Had a boiler tube leak at the Johnson & Sons plant in Gary last fall and everyone told me to just weld over it but I said no way, we cut it out and replaced the section even though it cost the client an extra $900 in overtime and lost the crew 4 hours - has anyone else dealt with owners pushing for a quick patch that's gonna fail in 6 months?

I was 40 feet up on a scissor lift at 2 AM in November when I saw the crack running along that tube and knew patching it was just kicking the can down the road for someone else to deal with.

2 comments

2 Comments

finleythomas6d ago

fck yeah @bettym89 hit the nail on the head. So what was the final straw for you? Was it the client threatening to sue or just seeing that failed patch with your own eyes? Ive had a couple bosses try to push quick fixes and I always tell em "you pay me to fix it right now or you pay someone else to fix it twice later." That extra $900 is nothing compared to a full plant shutdown and a lawsuit. You start cutting corners and suddenly theres a pattern. Did you ever have to straight up refuse a weld job because the owner was dead set on a patch?

bettym897d ago

Oh man, I used to be exactly the type to say "just weld it, it'll hold long enough to get paid and move on." But then I had a boiler job go bad on me a few years back where a quick patch failed after only 4 months and it turned into a nightmare with the client blaming me personally. That night up in the scissor lift changed everything for me. You did the right thing cutting it out and replacing it, even if it cost more upfront. Clients don't see the long game but we gotta live with the consequences, not them.