Cost for welder to weld kegs?

How much should it cost to have a welder cut off existing connectors on a keg and weld on new ones? I have three kegs that need this done.

I want to go camlock. I'm a little confused on exactly what i need welded to the keg directly. Could someone point me in the right direction?

I called one welder and he told me $300 to do the job. Seemed high to me.

That does seem a bit steep, however welding stainless isn't exactly the easiest thing to do, especially if it has to hold pressure. I'm not quite sure what you need done either, but I can tell you its probably not as simple as it seems. It takes a bit of skill to cut off an old part and weld on a new one and have it not only look presentable but hold pressure.

I have a lot of experience tig welding stainless and my welds had to hold pressure as well. When you factor in removing a part and replacing it, that only complicates the process.

What type of kegs? One connector or 2 per keg?

Well presented wickman6!

wickman6 said:

That does seem a bit steep, however welding stainless isn't exactly the easiest thing to do, especially if it has to hold pressure. I'm not quite sure what you need done either, but I can tell you its probably not as simple as it seems. It takes a bit of skill to cut off an old part and weld on a new one and have it not only look presentable but hold pressure.

I have a lot of experience tig welding stainless and my welds had to hold pressure as well. When you factor in removing a part and replacing it, that only complicates the process.

What type of kegs? One connector or 2 per keg?

Click to expand...

standard 15.5 kegs. only one connector per keg.

Out of curiosity, what connecters are already on there and which ones do you want?

Pictures?

tri clamps are on 2 and one is a simple screwed on ball valve.

i want to go camlock. reason being is i bought the kegs as is, and i have tried for 6 months to find the right size connectors and cant. i think the ones welded on now are from a vacuum company and are like an odd size. i tried contacting them direct with no response.

Ok, so 3 fittings need changed. Broken down, that's $50 to remove one, and $50 to weld the new one on. Idk what the rates are in your area, but that seems reasonable to me. Figure in clean up of joint after old one is removed, prep to weld the new on. Then it needs to be pressure tested and if it fails, work needs to continue. Likely grinding out the weld and re doing it. Then pressure test again, and so on. It also should be a sanitary weld, meaning the back side(the side inside the keg) needs to be free of defects such as pinholes or lack of fusion. All of this is inside the keg, where the welder can not see or access. All welding would be done from the outside, further complicating matters.

After all that is done, they still need to take liability to stand behind their work.

What happens if it starts leaking in 2 months? You would probably want it fixed, sans charge. As would I.

All in all, the price you posted probably isn't too far out of line. A little steep? Possibly. But not by much.

Good luck with your project, I hope it all goes well for you!

Most shops will probably be charging you at least $60/hour to do the work. Figure for more ($60 is a bit low from what I've seen). This rate goes up with any more difficult work or if you need anything fabbed or machined.

Welding ain't exactly the quickest process in the world, either...especially if they're doing a good job. At the end of the day, good welders demand good money for their work.

St. Pats has triclamp to MPT fittings onto which you can attach your camlock. Just google "stpats sanitary"

I live in the Atlanta area and had some welding done this year.
It was a friend of a friend kind of a deal and I paid about in the ballpark what you were quoted.

If he does a good job the price is not bad...