Rust!!??

[skallywag_brewing]

Had a friend weld 1.5" tri clamp fittings on my keggles for the heating elements. Then this happened!!View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485303406.079902.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485303444.549780.jpg
Is it possible to get rid of rust?

 

[Roland_deschain]

Any chance he didn't use stainless wire?

 

[actech]

Any chance he didn't use stainless wire?

Almost has to be what the issue is gunslinger

 

[skallywag_brewing]

He said it was stainless. Does anybody know if you can grind it out?

 

[Roland_deschain]

This would be from burning off the chromium oxide on the metal. If you can clean it well, wire brush or sand cloth, it should oxidize and be fine. It may take some time.

 

[RoadKing]

He didn't use a shielding gas while making the weld.

 

[The_Bishop]

There's a lot of overpenetration, it may not be stainless wire, and no back-gas. Pull the element, scrub it with a stainless steel wire brush. You may need to do a bit of polishing, when finish it off with barkeeper's friend. I'd make a paste of BKF, paint it on and cover it with saran wrap so it stays wet. Leave it like that for a few hours.

 

[PurpleJeepXJ]

Eh... it's just a little rust...

 

[LarMoeCur]

Doesn't look like a sanitary weld. When doing brew quality welds you must gas shield both the interior and exterior weld areas.

If bluing or other debris left by the welding process remains, the chromium layer (in stainless steel) won’t creep and seal the weld. If the oxide layer hasn’t sealed the weld, you get oxidation and rust. The only way to seal the weld is gas shielding (flux core **** doesn't work).

How to fix it. You can try grinding away some of the oxidized metal. There maybe good stainless (chromium oxide) under the oxidized layer. Then again the entire weld maybe oxidized. It's worth a try. The only other way is to remove and re-weld this time shielding both sides.

 

[Bobby_M]

Every single day of the week, someone calls to ask about elements and/or triclover and I hear about this "friend" who's an amazing master welder. It makes me die a little inside.

 

[Jaybird]

This would be from burning off the chromium oxide on the metal. If you can clean it well, wire brush or sand cloth, it should oxidize and be fine. It may take some time.

He can do that and then IF it was stainless wire that was used you can soak it in a rich Star San or BKF solution to HELP passivate the weld. It will take a little time but I am sure you will be fine.

Cheers
Jay

 

[BikerMatt]

Judging by the color of the seam (and how it's melted) I'd say that's either not an SS bead or it's flux cored. Offer a strong magnet to it, deodymium if you got one. If it sticks just a weeny bit or not at all you're good, if it clanks a good grab that's a mild steel bead.

And as others already said when doing food grade welds the inside of the container should be purged of air with the shielding gas before welding. I bet your pal didn't know that.

 

[The_Bishop]

He can do that and then IF it was stainless wire that was used you can soak it in a rich Star San or BKF solution to HELP passivate the weld. It will take a little time but I am sure you will be fine.

Cheers
Jay

Citric acid is even better than both of those options, and it's easy to get a hold of. Found that out when I was looking for ways to passivate my kettle after some work.

 

[skallywag_brewing]

Thanks everyone for the great information! So I used a stainless grinding wheel then cleaned it up with a stainless brush. Soaked it in bkf for several hours. I found a gel version of the bkf and it worked great. So here it is..View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485463395.716881.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485463452.870452.jpg
Now to see if it works.

 

[bonecitybrewco]

Every single day of the week, someone calls to ask about elements and/or triclover and I hear about this "friend" who's an amazing master welder. It makes me die a little inside.

I understand the attraction of "free" or "cheap" welding friends but my goodness..... stainless and sanitary welding are specialties on their own. It's not anywhere near as simple as normal welding...



In response to the picture....

 

[mattd2]

Thanks everyone for the great information! So I used a stainless grinding wheel then cleaned it up with a stainless brush. Soaked it in bkf for several hours. I found a gel version of the bkf and it worked great. So here it is..View attachment 386386View attachment 386388
Now to see if it works.

Looking at the second picture you will likely still have issues. There is a lot of material that will need to be ground out, but one issue with what you have done is it can contaiminate the surrounding area with free iron which will also rust. Very hard to get back once you've gone too far.
Also do you know what sort of welder your friend has? Looks more like MIG to me (but I wouldn't trust my opinion )

 

[The_Bishop]

Looks like MIG to me, with numerous starts/stops.

OP, to see if it's 'fixed' or not, get some water in there and let it stand overnight, see if any new rust develops.

I really like using citric acid to passivate. It's relatively easy to find, easy to work with, inexpensive and non-toxic.