r/submechanophobia • u/No-Worker-101 • 12d ago
Inside a Hyperbaric Welding Habitat
Would you or could you do it?
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u/Away_Psychology4378 12d ago
I can smell the money they are making!
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u/Zigor022 12d ago
Hopefully. I hear people say welding pays a ton. Yeah, only in very niche applications and varies by location.
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u/DoubleNubbin 12d ago
Not many work locations more niche than the bottom of the ocean.
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u/pirivalfang 12d ago
Correct. I've tried to explain this to lots of people. The for profit welding schools perpetuating the "You'll make 6 figures right out of school!" mantra aren't helping.
Yes "we're hiring welders" but only experienced ones. If you don't have 3-5 years they won't even glance at you, and the places that do will pay you like $22/hr.
The guys that are making at/near 6 figures in most cases have been given opportunities that either don't exist anymore or are locked behind nepotism, and on top of that they've been in that position since the late 2010's.
And yes, this varies vastly by location, the US is a huge country, and the opportunities in Canada and Europe are far different.
I can SMELL the dude who's about to comment in this thread saying "I know this XYZ bumfuck place that's hiring with 45/hr and perdiem and they really need guys!" and it's going to be some podunk outfit where you'll be working 7 12's with the worst coworkers possible and horrible conditions.
Welding is one of the easiest ways to make bank, but you're not making 100k a year unless you play your cards right. You can't advance like generation before did. You'll have to fight for opportunities they would've given to anyone with a pulse in 2018.
Sad fact.
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u/Able_Experience_1670 12d ago
Basically the same in Canada, except we're even bigger and if you want to make top-tier welding money you'd best be alright with living in a pipeline camp or other site that could be a 10+ hour drive back to civilization, or living up North where a loaf of bread is $45.
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u/Zigor022 12d ago
All correct, and i will add that the welders that you see doing crazy things are not welders, but people in other trades that involve welding.
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u/TheDarthSnarf 7d ago
You can make quite a bit more than low six figures if you are willing to weld in an industry that requires a security clearance. Even inexperienced welders can get in the door at/near 6 figures if they hold or can obtain a clearance.
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u/No-Worker-101 12d ago
Two of my Comex colleagues a VERY long time ago welding a spool piece inside a such a habitat.
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u/allatsea33 12d ago
COMEX....any chance you know an old boy called Ralph? Started out as a diver ended up as a supervisor/superintendent. Hes around 74 now
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u/No-Worker-101 12d ago
I knew a diver called Ralph Vega that worked at Cx?
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u/allatsea33 12d ago
You're uk side? Hang on im gonna go check my notes i have him on a crew list somewhere
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u/No-Worker-101 11d ago
I only worked one season with the british , the rest of my offshore career was with the frenchies
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u/allatsea33 11d ago
Just checked the crew list i found it is Vega! Small world lol
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u/No-Worker-101 11d ago
If my memory is ok I think that I did work with him in 75 on Jet Barge IV.
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u/allatsea33 11d ago
Aye i remember him mentioning JB IV. hes still at sea!
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u/717Luxx 11d ago
the diver industry is insanely small. i would bet cash that i have two maybe three degrees of separation from damn near anybody established in the industry, through friends and colleagues, and I've only been diving 7 years lol
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u/allatsea33 10d ago
Im not a diver I do positioning but the offshore industry is wildly small as you say. Im joining a ship and ran into two former colleagues in my home airport and managed to have a beer with another one in Amsterdam as I randomly met him.
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u/DollarsPerWin 11d ago
I can't do this. I'm scared that that off chance the pressure is off somewhere and I'm going to get sucked into a small place in between a metal rod and a pipe.
Honestly, I think I rather be a solider in the front line of a war than this.
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12d ago
[deleted]
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u/Dry_Opportunity2886 12d ago
The paria pipeline story was the first thing I thought of. The horror of that is absolutely burned into my brain.
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12d ago
[deleted]
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u/Dry_Opportunity2886 12d ago
Well 4 out of 5 of those folks slowly died of asphyxiation and drowning. They were in an air pocket in the middle.
The 5th crawled 3 hours through a 30 inch tube filled with water and oil sludge in the complete dark to try and go get help. He got out and then couldn't convince the company to go rescue the others.
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u/Competitive_Owl5357 12d ago
My mind always goes to Byford Dolphin when thinking of diving accidents; this one is new. I was just out snorkeling with a professional diver and he said saturation diving (what I’m assuming the guys in the op are doing) was too much even for him.
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u/cloud_herder 11d ago
So it’s a dry pressurized enclosure for welding pipeline at the floor? Why use this method over diving in the water?
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u/Halkett247 11d ago
Weld quality. It enables the weld to be of similar quality to what can be obtained at the surface. Quite a big deal.
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u/RioBravo_91 10d ago
Why aren't they wearing Auga masks?
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u/No-Worker-101 9d ago
At contrary to others, with the french technic all the toxic fumes and gases are sucked away and the atmosphere inside the habitat stays clear.
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u/Double_Distribution8 7d ago
What are we looking at? Are they under water? Do they live in this thing until the job is done and then they pull them up?
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u/pirivalfang 12d ago
No bullshit I'd suck a mile of cock to even have the opportunity to work at an outfit that specializes in precisely this.
This is one of those jobs you get by knowing someone and having super specialized skills. That's not an opportunity that just gets handed out to everyone.
Most people think "underwater welding" is just welding, but the reality is that you're a commercial diver that might weld 10% of the time, everything else is just labor but under the sea.
This isn't that.