There are different reasons why you would approach "outside welding" different to welding inside a workshop. Primarily the reason given is that wind would tend to blow away any shielding over the weld. If this is your reason, then the "self shielding" processes are generally better than the processes using shielding gas. This means that self shielded FCAW is typically as good as SMAW. Much FCAW these days is done as "gas assisted" because it tends to give better quality welds while being easier to control. This kind of FCAW is not as good as SMAW for windy conditions.

Another reason for treating "outside welding" different is that it is difficult to get bulky equipment close to the place you are welding. (e.g. welding on a pipe rack.) If this is your reason, then SMAW tends to be better, because you can easily weld with a twenty or thirty meter power cable. It is not so practical to have a twenty or thirty meter wire feeder cable.

So, is FCAW better than SMAW? It depends what you want. If it is high deposition rates, then certainly FCAW is typically "better". If it is X-Ray quality welds under windy conditions, then I would still go for SMAW.

Hope this helps

Niekie

I would contest the statement about "lack of ability of the operator". I think it takes as much skill for either process to put in sound welds, with either pipe or structural welding.
The wind is about as much of an issue with self shielded wire (innershield) as it is with stick electrodes. They are both shielded by the flux, which is on the inside of the wire, versus outside for a stick electrode.
As far as productivity, I think it depends on the situation as to which process is better suited for the job.
You will have more "arc on time" with innershield and higher deposition rates than with stick welding. Not every job will allow you to drop the hood and burn wire for twelve hours, that's why it depends on the situation. Some jobs require much more fitting than welding. Sometimes your 50 feet in the air and it's faster to drag a stinger cable with you than a wire feeder, gun, spool, and all the cable.
My point is it really depends on the job at hand.

Best regards, Brad M.

If I had the proper equipment and jackstand pipe, give me a wire feeder. If I have to climb through a pipe rack and hang upside down lookin in a mirror, give me a stick rod or maybe a tig rig.

As far as ability goes. I have seen many people that can run a bead with fluxcore with 1 hour of training but never learn how to run uphill.

Both processes used to their maximum potential require a high degree of skill. I think a properly set wire welder of any type is easier to use for an unskilled person than a properly set power source and E-7018.

Good Day

Gerald Austin

I've used Flux Core (w/shielding gas) and stick to build Oil Rigs inside, outside, and offshore. The only times we didn't use the flux core was if the weld area required was only a few inches long. I've seen guys pull a wire feeder up to the top of a 100' tall derreick, hand over hand, in the wind, because they preferred it over stick that much. Even though the Flux Core had a longer set-up time, and wind protection barriers had to be installed, the job would be finished better and quicker than with stick.
It takes an expierienced operator to effectively use the equipment in adverse weather conditions, but once he figures it out, you can't beat him.

I agree completely with TimGary's reply.
I've been the QA on FACW jobs such as a field erected 52' dia. ASME sphere, 1-1/4" wall and only had a rejection rate of less then 3% with FCAW (gas/shielding). CBI used 2'x4' portable wind breaks. On the flip side, I've encountered "worm-track" porosity in excessive amounts on one job due strictly to the location of a large floor fan in a shop!

I've also had plain old 2" sch.80 CS SMAW butt welds (E7018) cut out of the pipe racks because the welders didn't follow the obvious practice of blocking the wind. It made no difference whether he used SMAW or GTAW, his welds would have failed because he neglected the obvious. Each time I only had the welder simply flat-top his caps to see the error of his ways.

So there's a set of conditions (pipe size, location, etc.) that dictate the usage/choice of each of the welding processes in our industry. So if you windup with several choices for a particular job and you compare apples to apples, for meeting/verifing the quality specs and staying within accepted useage practices/guidelines (cleanliness, wind protection, etc.), look to the deposition rates of each process as the deciding factor. It'll be quite obvious!

At my former company site we were using GMAW SCT in the early 60's on about 75% of the carbon steel shop fabrication. By the mid 70's we started to add GMAW stainless and nickle alloys. As we came into the mid 80's we added FCAW (gas shielded). All of the work through the years was performed under the design and quality standards of ASME Sec.IX, Sec.VIII, and B31.3 & 1. We kept darned good records, some official and some not so official of weld time comarisions of all the processes including GTAW which was a stalwart of the small diameter alloy and carbon steel piping. The data we gathered in most cases coincided with the technical publications relating to deposition rates or exceeded them which tended to widen the spread.

Another thing that is a deterent to the use of GMAW-SCT above the other welding processes and a serious limitation, is the problem of weld quality verification. At a site such as my old one, 99.9% of all weld quality verification is performed by radiography as are the welder qualifications. The exception of course, GMAW-SCT.