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Old superintendent in Gary told me to always grind welds smooth on tanks... but is it really needed?
Worked a job at the BP refinery in Whiting a few years back. The super there, an old guy named Hank who'd been doing it since the 70s, swore I had to grind every single weld flush on a storage tank I was patching. Said leaving beads on invites cracking over time. But I've seen other crews just leave them rough and pass inspection fine. What's the real deal? Anyone else get told this and ignore it?
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wyatt_hernandez141mo ago
You say "leaving beads on invites cracking over time" but I've seen plenty of tanks that were welded rough and passed hydro tests for years without issues. Look at any farm tank or old water tower, those beads are still there from the 80s and nobody ground them flush. If you're doing a critical pressure vessel or something with cyclic loads then sure, grind it smooth. But for a standard storage tank holding crude or water? That's just extra work and wasted material. Half the time the grinding ends up thinner than the bead was anyway, so you're weakening the thing you're trying to fix.
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