My uncle swore by using a pickle jar to check a weld and I thought he was nuts

He told me to fill a clean pickle jar with water, cap it, and set it on the weld seam before a hydro test. Said if the jar didn't sweat or leak, the weld was solid. I tried it on a small boiler repair in Akron, fully expecting a mess. The jar stayed bone dry, and the actual hydro test passed with zero issues. Has anyone else heard of this weird old trick, or was my uncle just really lucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

parker_price3d ago

Yeah that spaghetti sauce jar story from lee_reed is wild. I would have been way too nervous to try that. Your uncle's trick sounds a lot smarter.

lee_reed3d ago

Your uncle wasn't nuts, he just knew a cheap vacuum test. The jar creates a seal and any leak would pull in water or air. My version of that trick once involved a spaghetti sauce jar and a prayer.

jana_hart183d ago

Wait you used a SPAGHETTI SAUCE jar @lee_reed? That glass is so thin I'm shocked it didn't just implode. I would have been picking sauce and glass shards out of my hair for a week.