That day the firebox went rogue on me

I had a shift last Wednesday at the plant that just about broke me. We were retubing a recovery boiler and everything was going smooth until we hit the firebox inspection. I crawled in to check for hot spots and found a crack running about 14 inches along a tube wall. My foreman said it wasn't that bad but I knew better. Took us six hours to get a patch welded in and the whole time I was thinking about the time a similar crack blew out on a job back in '19. The heat was brutal and my neck got cooked even through the hood. Ended up having to redo the weld three times because the metal kept warping. Has anyone else dealt with firebox cracks that just keep coming back no matter how good the weld looks?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_jones20d ago

Been there with a recovery boiler at Pine Mill back in 17. That crack kept coming back because the cooling water flow was too low on that wall section not the weld. Check your flow meters before you blame the patch.

wyatt_shah8520d agoMost Upvoted

That flow meter tip changed everything for me actually.