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Just another hot piece of metal?

Over Torqued

Aluminum
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Location
Kauai , HI
So a friend of mine was stick welding up a socket weld flange (150# 1-1/2" A105) to a 4 foot length of sched. 80 pipe to replace a section on a 30# steam drain line. He wanted to throw an air test on the new section of pipe before installing it. It took him no more than 5 minutes to collect all the necessary fittings to connect to the new piece. He dunked the new piece in water to cool it so that he handle it safely and connect and perform the air test. The boss says that is not recommended (it would weaken the weld), that it should air cool slowly till the point where you don't need to wear gloves. One consideration here was this drain line is in a 140,000 lbs/hr steam plant that was online and a system was bypassed making the entire plant automation a veritable house of cards...time was of the essence. What would you do wait around for it to cool or explain that the heat affect zone of the weld had dissipated into the flange and pipe and that it was just another hot piece of metal? :rolleyes:
 
I would do what the boss told me to do and keep my mouth shut - although the practical difference from a good sizzle at 300-400 degrees to room temp is probably not much.
 








 
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