Pipeline information

[youngwelder_154]

Hey everyone, once again its been a while and i finally made my way back to the site. I hoped I can get some pictures of pipeline welding, I have always been interested and trying to get involved with that in my future welding career. I hear both good and bad about it and maybe you guys can also shine some light in the darkness for me with experiences and also thoughts about it good and bad

[Rig Hand]

There's Nuttin' Finer Than a Pipeliner

If your looking to start pipelining you better have a pile of money saved up. You don't have to have everything brand new or everthing fancy, but you have to have EVERYTHING. Alot of poeple think if you have a machine and a flatbed thats all you need to Pipeline, WRONG. You have to be able to fit pipe without missing and pass X-ray with exery weld you make. A lot of the time its just you or sometimes one other welder. Unless your doing mainline work which its harder to get on those jobs when your just breaking out. In the spring, fall, and winter you work in the mud, or you rain out sometimes for several days at a time. By 8 o'clock in the morning your truck looks like a tornado hit it, your covered with sand and nothings going right. You sometimes weld on live lines that aren't much more than an 1/8 inch thick, so say your prayers before you get in the ditch. On tie-in days you sometimes work 16 hours striaght. And when the gas company shuts down the line your ''In it to win it''. Rain, snow, sleet, or hail you don't take a break until the line is tied back together so put a sandwich in your coat poket

I'm not trying to discourage you but a lot of pipeliners will tell you how great their job is and how cool they are in their rig trucks and how much money they made on their last pipeline. Bla Bla. Bla. Its HARD work and if you can't keep up you get left behind, without a job.

I should have some picture next week of the job we're finishing.

[Pass-N-Gas]

Videos

Ryan,

Here is a link to a youtube video on the automated side of things..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxLWJBaOit8

Do a search in youtube there is a lot of stuff on there about it..

[pipeline Dan]

If your looking to start pipelining you better have a pile of money saved up. You don't have to have everything brand new or everthing fancy, but you have to have EVERYTHING. Alot of poeple think if you have a machine and a flatbed thats all you need to Pipeline, WRONG. You have to be able to fit pipe without missing and pass X-ray with exery weld you make. A lot of the time its just you or sometimes one other welder. Unless your doing mainline work which its harder to get on those jobs when your just breaking out. In the spring, fall, and winter you work in the mud, or you rain out sometimes for several days at a time. By 8 o'clock in the morning your truck looks like a tornado hit it, your covered with sand and nothings going right. You sometimes weld on live lines that aren't much more than an 1/8 inch thick, so say your prayers before you get in the ditch. On tie-in days you sometimes work 16 hours striaght. And when the gas company shuts down the line your ''In it to win it''. Rain, snow, sleet, or hail you don't take a break until the line is tied back together so put a sandwich in your coat poket

I'm not trying to discourage you but a lot of pipeliners will tell you how great their job is and how cool they are in their rig trucks and how much money they made on their last pipeline. Bla Bla. Bla. Its HARD work and if you can't keep up you get left behind, without a job.

I should have some picture next week of the job we're finishing.

very well said!!!!

[nocheepgas]

You mean like this?




Or This?

[davedarragh]

That Might Be.........

Is that Cochise or Pinal County? Looks like some work they were doing along I-10 in between Tucson and Benson? Or that water line job up by Globe?

Those mountains sure look familiar

Dave

[youngwelder_154]

I must say those pictures are exactly what i was looking for i find googling images don't really give you a lot of variety of pictures but more of repetitive small and large pictures. Rig hand your description of pipe welding isn't scaring me away but more so making me want to do it even more, I'm not afraid of a challenge and weather,but when i think about where they put these things together there's really no happy medium as in when its cold its really cold or its really hot. Is it true that you have only so many failed welds on the X rays before they boot you off the job or am i just hearing that wrong?

[nocheepgas]

Is that Cochise or Pinal County? Looks like some work they were doing along I-10 in between Tucson and Benson? Or that water line job up by Globe?

Those mountains sure look familiar

Dave

Cochise County, The first 2 were some tie-ins we made while installing 10,000' of 6" x .280 WT and new valve assemblies that fed all the gas to Sierra Vista/ Ft. Huachuca. The mountains in the background of the first pic is looking towards Texas Canyon. The last one is a shot of me and a buddy welding in Bisbee about 12:00 AM repairing a line that got torn out during a retaining wall collapse. Cold MF that night!

[Rig Hand]

Is it true that you have only so many failed welds on the X rays before they boot you off the job or am i just hearing that wrong?

No, usually 2 bad welds and your gone. No more than 2% percent so if you made 250 welds you could have more than 2 but not in a row. 2 in a row your gone for sure. I wasn't trying to scare you away, just shining some light on the not so good parts that go along with the job. You seem to have the right mind set tho.

[nocheepgas]

X-Ray

It's easier to pass an X-Ray exam on a production weld than the destructive testing that you are required to do to qualify. Also a lot of welds get non-destructively tested with either Mag Particle or Pen Dye, and those only show surface imperfections with no indications of defects inside the weld.

[youngwelder_154]

All this talk of X rays and passing tests reminds me of my CWB test in college last year. That was one day I'll never forget but my plan is to go back to school and get my red seal that way. Then go for my B pressure ticket then im set pipe welding here I come

[davedarragh]

I Thought So

Cochise County, The first 2 were some tie-ins we made while installing 10,000' of 6" x .280 WT and new valve assemblies that fed all the gas to Sierra Vista/ Ft. Huachuca. The mountains in the background of the first pic is looking towards Texas Canyon. The last one is a shot of me and a buddy welding in Bisbee about 12:00 AM repairing a line that got torn out during a retaining wall collapse. Cold MF that night!

Yep, just as I thought! I get down that way often. I saw some work along SR 90 by the SV Airport, I wondered what was going on.

Dave