My first boiler tube replacement job went about how you'd expect

Last week I got thrown into a tube replacement at an old paper mill outside of Portland. I had 3 years of helper experience but never ran the torch myself on a full bundle. I ended up cutting one tube too short by about 4 inches and had to patch it with a sleeve. Has anyone else had a rookie mistake that cost them extra time on a job?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_morgan8d agoMost Upvoted

Read a forum post where a guy patched his mistake with a coffee can, so you're doing alright.

stella_murray8d ago

A coffee can from like Folgers or something? That's wild. I mean did he just cut a piece of the can and rivet it on or what? I'm picturing a dude with a half eaten can of ground coffee just pounded flat and screwed into his car door. At least he didn't use gum and duct tape I guess.

simonp477d ago

You mentioning the half eaten can of coffee really made me laugh. I used to think stuff like that was just people being lazy or cheap, you know? But idk, seeing that post and hearing about someone actually doing it for a fix changed my mind. Like if your car has a rust hole and you need to get to work tomorrow, a coffee can is kinda genius in a desperate way. I mean it's not pretty but it's functional, and that's more than I can say for some of the "professional" patch jobs I've seen.