Welding Repair On 36" Water Pipeline

Good memories,I did hot gas tie-ins for three years,cold cutting gas lines,draining them,packing them with dry ice,putting in a plug and vent,welding on a 12" slip flange both sides installing a by pass,no lunch,no brakes,just get it done,I got whatever I wanted,I was taught by an old welder the safest way to do it,it's very dangerous,shell oil didn't care,in 1980 I was making 600.00 a day,it was union,342 san francisco,I was the only one,you do bring back the day's,I've welded with my whole arm under water,good job.
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That was awesome Auston, sure glad you stayed around and shared the finishing touches to the work you did. I learned something new today, put fresh batteries in the hearing aids sooner. The wife didn't say stand up, she said SHUT UP. Doc said I'll be able to see when the swelling goes down. Stay safe and have fun. Fred.

Hot damn! Loved this episode. Absolutely the coolest thing pipe work. What's amazing is the artistry that goes into the weld and the pride taken in the work, then it all gets covered up. Everyone has their role, but there's something extra special about the folks who work on America's infrastructure. So proud of what you're doing and sharing. This one bit of work is going to impact thousands in a positive way, and they would never know it if you didn't drop videos like this. Great Job!!!!

Goes even more in depth with torque specs and sequence of bolt up ! 👍🏾🤙🏾

Need more content like this!! Hope you keep getting these jobs.

Im so glad you spoke on the shock factor, ive wondered about that for years now 🤙

Used to to the same thing in the bottom of pulp wood barges. Wood peg driven in the hole, weld a piece of threaded pipe
around the peg & screw on the top. Some of the nastiest work I have ever done.

Very cool. Great job Austin.

Cool stuff Austin

I really enjoyed this video. Brings back a lot of memories. Sure do like your videos. Keep them coming.

I did enjoy it and I did learn something. Thank you!

Sheeww buddy, sure is nice to see ole A ROSS lying horizontal on his mud board welding up on some 36" pipe

Great job sir!

I would love to learn more on welding. I'm a every now and then hobby welder, but I'm learning a lot from your videos

I work on a irrigation farm and deal with this type of pipe weldin, she’s her own breed! 😂😂

Awesome video! Water pressure increases 1/2 pound per foot of elevation. 10 feet of head = 5 pounds.

Good stuff ARoss 🇺🇸👍

Very interesting as usual, thanks for sharing 👍

That arc strike tho 💥 😮oops

Excellent work,I love it thanks 🙏🙏👍👍❤❤

Ver y difficult looking weld. Sweet looking work.

Great video sir!! You make me wanna get shocked while learning something new 😂

I’ve welded hot water lines full with water, but only at 5-20 lbs of pressure.
The pipe was only weeping so I was able to stop it.
When there’s too much pressure on it however; using 6010 especially, it’ll pop the puddle when it cools every time. I use low hydrogen and go fast enough to make it stop.
And don’t get me started on getting shocked.. I feel ya on that one.. It’s always fun to “Ride the Lightning ⚡️“

Nice job. The latex glove trick is one I figured out after getting zapped a few times when I first started out.

Great video thanks

I learned , one shock and I lay the rod on dry ground and grab it. Great video.

I'd like to see more water pipeline welding videos. Water is just as important (more important really) as gas and oil. Thanks Austin!

Yes I agree I have only got shocks like that as well every other time been fine

New to your channel..... just learning VERY basic welding..... mig and oxyacetylene ..... restoring an old 48 willys jeep.... but really enjoying all your videos!!! Thank you for imparting your experience and knowledge !!!

Noticed that you were using your nondomate hand. Looks like a good job with it. Keep up the good work and have a great weekend.

I spent lots of time in holes like that. Whenever possible, I had them dig the deepest part of the hole behind me and put the pump there. That way the water runs away from you and you have a dry area to work in.

awsome brother ROSS! great video fun repair,keep up the good work/im in moundsville wv in the river so we doing wet things,im on 30"600wall

My worst shock came while welding bar joists to a horizontal I-beam. Late July in NC, 300% humidity, and sweating like a whore in church. Burning 5/32” 7018’s, every stitch of clothing soaked with sweat, I was sitting on the beam and had put a new rod in the stinger, decided to mop the water off of my face. The end of the electrode swung around and hit my right knee which was clad in soaked denim, and with my equally soaked butt sitting on the grounded beam, I got lit up and nearly fell off! Been zapped many times over my 40+ year career as a certified welder, but that one was by far and away the worst!

