Welding Tips and Tricks

Where i work, most things aren't done legal. me and about two more maintenance men have to repair steamlimes constantly because the company we work for is cheap and dont want to pay for a licensed contractor to come in and weld the pipes up. so here lately they are getting worried about osha finding out that we weld the pipes and none of us are certified. so they have chosen me to possibly go to a school to get certified for high pressure steamlines. Will a 5G or 6G test cover me and the company? will i have to pass an x-ray? Would i have to have any pipe fitter training or training on high pressure systems? all the pipe we have that i would have to deal with is 1 1/4"-1 1/2" sch. 80 mild steel, and possibly would have to weld unions, couplings or reducer bushings. I have passed my structural welds and done fairly decent on a 5G but i am a lost pup on this. i tried to include all the info i could in this. any comments or advice would be appreciated very much.

Hey Robbee. You don't have anything to worry about. The only time you need to have a steam line inspected is if the operating temp. is over 800 deg. and everything before the first two valves, downstream from the boiler. After the first two valves your good. And any steam pressure over 15#'s is considered high pressure. It would be a good idea to be certified anyway. For 1-1/4" and 1-1/2" schedule 80 you can certify on 2" sch. 80, 5 or 6 G. I think anything smaller than that, you have to certify on each diameter. Now, Im not a CWI, but I do hold numerous certifications and everything I have just said was told to me by a CWI. So, maybe he knew what he was talking about.

Hey robee,

I think a 6g test of the same thickness and diameter or greater then what you work on in maintenece will cover your ass. The standereds should be the same too. a 6g test is just like a structural test, except they are ussually open root and in a awkward position. Pipe welding to me seems to carry an aura around it like its a step above the rest, but pipe welding(and pipe welders) is just down and dirty lowlife bullshit like everything else on the planet.

The school should supply pre beveled pipe for you, and I dont think there is any pre-requisite pipefitter training needed to recieve the certifications, assuming you pass the test.
The test might be an x-ray, or might not, it would depend more on engeneering specifications then whether the work is structural or pipe, or high pressure pipe drain pipe.
-Rick

Thank you two men for the info. I start class next thursday and its a 12 week program, so hopefully ill pass this and receive a little raise at work. Once again thank ya'll for the help-Robbee

this post got me thinking. i am a maint. welder in a large prison. i have a first class structural welding license from the dept. of buildings and have been welding almost forty years. the steamfitters here don't do any welding so the welders have to do everything here from building gates and bar sections to steam lines. our power house puts out 150 psi and there are 8 miles of steam tunnels. much of the piping is old. one of the steamfitters was scalded badly a couple years ago when a condensate tank fitting he was standing on gave way and hot water covered him from the waist down. had to have plastic surgery and grafts. do i need a piping cert. for this kind of work?

ALMOST everywhere you need a cert to weld on any kind of big pipe job. I dont know about maintenance/smaller shops, but the big jobs/shops wanna have their butts covered if one of your welds fails and causes any damage.

edit-and for the most part, you have to recertify every job you work on. That 6g cert you took 5 years ago at the college probably aint gonna fly. Some shops it will though.

everything depends on the state you live/work in, and what the insurance company has to say about it. my last job i certified on 2" s80 carbon and ss tig, and carbon stick. i was able to weld from 3/4" on up. the funny thing is the company i worked and tested for didnt have a CWI. they tested me with an xray on all three welds and all good of course. another funny thing is that i was working in a chemical plant welding pipe for some real nasty shit. well when i was done with the assignment i asked for a copy of the cert to put in my resume since i never got a copy. they wouldnt give it to me.... thats because i wasnt cetified per say. now if something would have happend, they would have been able to pull that up i'm sure and tell them i was, or at least i was tested and passed