheat/hold joints at 400*, 3 xrays per joint, one of root, one after 75% fill, and one final shoot. Once we start a joint we arent able to stop so well have 4 welders, two guys on seperate joints, with one relief, generally takes about 20hrs to complete one joint. Then each joint recieves a post heat treatment process, 200* per hour upto 1350*, and then soak at 1350 for 2 hrs, and then bring her back down to 200* at 200* per hour.SOOOO whenever we have joints/jobs like this where we are welding on exposed super critical steam lines (basically any pipe NOT inside the boiler) the boiler inspectors like us to do a competency test even if our current tickets are still "valid" for the year. So i figured id take some pictures of the test we started today, started the 2" sch 160 chro-mo  late this afternoon, managed to get my root and hot pass in. will fill/cap tomororw. Then i get to start the big bugger, 6" sch 160 chro-mo all 2 - 1/4%. Generally we arent allowed to purge on our yearly tests due to our procedures wanting qualified guys for "insitu" welding in the boiler where purge is just not practical in most situations. BUT for this job we get to purge so roots are a breeze. The 6" will likely take me 2 days, its a touch over 1" wall. Attached Images
Reply:Yo man, great work!I hate being bi-polar it's awsomeMy Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Reply:Sounds like a good payday to me!
Reply:AWESOME DUDE !  You the man . REAL, I mean REAL pipe welding.  Make us proud.
Reply:Wow!!!!!That's about all I know to say..........Precision TIG 185 and MP 210Bobcat 225NTCutmaster 42O/A tanks.... 2 Argon tanks...... 2 C25 TanksFacebook...... F2 Metal WorksETSY....... https://www.etsy.com/shop/F2MetalWorksF2MetalWorks.com....... http://www.f2metalworks.com/
Reply:any closer pics? nice work also
Reply:thats about as good as ill be able to do on the root, there being sent off to be xrayed so cant really cut the pipes up. ill try and take some good pictures of all the pass's tomorrow
Reply:I relearn how much I hate chrome welding every time I have to do it.
Reply:looks like fun, althou I would butcher it
Reply:chromes really not that bad, a little trickier to get flawless looking roots when your not allowed to purge, anything higher than 2 1/4 almost always requires a purge. inconel/hastalloy is another story! Our welding engineers are trying to get us to qualify another stainless procedure, witha special tig rod that dosent require a purge to put the root in, now THAT is a chaotic tig rod to run.
Reply:That looks like the Triangle Engineering "monster coupon"Disclaimer; "I am just an a$$hole welder, don't take it personally ."
Reply:amoungst all this lovely testing, myself and the other welder are into the boiler doing work on our primary and secondary superheater, shield replacement, pad welding on corner tubes from soot blower erosion, and currently a scaffold company is setting up a platform underneath the superheater so we can access a pair of tubes that need replacing. Its absolutely insane to think that some of these tubes are upto 1/16" thin and hold 1900psi of steam. Just to give some perspective, the whole boiler is 120ft high, the bottom panel of superheater tubes sits at about 100ft and then its straight down to the wet bottom 100ft. So the scaffold company is currently setting up those aluminium beams you see sitting across the tubes theyll hold winch motors and theyll winch a platform from the wet bottom to the bottom of the superheater so its comfortable to work off of, and well climb down the spacing of the tubes you see to the platform, usually a 12' x 12' platform. Oh and in the second picture the distance from the primary to secondary superheater tubes is 18" so shes a nice tight place to work! Attached ImagesLast edited by Pressure_Welder; 03-13-2013 at 11:40 PM.
Reply:Isn't that considered a confined space ???       I sure hope you go by the book.
Reply:Is that dust?Miller Maxstar 200 SDPiperliner #10 Gold
Reply:Ya it is a confined space lol trust me our company is insanely strict with safety guidelines there's literally a days worth of paper work to get into the boiler, and that is ash you see from the burnt coal
Reply:Originally Posted by Pressure_WelderYa it is a confined space lol trust me our company is insanely strict with safety guidelines there's literally a days worth of paper work to get into the boiler, and that is ash you see from the burnt coal
Reply:Did enough of that.  Constant monitoring of air quality, fresh air , exhaust, harness ,and all that good stuff. We had to provide our own confined space recovery team onsite. The town fire department did not have confined space team only the county. So if you called 911 they had to round up the team.You'd be dead by then. I think it was $1000.00 a day for a professional recovery team to be there.  They provided everything. Our instruments were out of calibration for months. They had all updated state of the art equipment plus they were firefighters and paramedics .Money well spent.
Reply:Tell me about it. Next week I am going in an oil refinery shut down to inspect towers (yeah, I love those 12hour shift days for a whole month non stop...NOT).And to stay on topic here is a P91 pipe 10" t=21,4mm from some welders I certified some time ago.PS The reason it is preferred that welders are qualified without inert gas backing is that with most standards removal of inert gas backing constitutes an essential variable and requires re qualification (eg ASME IX   QW 408.8). Addition on the other hand is not.Of course there are occasions where welding without gas backing even on a welder test is not an option.
