Welding a water pipe

[ThreeSheds]

While doing some work on the TD5 Disco the other day I accidentally caught the steel coolant pipe that runs behind the rad-stack with a grinder and put a little groove in it. It's not right through but I think that with temperature cycling and vibrations it would not be a good idea to leave it since it would almost certainly crack.

Since that pipe is expensive and looks like a bit of a pain to fit I was thinking of mig welding it in situ. I have drained that coolant, but there may still be a small amount of it behind where I would be welding. Is that likely to be a problem? (I am good enough that I won't be blowing through the steel, and I would clean the area first)

 

Cheers

Rog

[Blanco]

A drop of water can be a pain when soldering, but I would have though less so with the partial thickness situation and a MIG. Can one end be undone and dropped down?

[qwakers]

i wouldnt do it with anything in the pipe. it wont work. at best itll end up brittle. also, i would doubt that that will fail, ive run worse for years. if your worried about it carry a length of hose and some jubilee clips for a emergency repair.

Edited February 28, 2019 by qwakers

[FridgeFreezer]

As qwakers said, I'd almost be inclined to leave it alone - whack a bit of paint over it to stop it corroding.

Right now it's not leaking - welding it you risk adding a pinhole or inclusion that WILL leak / corrode.

[ThreeSheds]

thanks for the advice gents - bearing in mind what you have said I will clean it up and put some of that "QuickSteel" over it...

I will also check that the water level switch in the header tank is working - just in case

 

Rog

[Farmerfred]

Clean up the area around the nick with some medium wire wool and do a little mix of 2 part epoxy resin, like Areldite and pool it around and over the nick, let it harden off and spray a bit of silver paint over it, you'll see then if it leaks inn the future at all.

[Jon W]

I have a good condition pipe here you can have for £40, I brought it from a breaker as mine corroded through where the 2 pipes are welded together.

it wasn’t too bad a job to swap over, a couple of clips were a pain to get the pliers onto but otherwise ok.

let me know if you want it and I can get it package up 

 

Thanks

 

[ThreeSheds]

11 minutes ago, Jon W said:

I have a good condition pipe here you can have for £40, I brought it from a breaker as mine corroded through where the 2 pipes are welded together.

it wasn’t too bad a job to swap over, a couple of clips were a pain to get the pliers onto but otherwise ok.

let me know if you want it and I can get it package up 

 

Thanks

 

Thanks, but it's done now...