Welding Stainless Steel

Has anyone got any tips on welding stainless steel , I want to repair a leak in a water tank on a camper trailer.
Can you use a mig welder or maybe solder any tips would be great
Thanks

Gday Forky, welcome to the forum. You can mig stainless steel only if your machine is capable of do so, Tig is your best bet or better still take it away to get repaired. hope this helps.

forky wrote:Has anyone got any tips on welding stainless steel , I want to repair a leak in a water tank on a camper trailer.
Can you use a mig welder or maybe solder any tips would be great
Thanks

G'day forky

Yes a MIG welder, make sure there is NO water/moisture in the leak/crack area to be welded, if it is just a small crack that needs repairing you could just use the standard setup for mild steel, if you want to get more involved, you can get a small 1kg roll of stainless mig welding wire, and for the gas use an Argon/CO2 blend like "Argoshield" or an Argon/CO2/Helium blend for a better result.

cheers dave

forky wrote:Has anyone got any tips on welding stainless steel , I want to repair a leak in a water tank on a camper trailer.
Can you use a mig welder or maybe solder any tips would be great
Thanks

You mention solder it would have to be "silver solder" using oxy/acetylene, that would be my option, mig & tig weren't invented in my day.

Try your local exhaust/muffler repairer he might fix it for you

Mild steel and Stainless steel are both DC welding,(Aluminium is AC) you can Mig weld stainless using Mild steel wire but it will rust, the difference in price per full sized roll is 30 dolla's for mild steel@15 kilos and anywhere from $300-$600 for a roll of Stainless,

Tig welding could work though as you can buy a small packet of wire for $30 bucks and use any cheapo type of Arc/Tig welder without AC capability which is where the money is in Tig welders, also if you Tig you need pure Argon Gas, which cost money!

You could also hit it with an Arc welder, chuck up a patch over the leaking section, with a small section of stainless and run some beads around it with stainless rods, cheapest option.

Or could you rough it up and use something like 'Ferropre'?

What kind of leak is it, pinhole , tear, crack, gouge, split seam?, as mentioned Ferropre or other similar epoxy bogs might work, stainless screw can work good on pinhole, depending on costs if your not already setup to weld stainless or have a mate probably best option is to get it done somewhere.

Wayne.

I know its a bit late for you but its worth knowing that stainless steel "work hardens" , if its constantly flexing and vibrating (such as in a camper) it can harden and crack, obviously many factors involved such as s/s grade, thickness, weld quality, amount of flex/movement etc. Anyway hope its a one off repair for you

I'm only a year late, but another quick fix is roughen up around the crack and clean off with metho, I use ethanol, and use Selleys 2 mix epoxy
and cut off a small piece and mix between your fingers and spread over crack and cleaned area, let fully harden, if done properly will hold for many years or until you can get it repaired. Handy stuff to carry in the sticks can mend a leaking fuel tank, so Selleys say.

Cheers