Reminds me of discharge dredge pipe repairs on an offshore hydraulic sand dredge

Yessir 🤙🏻
My 2nd time ever being on pipeline as a helper i had to travel with my welder to do a live repair. They wanted to get my feet wet early i guess 😂.

last year we were repairing / rehanging a metal paddock gate in the middle of drought season so we were watering the field around our work as we welded and boy when you get stung you know it and quickly adjust what you are doing.. or rather how you are doing - never tried latex. glove liners but that is a great idea,

In the modern world we use plastic pipes for water ;) Awesome video as always Austin, take care!

Austin not sure if anyone mentioned the history behind the wooden peg in a water line, back in the day when water mains were made of wood, they would drive a wooden peg that was tapered ,the wooden peg wood swell up and seal the leak, fire hydrants used to be called fire plugs for that reason, when the bucket brigade would drill a hole in the wooden water main and they were done they would drive the plug in for future use. A little fun fact.

Well done brother..in Malaysia we use 6013 electrode to weld water pipelines...the same knowledge we do here bro, it uses the method of sticking wood on the surface of the pipeline

good content. Thanks.

Doing maintenance work and replacing sections of pipe can test all your skill sets Done lots over the years . Gas lines can be a little exciting some times

Nice job! Some of those old pipe coatings may contain asbestos. Anything older than 1982 it's more likely. We'd call in abatement crews in west texas. Helps to keep it wet when it's removed - it's the dust that's bad. You may already know this. Just looking out for ya. Turned out slick!

U R AWESOME!!!

a place I went to had 2 big 10k water storage tanks. (Volume thing, fill over days with small pump, then quick fill for sprayers with 4” gravity discharge)
Anyway, tanks were old, from 1930s. And those things were full of wood plugs. “If they start leaking we just jam a different new stick in the hole”

here in the lovely PNW... it rains, and it seems to rain the hardest when you have broken equipment that needs welding before day break... yeah wet gloves suck I'll have to remember the latex glove thing, even though I hates wearings thems hatesses thems

I would absolutely love to get to meet you I live in Shawnee Oklahoma and him on the verge of finishing up my second year of Votech for welding

Dammn. That water man could made his job so much easier with an impact wrench

Electric welding in a puddle of water what could go wrong.....lol Love the videos!

A little trick I learned when your gloves are wet, is to stick a rod in the ditch of your elbow and grab the rod with the stinger. There’s usually more insulation in the coat you’re wearing to avoid getting shocked (that is if you’re not already wearing a waterproof coat.)

Nothing like tig welding in the rain.

GFCI on newer engine drives... but can they be utilized on 110 VDC Lincoln's ?

If you weld enough, its not if you are going to get tickled/shocked, it just when. Just like burning yourself or catching yourself on fire. 😁
Been tickled a few times in the last 40 years. It gets your attention.

I would like to see how and where you attached the ground clamp.

Cool beans Austin! Will they saw a full bore I.D. hole at a later date? I was waitin' for the guah! Ha ha! Love your show. I'm hoping for a great improvement in vision soon in Dec., after laser treatment on dirty lens implants (like a dirty windshield), (who knew?). Blind man welding sucks!

I don’t mind getting shocked with my wet welding gloves. Sometimes I’ll be falling asleep welding piles and it will wake me up. Good to go😂🤪

I always tell people be more cautious of your grinder extension cord in the water 110 is a lot worse than getting buzzed by your welder

Like the good ole days eh

My worse shock was tig aluminum, I was laying on the floor of a livestock trailer tigging low on the wall and got the filler rod stuck to the tungsten, then touched my ear before I could get the thumb control off, yipeeeeeeeee

Was this filming out in Glen Rose Tx ? Curious

I generally used 6010,root and hot then a low high cap,7018.Surprised you didn't use a short pup on the flange for more clearance when welding.When finished the outside,,6010 the inside,root and hot.

