Visited a refinery in Baton Rouge last week and noticed something off about their boiler setup

I was down at a small refinery job near Baton Rouge and walked past this old firetube boiler that had a bunch of extra weld beads around the tube sheet. The foreman said they added them over time to patch leaks but now it's causing stress cracks near the tube ends. Has anyone else seen this kind of band-aid fix cause bigger problems down the line?

2 comments

2 Comments

faithb7820d ago

Stop doing that. Seen it a dozen times. Those extra weld beads create a hard spot that don't flex with the rest of the tube sheet when it heats up. The stress cracks are a direct result. You're better off cutting out the bad tubes and replacing them properly than piling on more weld. That foreman's band-aid fix just moved the problem down the line. Next thing you know you'll be replacing the whole tube sheet.

seth_carr20d ago

Hate seeing the same shortcut ruin good equipment.