Galvanized water pipe debacle

[Tony H]

Don't know if this is forum worthy but I got a good laugh over it. I am making some handrails for the house from cut, notched and welded water pipe. I like the look of the galvanized over painted and it get's dull rapidly. I found that I could make the returns at the ends from rigid conduit 90's by cutting and welding them. I have welded galvanized material before and am aware of the prep. I am going to smooth the welds and paint with cold galvanizing paint. I have done this before and it worked well. Sometime in the last 25 years galvanized water pipe became obsolete. I went to several supply houses and all they had were nipples. I calculated I needed 2-21' sticks. I was going to cut it into manageable lengths to get it home so I meticously measured so I would not waste any. Did some on line searching and found some at a plumbing supply in the bigger town near by. So I went there today as we were in town for a Dr appt. Drove to the location and there was only empty, abandoned buildings. Called the number (local) and asked the person where the physical store was. They said they were in Eugene (2.5 hrs away) and after a long time they said there was no location here. So I guess the old local phone number re directed to the corporate location. Now I am bummed and my plan is shot. As we are driving home I start noticing anything made of pipe and how to get it. I noticed a chain link fence and thought the top pipe woulod be nice as it was about the correct size. Then a light bulb went off and I realized I had 300' of unused chain link fence that was behind a wood fence in my back yard. As soon as I got home I measured the chain link pipe and it is exactly the same size as 1" water pipe. I have been thinking of removing the chain link fence for years as there is a 1' space between the fences that collects debris and lays against the wood fence. So check the physical location and don't assume. Also-look in your own back yard. BTW the water pipe was $92 a stick. Now I can afford more moped parts

[Slow78]

Originally Posted by Tony H

Don't know if this is forum worthy but I got a good laugh over it. I am making some handrails for the house from cut, notched and welded water pipe. I like the look of the galvanized over painted and it get's dull rapidly. I found that I could make the returns at the ends from rigid conduit 90's by cutting and welding them. I have welded galvanized material before and am aware of the prep. I am going to smooth the welds and paint with cold galvanizing paint. I have done this before and it worked well. Sometime in the last 25 years galvanized water pipe became obsolete. I went to several supply houses and all they had were nipples. I calculated I needed 2-21' sticks. I was going to cut it into manageable lengths to get it home so I meticously measured so I would not waste any. Did some on line searching and found some at a plumbing supply in the bigger town near by. So I went there today as we were in town for a Dr appt. Drove to the location and there was only empty, abandoned buildings. Called the number (local) and asked the person where the physical store was. They said they were in Eugene (2.5 hrs away) and after a long time they said there was no location here. So I guess the old local phone number re directed to the corporate location. Now I am bummed and my plan is shot. As we are driving home I start noticing anything made of pipe and how to get it. I noticed a chain link fence and thought the top pipe woulod be nice as it was about the correct size. Then a light bulb went off and I realized I had 300' of unused chain link fence that was behind a wood fence in my back yard. As soon as I got home I measured the chain link pipe and it is exactly the same size as 1" water pipe. I have been thinking of removing the chain link fence for years as there is a 1' space between the fences that collects debris and lays against the wood fence. So check the physical location and don't assume. Also-look in your own back yard. BTW the water pipe was $92 a stick. Now I can afford more moped parts

Interesting, can you explain to a novice like me how you protect your lungs from toxic zinc oxide fumes while welding galvanized pipe?

[mike280]

Originally Posted by Slow78

Interesting, can you explain to a novice like me how you protect your lungs from toxic zinc oxide fumes while welding galvanized pipe?

don't breathe it

[Texasgeezer]

Isn't top pipe for chain link much thinner and not as strong as galvanized water pipe?

Just thinking of safety and difficulty in welding.

