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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Why ?
- - By Lawrence (*****) Date 12-11-2008 15:39
Why oh why?

Does GMAW spray transfer with 98/2  Ar/02 smell like sour apples after the weld is complete?

My students want to know..

Ok.. I want to know too.  :)
Parent - - By Joseph P. Kane (****) Date 12-11-2008 17:06
Lawrence

Are you sure there are no cloroforms around?
Parent - - By PipeIt (**) Date 12-11-2008 17:18 Edited 12-11-2008 17:22
Sometimes Mill Varnish and certain paint/coatings give different smells. Also that process is a much hotter process so you could be cooking/conducting paint/coatings further down on materials that typically would not see conduction that far down.

Weldbend Pipe fittings smells like cotton candy for example at least to me they do, but I'm goofy so that could be a factor.
Parent - By jsdwelder (***) Date 12-11-2008 17:30
Never smelled apples, but we recently started using an anti-spatter spray called "Spatter Spatter" that smells like lemons when you weld over it.
Parent - - By Lawrence (*****) Date 12-11-2008 17:59
Nope, nope, and nope.

It smells pretty with mill scale or brite metal!

No Tri-Chlor either.  (Heaven forbid the Phosgene)

This is something I have noticed for years... Just never thought to ask about it.  Kinda like a sweet Ozone

Anti spat!  Never...!!!   I make the lads set paramaters to achieve spatter free welds...   In the excellent conditions you have in a training center, anti-spatter is an unnecessary crutch.  Now before you get all huffy Production environment is another matter altogether :).
Parent - - By ravi theCobra (**) Date 12-11-2008 18:06
Are  your  students  welding   with  gloves   ?
Sometimes  when I  MIG  weld  without  gloves  (and  TIG  weld, too )  my  hands  develop a strange  odor  -
Parent - By js55 (*****) Date 12-11-2008 18:25
LOL!!
Not sure you're gonna get an answer to this one Lawrence. I picture in my mind a scene similar to the dance scene in the movie Micheal when all the women were smelling something different. Personnaly I think 98/2 smells like cookies.
Parent - By pipewelder_1999 (****) Date 12-11-2008 18:38
Phosgene, Brings back my days of NBC training films and the goat tied out on a stake.

The smell is Ozone. Here is some "Good/Bad" discussion. http://www.negativeiongenerators.com/ozone-good_or_bad.html .

I have always considered it bad as it dries out the air passages pretty good. I keep saline spray with me if I am doing much GMAWS or GTAW. I don't seem to notice it with FCAW but maybe its because all of the other stuff in t he smoke.
Parent - By pipewelder_1999 (****) Date 12-11-2008 18:33
Ozone is all I smell. Of course I have never came across a sour apple either.
Parent - By Kix (****) Date 12-11-2008 18:53
Yeah, it's probably a mix of ozone, smoke fumes of both the metal and wire or whatever else is on the plate.  Sour apples smell good and I have never smelled anything good while welding. lol  How about that stink you get in your hood after you sneeze in it and it starts to get hot. lmao  Did someone borrow you hood that was suckin on a sour apple jolley rancher and then sneeze in it.;-)
Parent - By KSellon (****) Date 12-11-2008 19:17
when you find out let me know....I hate the smell of welding and would like to smell sour apples instead
Parent - - By aevald (*****) Date 12-11-2008 19:47
Hello Lawrence, all of the answers that have been given could contribute to a particular smell. Very likely there could be a hint of wire drawing fluid/lube that could also add to the mix, additionally there could be the action of the arc. I don't know if you have ever seen the Sharper Image commercials about the electronic air cleaners that they sell or if you have ever had one or been around where they are in use. We have a couple in our home and they give the air a distinct "scent", I would venture to say that if you have noticed this same "smell" over the years when using the 98/2 mix that it is due to the combination of shielding gas/atmosphere and certain types of ionization or other photochemical reactions generated by the arc. Just my additional $.02. Best regards, Allan 
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 12-11-2008 19:54
Allan,
What you said makes sense...several of my guys here say that at times the(fluxcore) Ultra Core 71 with 100% CO2 has a certain smell. They say it seems to be alot more noticable at times, than at other times. I asked them for a description of the smell but they never could describe it to me exactly. I'm thinking it may be the wire drawing fluid that you speak about.
Parent - By pipewelder_1999 (****) Date 12-11-2008 19:55
Any water bottling plant where they treat water with ozonation will have the same smell. I have been in one and 1st thing that hit my brain when I walked in was that someone was tig welding somewhere.
Parent - - By ravi theCobra (**) Date 12-11-2008 19:57
Could  it  be  that  that  "sour apple "  smell   is  acetic  acid  -  is  it  weakly  like  vinnegar 
Parent - - By OBrien (***) Date 12-11-2008 22:15
You could always just pour root beer over the hot weld and it will smell like cotton candy. 
Parent - - By Milton Gravitt (***) Date 12-12-2008 01:51
Why does  some of the anti-splatter that is used on steel smell like fish frying. That's what it smells like to me.
Parent - By gawelder (**) Date 12-13-2008 01:47
Some anti-spatter sprays have fish oil in them.
Parent - - By Metarinka (****) Date 12-12-2008 19:09
in my 5+ years welding I can never recall a distinct smell besides: generic smoke, metal dust, Burnt leather, burnt cotton, and Burnt hair, oh and zinc fumes.  I don't think I've ever recalled a distinct scent when welding linked to any particular metal or process.

taste... that's a different matter altogether, I find the tastes of some metals quite pleasant.  Just never ask why I was tasting them in the first place...
Parent - - By OBEWAN (***) Date 12-12-2008 19:24
Haven't you ever welded with no gloves?  It can be done at low amps for short periods of time.  The odor is very strong.  I am not sure what it smells like, but I will never forget it.  I think it is a combination of sweat and cooking human flesh, but then I can't be sure since I am not a cannibal. Sniff your hands next time you make some tack welds with no glooves and you will see what I mean.
Parent - By Metarinka (****) Date 12-12-2008 19:28
no, I've tig welded once or twice with no gloves but after one or two times touching a hot cub, hot piece of metal or hot anything I learned that I didn't like burnt hands and it wasn't worth the "convenience"  I always tig weld in gloves. I'd rather burn my gloves
Parent - By DaveBoyer (*****) Date 12-13-2008 04:05
OBEWAN: I know that smell well. I get it a lot when I use the spool gun.
Parent - - By BryonLewis (****) Date 12-12-2008 19:35
Smells like fish, tastes like chicken.
Parent - - By PipeIt (**) Date 12-12-2008 20:47
I am a canibal but I only eat raw human flesh
Parent - - By Milton Gravitt (***) Date 12-13-2008 00:33
Welding SS make me hoarse of coarse any body else and it don't matter which welding process.
MG
Parent - - By OBrien (***) Date 12-13-2008 01:38
Try to keep your head further away from the weld and get good ventalation (sp) so you don't breath that stuff anymore than you have to.
Parent - - By Weldrwomn (*) Date 12-13-2008 03:22
I have found that different flux cored wires smell differently.  I haven't found any that smell like apples though.  At the company I used to work for, we used this antispatter spray that smelled like bacon when welded over.  I was always really hungry after using that stuff.
Parent - By JTMcC (***) Date 12-13-2008 03:33
70+ has always smelled like money to me.

JTMcC.
Parent - By Milton Gravitt (***) Date 12-13-2008 15:29
I do, but when there are three welders welding on the same thing you can't help but to smell it and that smell stays with you for a while.
                    MG
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Why ?

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