Found a cheap fix for old boiler tube leaks that saved me a headache

I was working on a job down in Baton Rouge last month and kept getting these tiny leaks in some older boiler tubes. Tried welding them up twice but they kept coming back because the metal was so thin. A guy I met at the union hall told me to try using a tapered punch to mushroom the tube ends before welding. I figured it was nonsense but gave it a shot on a scrap piece first. It actually worked great on the real job and held pressure like a champ. Has anyone else tried something like that for thin wall tubes or do you have a better trick for patching old steel?

2 comments

2 Comments

sarah_nelson20d ago

Hold on a second here. You're really trusting a hack job with a tapered punch on thin, old steel? Call me crazy but that sounds like you're just masking the problem for a few weeks until the real leak shows up. I've seen guys do that with steam lines and it always ends with a bigger failure down the road. Welding is already iffy on corroded metal, but mushrooming it out creates stress risers that could crack under expansion. Wouldn't it be smarter to just cut out the bad section and sleeve it properly? I get that it worked once, but one good job doesn't make it a rule in this trade.

west.claire20d ago

Sarah, that mushroom trick actually saved me three hours on a 50-year-old firetube last Tuesday.