Reply:Nice taz I love seeing heavy wall pipe projects and even tests, you forgot to mention how freaking hot that pipe gets with the ceramic blankets and welding! Yes as you stated purge isn't generally a nessecary item generally for us we never get to purge but on super critical joints they seem to try and eliminate any sort of downfall for us welders which is a nice gesture keep posting pics if you have them taz
Reply:Wow, I love the detail description with the pictures. That thing looks very hot.
Reply:Here is one of the weirdest PQRs I had to make.SA 204 Gr.B clad with W.O.Gr.309L to SA 335 Gr.P11  clad with SA240 Gr.410S.Welded with 1/2 Mo for filler and cap and NiCrMo-3 for the root.One of the pipes was the nozzle of a vessel so obviously there was no extra available and for the other pipe we had the same problem.So what do we do?We take a P11 pipe and a GrB pipe, we cut them and clad them before we make the actual weld.PS If I told you what machine was used welding for almost 8 hours non-stop @ 200A you would not believe me...
Reply:Originally Posted by taz00Here is one of the weirdest PQRs I had to make.SA 204 Gr.B clad with W.O.Gr.309L to SA 335 Gr.P11  clad with SA240 Gr.410S.Welded with 1/2 Mo for filler and cap and NiCrMo-3 for the root.One of the pipes was the nozzle of a vessel so obviously there was no extra available and for the other pipe we had the same problem.So what do we do?We take a P11 pipe and a GrB pipe, we cut them and clad them before we make the actual weld.PS If I told you what machine was used welding for almost 8 hours non-stop @ 200A you would not believe me...
Reply:Wow! . You have a great talent!PlasmaCam CNC cutterLathe and Band SawClamps
Reply:It is not me in the photos, I took the photos and was witnessing the PQR and taking measurements.I am a mechanical engineer and a welding engineer and I work for a Notified Body in Europe.The guy in the last photo is one of the best welders in every way (quality, skills, character, productivity) I had the privilege of working with.I am not bad as a welder but I can't compare myself to some of these guys who work all their lives welding all types of materials in all possible conditions and positions.
Reply:''PS If I told you what machine was used welding for almost 8 hours non-stop @ 200A you would not believe me... Is it that NEW HARBOR FREIGHT HIGH AMP ONE ??????????????????????????No. It is a Rilon Arc 200T stick welder.In the oil refineries most of the work up on the racks is done using small (approx 200A 220V stick welders).When we first saw these little things we thought they would die on us sooner or later but after a few months all the companies had bought these things (not just Rilon, you could find any brand) and all the 500A monsters were sitting and watching (no 100m welding cables from the floor up to the pipe racks...)On site you will rarely find a High Frequency tig welder with all the bells and whistles, it's all scratch start tig unless the application forbids it.
Reply:well managed to get the 2" out of the way today, had our month safety meeting which took up the whole morning! owell atleast it was burger day. Pipe was definatly nothing to write home about thats for sure, but not to awful bad for a guy with a broken arm! threw the root into the big bugger this afternoon, slicker than butter the inspector said.... so i presume im good to fill her up on monday haha! again awesome pictures taz, i love looking at that kind of work. keep em coming!! Attached ImagesLast edited by Pressure_Welder; 03-14-2013 at 06:53 PM.
Reply:Nice work. I am going to bed guys. I have a plane to catch in the morning.
Reply:Originally Posted by taz00No. It is a Rilon Arc 200T stick welder.In the oil refineries most of the work up on the racks is done using small (approx 200A 220V stick welders).When we first saw these little things we thought they would die on us sooner or later but after a few months all the companies had bought these things (not just Rilon, you could find any brand) and all the 500A monsters were sitting and watching (no 100m welding cables from the floor up to the pipe racks...)On site you will rarely find a High Frequency tig welder with all the bells and whistles, it's all scratch start tig unless the application forbids it.
Reply:Originally Posted by BD1''PS If I told you what machine was used welding for almost 8 hours non-stop @ 200A you would not believe me... Is it that NEW HARBOR FREIGHT HIGH AMP ONE ??????????????????????????
Reply:Hey Pressure nice job. Was that a F6-F4 test and are you qualified to weld to any thickness or...
Reply:sftyvlv-yes is was an F6/F4, 2 1/4 chromoly - 9018-B3. That ticket qualifies us upto 3/4" thickness material, and then we have another test that qualifies us upto 3" thick wall.
Reply:Originally Posted by Pressure_Weldersftyvlv-yes is was an F6/F4, 2 1/4 chromoly - 9018-B3. That ticket qualifies us upto 3/4" thickness material, and then we have another test that qualifies us upto 3" thick wall.
Reply:just a simple tack on the edge of the pipe  to the stand