Have you ever worked in fuel contaminated soil ? A fellow had outhouse across from old gasbar in a small-town,wasn't allowed to smoke inside in winter so had his puff in outhouse ,threw his smoke in outhouse ,it blew up him ended up in snowbank pants down to his ankles in middle of town ...true story Ft Fraser BC

Surprised you used 7018, l know you had a reason, can you tell me, great job

How do you get a good weld when the pipe is live? Seems any liquid would super cool the metal and prevent good penetration? As far as welding on a live gas line well I don't have any desire to be anywhere near that operation!!

Do you have an auto dark lens in that hood? Of you do what are you running? I have a Fibre Metal that I run with a static 10 shade that I wanted to swap out

I seen pipelines with that type of coating and most of the time it’s asbestos, did they test it to make sure you wasn’t welding on asbesto and breathing those harmful fumes ?

On an old pipeline, would a 3/32 6010, downhand root, with 2-7018 cover passes work? I'm thinking a water pipe that old, would likely be pretty thin at the point the leak occurred, and might blow out with the 7018? Just curious, you did a beautiful job by the way. I'm Enjoying your content!

100% no touchy rod with wet gloves. I always tried to set my rod holder up so I could grab it with the stinger. Thanks for sharing, good info in this one. Enjoy your Thanksgiving. !!

Was this job a call from the union hall ?

did you two hole the flange??

Where did you get that strap for the back of your lid? I wanna get one for my sugar scoop.

How does that work when you’re working around water and you’re sparking the ark do you get might get electrocuted

I’m a freshman in high school hoping to do this after I graduate and get my schooling done. Do you have any tips on preparing for pipeline welding and welding school itself?

I weld nozzles on live water mains all the time so they can be tapped. I Always run 1/8” 5P down.😁 Don’t blow through!

Did they ask you for any credentials, i.e. certs? Did you have any sort of procedure to follow or was that up to you?

So wait..the flange was just to repair the hole ? The flange acted as a bandaid in this situation?

Austin, this was a time and material job wasn't it? How is it that cross-country high-pressure pipe is all downhill but a relative low pressure water line required 7018 uphill on a "blind" that has no stress or strain or load on the 6" inch flange? Why not run a 8010 "bead" pass downhill inside and out then a cap pass with the 5/32? Good video as always and I have been in the ditch myself on take up and re-lay of oil line plus running 16" pipe in a ton of catfish ponds getting shocked as well!! In this situation a "seal weld" was required IMHO....

Also what did u charge him if u don’t mind me asking..that’s the hardest part to me is knowing what to ask for when doing a job..it’s soo competitive nowadays and I’m just started doing field work on my own

Very cool, does the water contained in the pipe effect the heat transfer?

We do the wood plug in the oil field a lot

What material was that ? White iron is commonly used but it doesn't look like white iron ?????

The flange cover that was bolted on is called a blind flange, not a blind.

The blind is also called spade, in Europe.

Are you still a member in good standing with UA local 798 ?

The guy doing the excavation could have dug the ditch a little deeper so you would have an easier time doing the repair work.

Hey Austin! What’s your favorite coffee brand??

Why was the flange needed? Is it a leak repair or is there plans to tap into it?

They could have stopped flow long enough to press a sleeve on an weld it in Or maybe run freeze plugs cut small section out an put new section in . Any of these options no good ? Just wondering I am learning myself . I’m not even a welder wish is was or at least knew how . but you can never have to many trades

Is there a way we can contact you for a consultation/guidance. I’m happy to pay you for you time and would probably only take about 15 minutes

Hot tapping

sooo just a pin hole then you welded a 150 lb flange over it????

I find it exhilarating to get shocked said no one ever but it is what it is.

You need a bikini model helper to block the sun and hand you rods 😎.

Way safer to weld on a hot line than a dead line .

Ughh just did a 36 water. Tar coating plus pvc tape wrap is a bitch getting off. Not my favorite 😂

oklahoma swamp.....

That tar is asbestos

Damn contractors making u work in a puddle. How hard is it to throw in some fill loo

Burlap?!

You could not weld on the inside if the flange in the gas industry. That’s for sure

U talk A lot