[Tony H]

It is thinner wall but for my purpose it is plenty strong. I have a supplied air respirator but I grind the galvanizing off of the weld areas also. The vertical pipe is only about 32" long. It would take a lot of force to bend it. Much more than a person grabbing it for support. I will cut some off and test it before I commit to the entire job. The chain fence doesn't need the top pipe for where it's at now. I guess I was kind of keeping it for backup in case the wood fence needed to be replaced to keep deer out but a few sections without the top pipe won't matter. I could make the 5hr round trip but that's a long way for pipe.

[t walgamuth]

Good luck!

[Tony H]

Thank you. Maybe I will throw a few pics on when I get it done. I guess galvanized pipe has not used for a long time. But I could always buy sticks at local the hardware store. I used it mostly for hose bib risers.

[Slow78]

Originally Posted by Tony H

It is thinner wall but for my purpose it is plenty strong. I have a supplied air respirator but I grind the galvanizing off of the weld areas also. The vertical pipe is only about 32" long. It would take a lot of force to bend it. Much more than a person grabbing it for support. I will cut some off and test it before I commit to the entire job. The chain fence doesn't need the top pipe for where it's at now. I guess I was kind of keeping it for backup in case the wood fence needed to be replaced to keep deer out but a few sections without the top pipe won't matter. I could make the 5hr round trip but that's a long way for pipe.

I have thought about using this type of material before for several projects.
Seriously interested in what type air respirator you use when grinding and welding around the base material. Thanks

[Slow78]

Originally Posted by mike280

don't breathe it

Does your mom and dad know where your at, LOL..

[INSIDIOUS]

Originally Posted by Slow78

I have thought about using this type of material before for several projects.
Seriously interested in what type air respirator you use when grinding and welding around the base material. Thanks

Giant fans. Remove the dust from the floor kinda giant. Orchestrated with you upstream of the work.

[Slow78]

Thank you!

[Tony H]

It is a supplied air respirator with a supply unit separated by a 50' hose to a mask. It's a little bulky with a welding helmet but it works. Similar to what car painters use. In fact that's what I got it for. That and media blasting. It is a hobby air. I have several masks and hoods depending on the job. I also used it when I went into the pump tank of our pumped effluent system where we used to live.

Originally Posted by Slow78

I have thought about using this type of material before for several projects.
Seriously interested in what type air respirator you use when grinding and welding around the base material. Thanks

[Slow78]

Appreciate the detail!

[Tony H]

I had gone to a fence company for an estimate on some fencing and they have racks of all diameter/gauge tubing for fences. They said they use 1 5/8" sch40 EG tubing for theri railings which they sell by the foot. They also gave me the web site for the company they use for the 45's, 90's and terminations to complete the railing. To finish the welds they use a brush on cold galv followed by a spray on cold galv.

[cmac2012]

Originally Posted by Slow78

Does your mom and dad know where your at, LOL..

Actually, it is the basic answer. A standard initial step to avoid the fumes is this 3M pancake respirator. I’m not a top-flight welder, I can make stuff stick together with my Lincoln 220 MIG welder but real welders run circles around me.



I took a couple of community college classes which were really useful. The pancake respirator was a good discovery. I use it in construction, especially when dry cutting concrete. Much less bulky than the big cartridge respirators. A lot of the dust is stopped by the pink fabric, I will periodically go out into the open air, take it off and slap the filters to shake the bulk of the dust off, but there are also carbon filters inside. You can’t smell a cigar when you’re wearing it.

One thing I found however, when using it in my welding mask, which the compact size is tailored for, the glasses would tend to steam up. So I came up with an ad hoc supplied air set up. I had some of that clear, flexible three-quarter inch plastic tubing, I cleaned out my small shop vac really well, put the hose on the outflow side, inserted the tubing in the vac hose, and sealed it with duct tape.

I then fastened the hose to the helmet webbing with tape so that it was blowing air downward at about the top of my forehead level. I had the shop vac about 20 feet away and was using a fan blowing on my work in the opposite direction.

It worked great. No more condensate on the glasses. If I actually welded for a living, I would look for a better setup.