Need advice on leaky weld...

I made my Keggle and HLT into bottom drain vessels a few weeks back by going to a local welding shop. I wound up getting a number of welds done. Of all the welds he did (6 total) one had a very small leak, one of the element lock nuts.

I marked the leak with a sharpie and took it back to the shop where he redid the weld. Well, it still leaks, seemingly in that same spot.

Any idea what is going on here?

Thanks for the advice. This is really turning into a PITA!

Is it leaking around the element with the element in? Elements are a straight thread not a tapered thread. I had to put a lot of teflon tape around my element before it stopped leaking.

No, unfortunately it is definitely the weld. I installed it in a waterproof box with element threaded on thru the box. The box was dry, but a small leak was near the locknut and running down the keg.

The welder said he'd fix it. Im just wondering why it keeps leaking.

He should test it before you pick it up. Did he say that he did? If he did, he's obviously not testing it well enough.

kevink said:

He should test it before you pick it up. Did he say that he did? If he did, he's obviously not testing it well enough.

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This is my first time using a welder. When I brought in my keggles I hung out while he worked on them in his shop. It was hard to test them as this one has four holes that would need plugging up to test. I have a bottom drain coupling on this one. Same thing when I brought it back to be fixed. He had me mark the leaky area with a sharpie so I figured he nailed it.

It's a very small leak, but still.

Word: Fix it with Harris Stay-Brite Silver solder and Harris Stay-Clean liquid flux. Get a small kit from here: Tower Hobbies or Home Depot. The solder kit works a trip on SS.

did he grind out the old weld before fixing the leak? When doing a weld repair you must grind out the perosity before rewelding.

Dgonza9 said:

This is my first time using a welder. When I brought in my keggles I hung out while he worked on them in his shop. It was hard to test them as this one has four holes that would need plugging up to test.

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Not necessarily. All you have to do is blow compressed air at the welded area from inside the keg while keeping the outside wet with soapy water (I always use Windex as it works just as well) and watch for bubbles. This, at the very least, is standard practice and it takes only a few minutes. That's why I think he should be doing it before you haul it away.

sonex said:

did he grind out the old weld before fixing the leak? When doing a weld repair you must grind out the perosity before rewelding.

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From what I saw, he just fired up his equipment and went at it again with the rod.

kevink said:

Not necessarily. All you have to do is blow compressed air at the welded area from inside the keg while keeping the outside wet with soapy water (I always use Windex as it works just as well) and watch for bubbles. This, at the very least, is standard practice and it takes only a few minutes. That's why I think he should be doing it before you haul it away.

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I understand. This seems to be a respectable welding shop. It's been around a long time and they seem both professional and reasonable. But since I know exactly jack about welding, I have no idea what things are supposed to be like.

Any concerns with just rewelding the lock nut for the third time? Can the keg itself get ruined from this?

I wouldn't worry about anything. As long as it ends up water tight at some point you're fine. This is not a super high tech application where the weld needs to withstand super high pressures and temperatures. You're just brewing beer! RDWHAHB!

You can either grind it out and pump it full of mig lead or try to coat it in JB cold Weld

You really just want to take it back and have the spot welded shut. It's no big deal. He may have to hit it quickly with Scotch Brite to get the oxidation off, but that always needs to be done before you weld stainless. No grinding is necessary, and please don't mess it up by using JB weld. Get it fixed right. Just curious, did he TIG or MIG weld it originally?

Will319, what is mig lead?

I was referring to MIG welding it and pushing more wire off of the spool to simply fill whatever hole is causing the leak. The JB weld mentioned was another option to potentially stop the leak if you didnt want to go back to the welder or did not have access to a welder.

It's fixed! Had it redone. The welder even came to my house. Turns out I had marked the wrong spot on the lock nut. The leak was on top, but I marked it where I saw the water running on the bottom.

Cheers!