the_claire•2mo agoProlific Poster

Vent: The week we had to redo a whole boiler section because the spec called for the wrong weld

This was about three weeks ago on a job in Dayton. The prints called for a full penetration groove weld on a 2-inch thick pressure vessel shell, but the spec sheet from the engineer said to use a 7018 rod. In my experience, that's a mismatch for the joint design and the base metal we had. I brought it up, but the lead and the inspector just waved it off, saying 'the paper says to do it, so we do it.' We burned through a ton of man hours and material. Sure enough, the UT guy came through and flagged a whole seam. We had to cut it out and start over with the right filler. It cost the shop two full days and a lot of money. It felt bad to be right in that way. Has anyone else had to push back hard on a spec that was just plain wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylanwilliams1mo ago

Ugh, that's the worst. I mean, I've seen a spec call for a paint that would just burn off the second the unit got hot.

matthewp522mo ago

Used to believe if it was on the paper, it was gospel. Had a similar thing happen with a callout for a bolt torque that seemed way too high for the grade. Spoke up, got the same "follow the spec" line. They sheared every bolt on the first test. Now I push back harder, because being right after the fact just costs everyone time and money.

parker_bailey2mo ago

Damn, @matthewp52, that's brutal. What was the fallout after the bolts sheared? Like, did the higher-ups finally listen, or did they just blame the parts and make you do it all over again the wrong way?