I let a new guy weld a quarter panel last Tuesday and now the whole job is trashed

He insisted on running the MIG gun cold and slow because his YouTube guy said it prevents warping, but he left porosity all down the seam. How do you guys handle fresh apprentices who won't listen to actual shop experience over internet tips?

3 comments

3 Comments

gavin_kim5d ago

Send him home. YouTube doesn't pay his rent. Cold welds don't fix a trashed panel.

jessem595d ago

Pointed a buddy of mine at this exact issue last summer (he was the panel guy, not me). He spent three hours chasing a corroded cold weld on a roof that was already bowed like a taco shell. @gavin_kim is 100% right about the YouTube money thing too, that guy's patreon ain't covering a re-pull or a new inverter when that hack job finally gives out.

keith2745d ago

Did you ever try just re-torquing all the connections before chasing down the cold weld? I had a similar mess on a job last year where the roof was sagging just like that, and it turned out half the lugs were barely finger tight. Spent an hour going through the whole array with a torque wrench and found three more spots that would have gone bad eventually. That YouTube guy is probably making more cash off affiliate links than actual solar work, so his advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.