valve repair

Date 11-18-2013 18:55

"The elbow appears to be cast iron."
You must be sure, not only believe that it's cast iron. With a file, file a few decigrams of material from a place that won't cause any harm and take it to a chemical lab to run a chemical analysis.
I personally would say that it's not cast iron. It's a long time that cast iron fittings aren't use for steam any more.

Giovanni S. Crisi
Sao Paulo - Brazil

By jwmacawful Date 11-19-2013 02:10

i also wasn't convinced it was cast iron even though the fitting must be 50 years old and any markings are long gone. i cleaned it and heated it then tried 7018 with bad results. i reground it and used a nickel rod and now i believe it is a cast iron fitting because i had very good results. after welding i wrapped it with insulation and fire proof drop cloths. on most jobs asking to have a sample taken to a lab would be a reasonable request. i regret to say my place of employment is not one of them. thank you for your reply.

By Superflux (****)

Date 11-19-2013 08:08

http://www.scrapmetaljunkie.com/241/the-spark-test-and-spark-testing-metals-2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark_testing
http://everythingscrapmetal.blogspot.com/p/metal-test-identification.html (this has some good low tech mechanical tests! See chipping test chart)

For starters, I always recommend a simple spark test for non code/ non critical repairs.

By jwmacawful Date 11-19-2013 10:10

as a longtime welder i am aware of the spark test but didn't think of it at the time. should have listened to my father when he said "kid, don't get old it stinks".

By Cumminsguy71 (*****)

Date 11-22-2013 22:30

"i regret to say my place of employment is not one of them"

Haha, sounds like you and I have worked at the same place!!