PSA: Watch out for weld porosity when you're in a hurry on a fume hood

I was working on a fume hood duct up at Purdue's chemistry building last Tuesday. Had to get done before the lab opened at 8 AM so I rushed the root pass on a stainless joint. About halfway through I noticed this pinhole starting to form and figured I could just grind it out later. Well later never came and the QC guy flagged it on the radiograph that afternoon. Cost me 3 hours on Saturday to come back and cut it out then reweld it proper. Has anyone else had a rushed job come back to bite them like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayden58716d ago

Nah, I gotta push back on that a bit. A pinhole on a fume hood weld is a straight up safety hazard, not just a cosmetic thing. If that joint fails and chemicals leak, someone could get seriously hurt. Three hours on a Saturday sounds like a bargain compared to what could have happened. Rushing a root pass on something that critical is asking for trouble, period. You gotta plan your time better if a deadline means skipping quality on a safety weld.

janac5916d ago

Ehh, I gotta disagree a little. Sometimes rushing is just part of the job, especially when you're up against a hard deadline like a lab opening. You saw the pinhole forming and made a call to grind it later, which is a calculated risk most of us have taken. The real mistake wasn't rushing the weld, it was forgetting to go back and fix it before the QC guy saw it. I've been there too, but I'd argue that three hours on a Saturday is a cheap lesson in remembering to actually do the grind-out, not in never rushing a root pass.