The water inside the tank
lit with the brilliance of the welding arc. Specks of debris littered the
now cloudy water from the hour Hooker had already spent welding inside the
tank. While underwater, Hooker is reliant on his team for his air supply,
electrical controls, and good communication to ensure he is safe and can do his
work. The mobile dive tank he’s using is his patent-pending design. He
travels with it to schools, conventions, and other gatherings to demonstrate
underwater welding.
Hooker began welding more
than twenty years ago. He took his love of the trade underwater five years
later after becoming certified with the American Welding Society (AWS.) The
idea for teaching and demonstrating underwater welding came to him about four
years back when a school asked him to talk to their students about the career.
Until then, Hooker Welding did the typical small shop welding for car and
equipment enthusiasts and local farms. After that presentation a whole new
business model presented itself and he’s been building on that ever since.
With the demonstration over
for the day, Hooker gathered his equipment and climbed the ladder out of the
tank. The extra hundred pounds of dive gear didn’t seem to faze him in the
change from a near-weightless environment to solid ground. Team members were
there to help him down the outside of the tank and remove his gear. His two
kids and wife watched with the rest of the group, a reminder of the hard work
and perseverance that helped make this dream a reality.
Fifteen years as a
a commercial diver has given Hooker access to a lot of people in the industry.
When he was designing the mobile tank, he reached out to people for advice and
specialty items such as the thick aquarium-grade glass that serves as a window
to his work. The trailer is outfitted with a communication system and an oxygen
delivery system. Commercial divers rarely rely solely on a backpack tank the
way a hobby diver does. Part of their gear includes a reserve tank for
emergencies such as a severed line. It holds just enough air to get to the
surface.
Arc welding underwater mixes
electricity and water and is often referred to as one of the most dangerous
jobs on earth. What does Hooker think of the dangers?
“Sure it can be dangerous,
but just like any job with risk, if you know what to do, have the proper tools,
and take precautions, it isn’t near as dangerous as people think.”
Some of the most dangerous
aspects of the job come from working in man-made structures. I was surprised to
hear that they dive inside structures more than in rivers or lakes, and he only
works inland, not in the oceans. Inside structures, they have to be especially
careful of differential pressure. This happens when bodies of water of
different elevations intersect, such as in a dam or other bottleneck. The
pressure from the higher elevation compounds, pushing water from one area to
the next, often through a small opening. If the diver becomes trapped in this
flow, the force of pressure on the body against the opening can cause severe
injury or death.
Many preconceptions about
underwater welding are inaccurate but the most common question Hooker gets is,
“So what do you weld?” The answer included fixing pipelines as I assumed but
they also repair water intakes, chemical treatment lines, and weld steel for
concrete forms underwater. Welding is a small part of a commercial
divers job, but the welding power supply does more than weld underwater too. It
provides the means to cut or “burn” through steel as well.
All of the details built into the trailer and tank allow Hooker to
travel wherever necessary. Even his welding power source is a small portable
unit that does double duty. Wet welding uses shielded metal arc welding (SMAW)
with wax coated electrodes that keep the flux dry until it melts during
application. Hooker uses his Fronius TransPocket 180 to weld underwater and to
cut through up to six inches of steel or fracture concrete.
“Burning can be more
dangerous than welding. The process uses the arc with pressurized oxygen and a magnesium-cored rod to
establish and control the cut. But that oxygen can
collect in small pockets that will explode and can blow out a diver’s
faceplate.”
Exploding
bubbles, differential pressure, what other challenges do welder divers face?
Well, the visibility underwater wasn’t just bad for taking pictures. As any
welder knows, a solid weld requires keeping a keen eye on the arc and weld
puddle. Visibility is the biggest challenge of wet welding. Murky water, lack
of light, and floating particulates are just the beginning. The view from
inside the helmet is limited, like with a regular welding hood, but
welder-divers need to keep track of their environment more than surface welders
do. Air bubbles from exhalation and those created by the welding process are
constantly obscuring the view. If the diver does get a good position where
bubbles aren’t in their face, seeing the weld is still difficult because water
is constantly quenching the weld puddle. Keeping a close arc gap is important,
and there isn’t a lot of puddles to watch. Maintaining a fluid weld is difficult
and creating attractive welds underwater is significantly more challenging than
above the surface.
Working underwater is more challenging
and everything takes longer. Where a simple T-joint on the surface can take
less than a minute, just suiting up in dive gear takes about ten minutes. Based
on the dive, an average set of gear weighs a hundred pounds or more. Divers
don’t work alone, so in addition to the regular weld and site prep, they have
to check their communication system. It takes a team to safely get the diver
ready and welding. Even getting to the weld site takes time—whether it’s
straight down or several hundred feet into an underwater tunnel. There isn’t such a thing as a “quick weld” when working underwater.
So what about mixing water and electricity?
Won’t they get shocked? It’s possible but welder-divers wear gear that helps
protect them. Being aware of your surroundings and knowing the location of the
welding ground line in relation to the weld site is imperative.
“Don’t put your ground behind you. The
electrical current will pass right through the water—and you—to complete the
circuit.”
Most welders are happy
behind a torch, changing parameters and adjusting the arc. A welder-diver has
to set all of that up before they suit up. Then they have to rely on their team
to adjust parameters on the fly or turn on the electricity—to “make it hot.”
Welding anywhere is a solid skill that takes practice, but welding underwater
adds levels of difficulty not everyone would be happy. Especially in one of the
most alien environments on Earth.
-By Rhonda Zatezalo, freelance writer, Crearies Marketing Design LLC
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