The week we had to weld a 3/4 inch thick patch on a boiler in St. Louis with a bad backer rod.

We were under a tight deadline and the old backer rod material kept melting out before we could get a good root pass. My partner suggested we try a ceramic fiber rope instead, and it held up perfectly to the heat. Has anyone else found a better backer for thick plate in a high-heat repair?

3 comments

3 Comments

nina_butler8d ago

Yeah clairefisher is totally right about it changing your view. I mean, once you see ceramic fiber work in a spot where everything else fails, you stop trusting the old stuff for high heat jobs. It's not just about it holding up, it's that it gives you a clean root pass without all the contamination from melting backer rod. We started keeping a box of the rope on the truck for any repair over 600 degrees. Makes the whole job less of a headache when you know your backer won't blow out.

clairefisher9d ago

Honestly thought ceramic fiber was just for furnaces. Used to swear by the standard backer rods for everything. Saw a guy use it on a cracked flange on a high pressure steam line last year, and it was the only thing that didn't blow out. Changed my whole view on high heat repairs.

davis.dakota8d ago

That St. Louis job sounds like a nightmare, but nina_butler is right about the ceramic rope.