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Had a boiler tube leak on a job last week and the fix was a real pain
I was doing a retube on a 250 psi boiler up in Milwaukee and everything was going smooth until I pressure tested it. One of the new tubes had a pinhole leak right at the backsheet weld. Took me three tries to get the weld to hold because the gap was too tight for my 6010 rod to get good penetration. I ended up having to grind it out and use a smaller tungsten to reach in there. Anybody else run into this kind of problem on tight tube layouts?
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sandralee2d agoTop Commenter
Oh man, that "gap too tight for my 6010 rod" part hit home. I had a similar nightmare on a 150 psi boiler last winter, same pinhole leak issue right at the back sheet. I spent a whole afternoon swapping between different rod angles and finally had to grind and hit it with a smaller tungsten like you did. Did you try using a 7018 cap after you got the penetration sorted? That helped me avoid a third attempt.
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sam_anderson2d ago
Yeah that "grind and hit it with a smaller tungsten" part is exactly what saved me too. Using a 7018 cap after good penetration sounds like a solid idea, I usually just stick with the 6010 all the way but I might try that next time. Tight tube layouts are the worst for weld access, makes you wish they left a little more room at the backsheet.
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