My welder buddy says skip the preheat on thick plate, I think he's wrong

Had a long talk with a guy I crewed with back in Gary about preheating 1.5 inch plate before a root pass. He claims modern rod and flux handle the cold base metal fine and preheat is just wasted time on most jobs. I told him about a crack I saw on a pressure vessel seam back in 2019 that traced straight back to no preheat on a cold morning. He laughed and said that was operator error, not the process. I get that preheat costs time and fuel, but I have seen too many repairs to skip it. Is anyone else sticking with the old rules on this, or is he onto something?

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troyreed20d ago

1989 called and wants its blueprint back, that cold morning crack story is haunting my nightmares.