Welding in the rain ?

[Barking Mat]

I did see a HSE report where somebody, probably a farmer, had got killed with an arc welder. May have even been on here. I recall it was all manner of wrong though, like he was welding while lying in a puddle and clamping a rod to bare wire with his teeth (well not that, but I forgot the details). Have had a few tickles in the damp before but always given a bit more respect since reading that.

Edit;
I might have embellished a bit;

NASD - Farmer Dies When Electrocuted While Welding Feed Bunker Wagon

Summary Figure 1. Welder in wooden building On August 6, 2003, a 44-year-old male farmer was welding a feed bunker wagon when he was electrocuted. The portable 240-volt plug-in cord-connected Hobart welder was in disrepair. The power cord and the cables had damaged insulation exposing the conductor

nasdonline.org

I would laugh at that post, but it would be in poor taste.

Poor stupid sod.

 

[nickk]

Always found gripping the rod in your armpit,stops the tickles prior to fitting in the rod holder.

 

[Barking Mat]

Always found gripping the rod in your armpit,stops the tickles prior to fitting in the rod holder.

Not sure if you're being serious ?

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

@Barking Mat
You soon?

 

[MattF]

Its not that bad, a tingle at its worst

Bob

That's the type of thing someone usually says, & then they're chuckling, whilst you're thinking: "You lying b******".

 

[Memmeddu]

I did many times .
Mostly because it started raining while working .
Others because it was needed someothers because of water leaks
Anyway IP 44 plugs and sockets , something to cover me and the equipment and most importantly if you don't need a tool unplug it till you need it again

 

[sako243]

Its not that bad, a tingle at its worst

Bob

I was just about to say the same thing. Had a few tingles off 415V, had a bit of a jolt off a capacitor that was charged up to 1.2kV though.

 

[wyn]

When the water is running down the inside and outside of the helmet it gets tricky to see what's going on.

 

[nickk]

Not sure if you're being serious ?

Deadly serious.

 

[zzr1200]

At least your not tig-ing with HF up your arm, don't ask, not that painful overall but interesting to say the least....(we need a smiley with spikey hair)..

 

[Morrisman]

What's the score on this ?

I'm supposed to be arc welding tomorrow, more boat trailer fun, but it's going to pee down tomorrow.

10 - 20 mm of rain, I'll almost certainly be working outside, I can put the three phase welding machine under a tarp or something, but I've never welded in the rain before.

Is it a no no ? Take an umbrella / parasol.

No, don't have a suitable tent.

Thoughts please.

Thanks people.

I've not welded in rain, but I've done it soaked to the skin with sweat, sat outside, on top of a large metal 'mono wing', something we dragged along in the sea.

Welding was okay, but trying to change 4mm welding rods was a real pain. My mate, who was the fire watch, was laughing his cock off at me jumping and jittering, and he refused to throw me a dry rag up to hold the rod.

Happy days.

HSE put an end to fun like that many years ago though. We'd probably have to send the whole job ashore to get it done 'properly' nowadays.

 

[Cheesie]

Used to do it all the time when you live in N.Ireland there's not much choice

 

[Barking Mat]

I'll let you know what fun ensues.

Chucking it down out there.

 

[8ob]

I'll let you know what fun ensues.

Chucking it down out there.

If the plant is properly covered up or is a proper mobile plant you won’t have a problem, spent many years dragging a huge four wheeled Lincoln arc plant around muddy sites when working on pipelines , a lot of the time that was in missing rain. I doubt much has changed in that game.

Bob

 

[Mikes]

A lot of welding sets now have Voltage Reduction Devices which reduce the open circuit voltage considerably when the arc isn't initiated. This can be typically from 50 Volts down to 20 Volts so greatly reduces the risk.

 

[Munkul]

I did see a HSE report where somebody, probably a farmer, had got killed with an arc welder. May have even been on here. I recall it was all manner of wrong though, like he was welding while lying in a puddle and clamping a rod to bare wire with his teeth (well not that, but I forgot the details). Have had a few tickles in the damp before but always given a bit more respect since reading that.

Edit;
I might have embellished a bit;

NASD - Farmer Dies When Electrocuted While Welding Feed Bunker Wagon

Summary Figure 1. Welder in wooden building On August 6, 2003, a 44-year-old male farmer was welding a feed bunker wagon when he was electrocuted. The portable 240-volt plug-in cord-connected Hobart welder was in disrepair. The power cord and the cables had damaged insulation exposing the conductor

nasdonline.org

Wow that's a catalogue of errors if I ever saw one

I have welded in the rain before, it's not the most enjoyable being tingled through damp gloves when changing rods. Definitely to be avoided wherever possible, not least because water on steelwork totally voids any code procedure.

 

[Trevorleach]

Always found gripping the rod in your armpit,stops the tickles prior to fitting in the rod holder.

Exactly what I used to do, used to do lots of welding whilst standing in puddles etc

 

[Barking Mat]

Put it on hold, now trying to fish mouth aluminium pipes on an outboard motor support structure, it's a nightmare.

Driving rain at 8am chap i'm working for, said let's do other things today.

 

[Barking Mat]

This week at works been a nightmare.

Although I was not at work today, I ended up at work doing this private job.

Which was challenging.

So 8 am I rocked up at the sawmill, drank a coffee, discussed options of welding the trailer, the rain was torrential, and my client said let's leave it and do other things.

So, his wooden boat has an aluminium platform on the back of it for the outboard motor, we pulled the boat out late December, and this rear platform has been dismantled, and he wants it lengthening so he can easily walk round the motor, 50 cms.

Ok, not the best photos in the world, spent over two hours fish mouthing the first tube, nightmare job, horrible. Spent over two hours failing to get metal to stick to the alu tubes, gave up at 5 oclock, sat down had a beer, then I remembered @Stuee has sold me some alu filler rods, dug them out, and suddenly the alu stuck to the alu.

I thought I'd taken a photo of my utterly shocking tig welding, before I took a flap disk to it, but luckily / fortunately, I didnt, so I can't show you how shockingly bad it looked.

So more of this to come. And the trailer in steel to do.

 

[Seadog]

What do you mean "looked?"