Got a call from one of the gas companies that I have been doing service connections, stations for last week and first thought when I saw who was calling was, "yahoo!! Gas money!!" Asked how I was doing, told him been kinda busy with some handrail jobs but good to hear from them. Well, he begins to tell me that they have a new mayor, not sure where it is going at this point but ok. He said the new mayor is wanting to do some changing and wants to get two guys in the department certified to weld gas pipe. Oh boy, that sucks. They asked if I could come out and give some tips and pointers to the guys they had selected.
I went out the next day, "on the clock" sorta speak. One guy has seen it done by the welder that used to work for them and the other built the legs for billboards years ago. Stayed there most of the day, demonstrating, checking out their welds, pointing out what can't be done, what to look for etc. I'm thinking the department just figures they'll do a test in the shop and send it off. From what I understand they want to get out as cheap as possible on the testing for their specimans so they want to do all low pressure, no tensiles. I suggested that since these guys have never done it before and lack A LOT of hood time that they should do the full workup, nick, tensile, root/face bends etc. Was met with some opposition on this proposal but I know I have done some high pressure stuff with them, 750psi off a transmission line feeding a regulator station. They did alright, I guess but nothing worth testing. Worked on 4" pipe but their wps stated they needed to test on 6" pipe as well as a 1" on 2" branch, more or less a knock off is what seems typical around here. At the end of the day told them I have given them all that I can and could talk til I was blue in the face about how to do it but basically it was up to them to pass the test. They told me the last welder stayed there two years and quit because he was loosing his ability, don't do much welding. I guess in the year that I have been doing it for them I have welded 2-3 service connections and one station. Barely worth the expense of testing and wps on my part, not to mention insurance premiums. I thought they had a pretty good deal with me, always got to them quick, got the job done quick and professionally. Mayor is most likely one of them "I've welded on my daddy's tractor" kind of folks and figure's anybody can do it right out of the box. I also told them about welding on live lines, service connections and what to watch out for, rusty pitted pipe, don't want to blow thru and so on. They both looked at me with big eyes. One guy's not really wanting to do this, if he don't pass the test then I suppose he won't have to! LOL!! Just hope this new mayor knows what he's doing, don't want to hear about these two guys on the news one day, worked with one guy a bunch and kinda know the other so as always safety is a concern for me.
Well, done with my rant.....