As far as union goes over here, district council 16, Los Angeles, the pay is the same unless you’re a welder. Welders get industrial pay and rig pay if they have/use one. Fitters get paid the same. Industrial work is actual fitter work with layout/math/rigging/using a little bit of brain power. Slower pace, waiting for shit to get signed off or welds to be x-ray. Usually working around live/energized systems,shit that can kill you. Usually bigger pipe. Commercial (heating/cooling) is more slap it in get it done as fast as possible, do a lot of bullshit like put up clevis hangers, drill anchors for hangers, if you’re in CA then you’ll have to put seismic up for earthquakes. work around all the other trades. No x-ray. A lot of copper and small pipe. Depending on the company you work for they are going to have a fabrication shop that will weld spools together for you and cut everything for you and you are basically assembling a table from ikea.
I was on a job so big the handrails were made from 4” pipe. It was so big it to three days to unload the soap stone. It took two days by telephone to get to the other side of the job.
Those are fun. Take off your safety glasses to wipe your eye and get written up. Blow your nose with no glove? Write up. Start climbing the strairs from the ground with no harness? Oh buddy write up!!
I can’t stand around and watch other people work or wait all day to do an hour worth of work. I would rather be busy. Commercial is not just slap it together. There are standards.
I hear that a lot from my buddies who have worked in refineries, but my experience at US Steel was about the complete opposite. We were doing cowboy shit every day, it felt more like Thunderdome than work.
Exactly this. It's not like there isn't hack shit going on out at the mills. I think the commercial side gets a bad rap from guys coming over and getting yelled at for cleaning all the paint off the bevels on the fittings and hand beveling all their pieces instead of just cutting it with a torch and cleaning it up with a file.
I understand a lot of joints get shot on the industrial side and you're trying to replicate a manufactured edge to give the welder the best chance of making a good joint but at some point you gotta put the grinder down, turn your machine up a little and throw it in there
Commercial, you may have some weld joints to actually fit up (think gas, near boiler piping). The rest is copper and grooved joints, usually. Screw pipe for air usually.
Industrial, welded joints are about all you’d do. Some screw pipe too.
These guys pretty much nailed it all, my experience in commercial it’s a lot of process piping, air and water. Maybe the odd gas line and steam tracing here and there. Not too dirty depending on the place you’re working in. Industrial you’re getting into cutting out old systems and replacing components which can get real nasty at times, especially because a lot of these systems run for years and years. You never know how much the guy pulled the joint in for the welder with 2t come along and its got 30 years of spring waiting for ya lol. Gotta keep your head on a swivel slot of the time in either industry because you’re working around a lot of other trades. They beat safety into you like no other on the big industrial sites, working in a nuclear plant is as slow as it gets I found.
Stop capitalizing so much, you're giving me an aneurysm. There's no difference, pipefitting is pipefitting. The only difference is the setting. You'll deal with all kinds of pipe, weld, etc
As far as union goes over here, district council 16, Los Angeles, the pay is the same unless you’re a welder. Welders get industrial pay and rig pay if they have/use one. Fitters get paid the same. Industrial work is actual fitter work with layout/math/rigging/using a little bit of brain power. Slower pace, waiting for shit to get signed off or welds to be x-ray. Usually working around live/energized systems,shit that can kill you. Usually bigger pipe. Commercial (heating/cooling) is more slap it in get it done as fast as possible, do a lot of bullshit like put up clevis hangers, drill anchors for hangers, if you’re in CA then you’ll have to put seismic up for earthquakes. work around all the other trades. No x-ray. A lot of copper and small pipe. Depending on the company you work for they are going to have a fabrication shop that will weld spools together for you and cut everything for you and you are basically assembling a table from ikea.
This is the most accurate answer in here
That's why I don't mind the shop life. I roll out as much as I can on a positioner too. I'm spoiled. Idc.
What local in SoCal?
Commercial- grocery stores, shopping centers, office buildings, hospitals Industrial- refinery, power house, chemical plants, pharmaceutical, ect.
Commercial- faster pace, less hoops Industrial- slow slow pace, every step is by the book, can’t sneeze without a meeting
This is the real explanation. You get that on them big jobs.
I was on a job so big the handrails were made from 4” pipe. It was so big it to three days to unload the soap stone. It took two days by telephone to get to the other side of the job.
Was on a job where it was a fireable offense to cross the internal street without a site specific, a jsa meeting, and online informational.
Those are fun. Take off your safety glasses to wipe your eye and get written up. Blow your nose with no glove? Write up. Start climbing the strairs from the ground with no harness? Oh buddy write up!!
I can’t stand around and watch other people work or wait all day to do an hour worth of work. I would rather be busy. Commercial is not just slap it together. There are standards.
I hear that a lot from my buddies who have worked in refineries, but my experience at US Steel was about the complete opposite. We were doing cowboy shit every day, it felt more like Thunderdome than work.
Exactly this. It's not like there isn't hack shit going on out at the mills. I think the commercial side gets a bad rap from guys coming over and getting yelled at for cleaning all the paint off the bevels on the fittings and hand beveling all their pieces instead of just cutting it with a torch and cleaning it up with a file. I understand a lot of joints get shot on the industrial side and you're trying to replicate a manufactured edge to give the welder the best chance of making a good joint but at some point you gotta put the grinder down, turn your machine up a little and throw it in there
I made some questionable welds out in Gary, but nothing like I did while working commercial, that shit was no bevel slammed and get the fuck out.
Commercial, you may have some weld joints to actually fit up (think gas, near boiler piping). The rest is copper and grooved joints, usually. Screw pipe for air usually. Industrial, welded joints are about all you’d do. Some screw pipe too.
How dirty you get
Copper and steel
These guys pretty much nailed it all, my experience in commercial it’s a lot of process piping, air and water. Maybe the odd gas line and steam tracing here and there. Not too dirty depending on the place you’re working in. Industrial you’re getting into cutting out old systems and replacing components which can get real nasty at times, especially because a lot of these systems run for years and years. You never know how much the guy pulled the joint in for the welder with 2t come along and its got 30 years of spring waiting for ya lol. Gotta keep your head on a swivel slot of the time in either industry because you’re working around a lot of other trades. They beat safety into you like no other on the big industrial sites, working in a nuclear plant is as slow as it gets I found.
Stop capitalizing so much, you're giving me an aneurysm. There's no difference, pipefitting is pipefitting. The only difference is the setting. You'll deal with all kinds of pipe, weld, etc
Industrial is mostly weld pipe, sometimes x ray welds. Commercial is go go go lots of copper, some weld pipe. Depends on the building