What's a fair time frame for sanitary welds?

[Crown_Mig48]

My girlfriend works in biotech and had a contractor weld sanitary flanges on 2 inch stainless tubing for a pilot system. The bill shows hours that don’t line up with what I’ve seen in other shops. For those of you doing sanitary TIG today, what’s a fair time frame for four welds with purge included?

 

[welder B0b]

hi @Crown_Mig48 for four 2 inch stainless butt welds (assuming a typical schedule 10 or schedule 40 thickness), if they were doing true sanitary/pharmaceutical grade purge and had to back-purge, a good 3-4 hours total isn't unreasonable.
that includes full prep, initial tacking, welding, and cooldown/cleanup. If they billed for less than two hours, I'd actually be suspicious of the quality!

 

[Crown_Mig48]

hi @Crown_Mig48 for four 2 inch stainless butt welds (assuming a typical schedule 10 or schedule 40 thickness), if they were doing true sanitary/pharmaceutical grade purge and had to back-purge, a good 3-4 hours total isn't unreasonable.
that includes full prep, initial tacking, welding, and cooldown/cleanup. If they billed for less than two hours, I'd actually be suspicious of the quality!

Thanks for laying out the 3-4 hr window with purge and cleanup included. Were those times based on a single welder running start to finish or do you usually see helpers involved to keep prep and purge moving faster?

 

[Wyo.welder]

With a helper keeping purge and prep moving, it can drop closer to two hours

 

[barth.sims]

My girlfriend works in biotech and had a contractor weld sanitary flanges on 2 inch stainless tubing for a pilot system. The bill shows hours that don’t line up with what I’ve seen in other shops. For those of you doing sanitary TIG today, what’s a fair time frame for four welds with purge included?

Sanitary TIG with proper purging isn't fast work, figure 30-45 minutes per joint if they're doing it right and that even includes setup, purge time, welding, and cool down