Thread: butt welded pipes leaking.

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All of the pipes I have butt welded for my turbo piping, I have used JC whitney, heartthrob manderel bent pipes in 2.5", butt welded w/ 60/13 stick, using a 110 arc welder, on 100 amp. welds get good penetration, and look decent and fairly uniform, but when I test them w/ water, they always seem to seep out water, like the welds just get wet. what can I do to prevent this? it's going to be under 8 PSI and I'd rather not have preassure drop.

welds are porous cold start up and stop will make this happen and any fluxs entrapment and bad fit up light tight and tig them works the best . i have spent many hours with fitup the more time on this the better the job. get them tig by some one would be the way to go

Yup, all the things Pat said. Mig is ok for exhaust, but on intake tubes, especially pressurized by a turbo, tig is the only way to go. There might be some folks who can stick weld them and not have leaks, but it takes some very good welding skills to do it!!!

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Yup, all the things Pat said. Mig is ok for exhaust, but on intake tubes, especially pressurized by a turbo, tig is the only way to go. There might be some folks who can stick weld them and not have leaks, but it takes some very good welding skills to do it!!!

hardest thing to weld is tube or pipe i ground my welding table and set the joint up for a ligth tight fit up after tack in the 3 spots. i roll the tub with one hand and tig weld with the other with no filler rod

.....As Pat & Dave said Tig is the best way.... But if all you have is an arc welder & you don't want to pay someone to do it, you might try putting a back up piece inside the tubing. Example is if the tubing is 2 1/2" ID then put a piece of 2 1/2" OD {1/2" wide} inside to back up the weld. Run it hot & roll the pipe like Pat said so that your always welding in the flat position. Or put a piece of 2 1/2" ID on the outside if your using 2 1/2" OD tubing. Two lap joints might be easier for you to weld than 1 butt joint.... Or you might try rolling the tubing doing the welding all uphill or all downhill.... just a thought...... But again, as Pat & Dave said, Arc welding pipe/tubing is about as hard as it's going to get!!! Bill

ps, don't know what size rod your using but 3/32" rod is easier to control than 1/8".....

IDK anybody with a Mig or a tig. is there any type of sealer I could use, like a plastic filler? Smooth my welds, apply the filler, sand until smooth and then paint? pipes will be painted black or silver, shiny ither way.

None that I know of. About the only way I know of is to take it to a welding shop and hire it done.

you could try to brazes them joins over if clean should flow in just only heat the tube to get the rod to flow no more... then clean the joint good to get all glass flux out of joint and use filler and paint .it would be very hard to seal the out side with just filler you would want it on the inside getting push in not on the out side getting blown out of the joints

Originally Posted by pat mccarthy

you could try to brazes them joins over if clean should flow in just only heat the tube to get the rod to flow no more... then clean the joint good to get all glass flux out of joint and use filler and paint .it would be very hard to seal the out side with just filler you would want it on the inside getting push in not on the out side getting blown out of the joints

Yea, I was thinking it would need sealed from inside. what about gas tank sealer, might that work? slosh it all around, dump out and clean ends?

Originally Posted by Matt167

Yea, I was thinking it would need sealed from inside. what about gas tank sealer, might that work? slosh it all around, dump out and clean ends?

Thats what I was thinking.... But you would have to have a way to clean the inside of the pipe GOOD..... you don't want it flaking off into the manifold

MM64

Originally Posted by Matt167

Yea, I was thinking it would need sealed from inside. what about gas tank sealer, might that work? slosh it all around, dump out and clean ends?

It doesn't last all that good in a tank, doubt it would do well in a pressurized tube. Anything that would break loose in the tube is going to go through the engine, could make the price of hiring someone to weld it cheap compared to the price of grenading the engine cause something went through it!!!!

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

It doesn't last all that good in a tank, doubt it would do well in a pressurized tube. Anything that would break loose in the tube is going to go through the engine, could make the price of hiring someone to weld it cheap compared to the price of grenading the engine cause something went through it!!!!

Yea. I'm gonna find a welder. I got thinking, if that stuff let loose, it wouldn't be good.

Originally Posted by Matt167

Yea. I'm gonna find a welder. I got thinking, if that stuff let loose, it wouldn't be good.

Put it in a box and send it to Pat!!!! You sure as heck can't beat a deal like he offered!!!! Go search and take a look at the headers he builds!!!!!

Originally Posted by Matt167

Yea, I was thinking it would need sealed from inside. what about gas tank sealer, might that work? slosh it all around, dump out and clean ends?

i think some one would have a hi to mid heat epoxy that would be made to do just what out want but. may be much cheaper to do it over .how many joints and what size is the tube? if not to many welds and not to long just send it to me i will weld it with new tubes used the old ones for patterns.weld it up for you .and be very fair with you like pay for my gas and filler rod and my lunch

Originally Posted by pat mccarthy

i think some one would have a hi to mid heat epoxy that would be made to do just what out want but. may be much cheaper to do it over .how many joints and what size is the tube? if not to many welds and not to long just send it to me i will weld it with new tubes used the old ones for patterns up for you .and be very fair with you like pay for my gas and filler rod and my lunch

for right now, I just have 2 joints, but I'll have 5 or 6 when done ( but I'm going to make 2 pipes and peice them togther w/ a sewer couplar, for ease of installation ). it's all 2.5" manderal bent.