Vent: That job site in Baton Rouge had some of the worst tube alignment I've ever seen

I was on a boiler build down in Baton Rouge last Tuesday, and the crew had tubes out of alignment by almost half an inch. The foreman just shrugged and said 'grind it in' like that was acceptable work... Am I wrong for thinking that's a safety issue down the line?

3 comments

3 Comments

fox.derek29d agoTop Commenter

Yeah, half an inch is way too much. That's not just a grinding issue, that's a piping stress and potential failure point. A lot of guys forget tube alignment has to be within tolerance for a reason, especially on high pressure boilers. Grinding that much can leave the wall thickness too thin and cause a blowout later. I'd be surprised if that foreman's still got a job after the next inspection. You might want to flag it to the superintendent or the QC guy if you ever see that again. Safety aside, it's just lazy work and it costs more to fix later than to do it right the first time.

miles7229d ago

Hold on, are we really sure half an inch is a guaranteed blowout waiting to happen? I've seen guys get away with way more grinding than that on low pressure stuff and it ran for years without a problem. It's not like it's good practice, but sometimes you have to work with what the supplier gave you, @fox.derek. If the wall thickness checks out okay after the grind and it's not on a critical bend, it might just be ugly but fine.

cora_scott7714d ago

Fair point @miles72, you got me reconsidering this one.

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