BPJOOP93
Well-known member
I will be welding a new bung on the tank of a wood splitter tonight. would you empty the tank and fill with water or just weld with the tank full of oil. there is probably about 15-20 gallons of oil in the tank.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Welding over oil
- Thread starter BPJOOP93
- Start date
NASTYZEN
Well-known member
I would empty the oil out first. Leave some openings so as not to build up pressure inside the tank when welding and have a fire extinguisher handy.
The problem with filling with water is that you'll be trying to heat the water while you weld. Same reason when you joint water pipes with a tourch you drain them first. You may consider getting a cheapo CO2 only fire extinguisher. Empty the tank. Fill the tank with CO2 from the fire extinguisher and then do the welding quickly. The other beneifit is that now you dont have to deal with water remaining in your tank when you refill it with oil. Either way be carefull. There are plenty of stories of guys cutting the lids out of oil drum that end up exploding. -thats my 2
Buckgnarly
Well-known member
The problem with filling with water is that you'll be trying to heat the water while you weld. Same reason when you joint water pipes with a tourch you drain them first. You may consider getting a cheapo CO2 only fire extinguisher. Empty the tank. Fill the tank with CO2 from the fire extinguisher and then do the welding quickly. The other beneifit is that now you dont have to deal with water remaining in your tank when you refill it with oil. Either way be carefull. There are plenty of stories of guys cutting the lids out of oil drum that end up exploding. -thats my 2
Most good welding supply shops can make dry ice. Chunk it up, drop it in, let it sublimate, and it will fill your tank with CO2. No water residue and better than having oil vapors in the tank.
Well, two things with the oil.
First, you can't weld oil. You have to clean the metal of any oil where you are going to weld so that you can weld the metal.
Also, intense heat does bad things to the oil itself and causes it to breakdown. So you would then have to drain and replace the oil (hydraulic fluid) anyway. Drain now.
Next, intense heat from welding + flammable liquid/vapor = BadThings or BOOM.
Drain the tank, clean the tank and the metal where you are going to weld and then you can address the issue of welding heat and possible vapors/fumes.
Think fire triangle. Heat/energy + fuel + oxidizer/air = fire/boom
You are going to weld, so the heat/energy is there. Can't get rid of that, or you don't have a weld.
So you need to remove the fuel (the oil and the oil vapors) and/or the oxidizer (oxygen in the air). The dry-ice 'trick' attempts to fill the tank with CO2, which may or may not be 'enough' to eliminate or displace the air/oxygen from the area.
Seriously, although it is certainly possible to weld tanks that had oil or other flammable items, it is NOT something to take lightly. Because there is the real danger of injury or death. No joke, no smiley.
If you don't KNOW what you are doing, then DON"T DO IT !!!!!
First, you can't weld oil. You have to clean the metal of any oil where you are going to weld so that you can weld the metal.
Also, intense heat does bad things to the oil itself and causes it to breakdown. So you would then have to drain and replace the oil (hydraulic fluid) anyway. Drain now.
Next, intense heat from welding + flammable liquid/vapor = BadThings or BOOM.
Drain the tank, clean the tank and the metal where you are going to weld and then you can address the issue of welding heat and possible vapors/fumes.
Think fire triangle. Heat/energy + fuel + oxidizer/air = fire/boom
You are going to weld, so the heat/energy is there. Can't get rid of that, or you don't have a weld.
So you need to remove the fuel (the oil and the oil vapors) and/or the oxidizer (oxygen in the air). The dry-ice 'trick' attempts to fill the tank with CO2, which may or may not be 'enough' to eliminate or displace the air/oxygen from the area.
Seriously, although it is certainly possible to weld tanks that had oil or other flammable items, it is NOT something to take lightly. Because there is the real danger of injury or death. No joke, no smiley.
If you don't KNOW what you are doing, then DON"T DO IT !!!!!
Last edited:
Sureshot
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I would consider filling the tank and purging the air with nitrogen to eliminate the oxygen source and vapours. Leave vented for sure.
Where is the bung going?
Where is the bung going?
CarterKraft
Well-known member
i'd leave the oil, weld the bung on to a surface that was not actually touching the oil and drill the hole afterwards, unless the hole already therein wich case I would do the same without the drilling part.
It takes ALLOT of heat to warm 15-20 gallons of oil to critical temps, a 60 second 100 amp pass around a bung isn't going to do squat.
It takes ALLOT of heat to warm 15-20 gallons of oil to critical temps, a 60 second 100 amp pass around a bung isn't going to do squat.
kald
Well-known member
IMO there is no way I would leave the oil in. I would drain and COMPLETELY FILL with water making sure there was other openings available for expansion.
joe49
Well-known member
i'd leave the oil, weld the bung on to a surface that was not actually touching the oil and drill the hole afterwards, unless the hole already therein wich case I would do the same without the drilling part.
It takes ALLOT of heat to warm 15-20 gallons of oil to critical temps, a 60 second 100 amp pass around a bung isn't going to do squat.
Ditto. A lot of comments from never done it before, so giving be careful comments. Live gas mains get welded every day, oil or diesel in a tank is no big deal. To drill the hole when done welding, pull a vacuum on the tank to keep the oil from leaking out. This can even be done using your trucks gas engines m intake vacuum.
NASTYZEN
Well-known member
thanks for the replies. we simply cleaned area where we were to do the weld, tacked it in place, cool with damp rag, did three welds around the bung with cooling in between each weld. no BOOM no fire.
Glad your bung weld worked out for you. Was a no brainer.
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
seeing that you have it done......no reason to drain the oil. When you heat treat parts you submerge them in oil. Vapors will ignite faster than liquids. You would have stood a better chance of something going wrong if you had drained it.
CarterKraft
Well-known member
Ditto. A lot of comments from never done it before, so giving be careful comments. Live gas mains get welded every day, oil or diesel in a tank is no big deal. To drill the hole when done welding, pull a vacuum on the tank to keep the oil from leaking out. This can even be done using your trucks gas engines m intake vacuum.
Lots of "engineer" types on here. If a guy followed the majority of suggestions from forums he wouldn't get much done.
As for the vacum deal we used to use the service trucks, then we got diesels so we switched to the air transducers that CAT sells. One of the guys thought it over and realized a a/c system air powered vacum pump was $10 at harbor freight instead of the $80 for the CAT one.