Welding old rusted galvanized pipe

[HeritagePigs]

Hello to all,

I know that cutting and welding galvanized pipe is a bad thing but what if it's 25 years old and rusted? I had to replace my water well pipe last year and have about 600 feet of old pipe. I think it's all galvanized, since the pipe that came out above the water table is, but the waste pipe is completely rusted over.

I would really like to find a use for it. Is it okay to cut and weld it with a torch?

Thanks!

Brian

[agmantoo]

HeritagePigs

The scale and crud will come off the pipe after it has been been exposed to the elements for a while. The pipe will weld fine. For me I would use 6011 welding rod and weld outside and let the fumes be carried away by the wind. I have used water well pipe for lots of farm projects. There are no oil wells around here.

[HeritagePigs]

Thanks! I need to build some gates and fence corners and thought it would be good for that. Hate to waste anything...

[DaleK]

Be seriously careful. My uncle was welding on old galvanized hog panels outside with a good breeze to carry the fumes away, every once in a while the breeze would die down slightly and he'd get a whiff in his facemask. Spent two weeks in the hospital and almost died.

Plus this

http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/...ight=galvanize

[Ross]

Weld outside with a mask grind the area well. And yeah 6011 rods are a favorite of mine too.

[oldasrocks]

If you get a bad taste in your mouth that means you are sniffing Zinc from the galvanized metal. Bend over and kiss you liver away because its dying.
Weld some now and more in 5 yrs and it accumulates and kills your liver.

Whats worth more? Your life or the old pipe?

[rancher1913]

drink milk, lots of milk, it counter acts the poison. also try reversing polarity with the 6011 rods it helps blow out the galvanized coating and you will get a stronger weld.

[HeritagePigs]

Well, all I have is an acetylene / oxygen welder; can't justify a better system with the small amount of welding I do. I assume the fumes are still a hazard with my setup? Is there a canister mask that screens out the zinc fumes? I have used a lot of different masks so I'm familiar with the need for a good seal (although I'll have to shave off my beard...hmm...maybe the cost is too high...)

I'm not trying to make light of the health problems but if there is a good solution I really would like to find some use for all this pipe.

Thanks!

[Bearfootfarm]

I assume the fumes are still a hazard with my setup?

Probably more of a hazard since it requires more heating

Is there a canister mask that screens out the zinc fumes?

I'd want a hood or mask with an air supply and positive pressure

[tamsam]

Go to a paint store or a good welding supply and ask for a mask that uses filters that filters out chemicals. Also drink milk when welding or cutting gal. Good luck. Sam

[Ray]

We had a vacuum system that would remove the fumes in the welding area with an extremely powerful fan that was attached to a large flex hose, to place near the actual welding area, and blow the welding smoke and toxins into a cyclone outside away from the workers. I'm sure we still got some toxins but it was fewer, and made working 12 hours alot safer.
I'd try to set up a fan outside like mentioned and keep the fan in the direction of the wind, to keep from breathing the smoke and you can make some fine gates. Well pipe rusts a tremendous amount due to the iron pyrite and other corrosive minerals in the ground and water in some areas, but well repair always takes more pipe out than necessary just incase. So I'm pretty sure you got some good pipe to use. be safe, best wishes, ray

[Blu3duk]

if you are exposed to chemical fumes and want to purge the toxins from your system thre is a product on the market that folks in the mining-refining industry use when working with nasty products.

the PDF catalog from Action mining has the product on page 45 and costs $24.00 USD

Bio-Detox
Contains nutritional chelating agents with an affinity for removing toxic heavy metals. Also contains important replacement minerals. The best we've found as a heavy metal (lead, mercury, etc.) chelating agent! Our lab and chemical personnel take them regularly. 100 tablets, recommended dosage: 3-6 tablets daily when working with heavy
metals.

you might be able to find the product somewhere else, cheaper, but it is available and i in no way am affiliated with the company, just offering an alternative source for research. I do sell mining equipment but not the Chelation minerals right now.

if you look through the catalog you notice real fast that most of the products are directed at the small scale "tinker" though a few are for actually making a buck or three and many products are for a totally different purpose but sold to the mining industry as a tool for specific use...... we adapt as we can.

William
Kamiah Idaho
Digg It Prospecting Supply

[rancher1913]

didn't know you were going to braze the pipe. sell it for scrap and buy a gate at auction--you will end up ahead in the end.

[HeritagePigs]

Thanks but I would really like to recycle it on the farm. I expect that if I sold it to the scrap buyer it might eventually be recycled but that's not really the sustainable farm I'm trying to have.

My sweetie thought I could use it as conduit but I don't think I could get the pipes to screw back together.

Any other ideas to use this stuff?

[fishhead]

Couldn't you just grind the galvanizing off and weld it like regular pipe?

I'd set up a box fan for safety and pay attention to wind direction.

[HermitJohn]

Yea get an angle grinder and use it. Grind down to bare shiny metal. Clean metal welds better anyway.

[rancher1913]

use it for electric fence posts. span some palets and tarp for animal sheds.

[jtmcclain]

I used my old well pipe to build a add on to the chicken coop. Built an end wall out of wood and used the pipe to span 20', then covered the whole thing with chicken wire.