Many people are slightly familiar with underwater welding but don’t truly know what the career entails. It’s a fascinating and hazardous job that allows welders to travel the world and take on lucrative challenges.
Let’s look at what this exciting career’s all about and how you can become an underwater welder.
The History of Underwater Welding
Underwater welding – deep sea, marine, or hyperbaric welding – was invented in 1932 by Konstantin Khrenov, a Soviet metallurgist engineer. He quickly put it to use during World War II to repair ships and bridges.
By figuring out how to safely cut metal underwater, Khrenov set the stage for other metallurgists and engineers – like Cyril Jensen – to improve the process.
With his own tests and theories, Jensen brought the practice to the U.S. during WWII and quickly teamed up with the military to lead their underwater welding program. His most remarkable project was salvaging a few of the ships at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.
After the war, Jensen expanded his testing privately and helped invent waterproof electrode coating, among other advancements.
Now, underwater welding has expanded from its origins in ship repair to include work on various structures like oil rigs, dams, and underwater habitats – among others.
How Underwater Welding Works
Working with electricity underwater – how does that even work?
It seems odd at first, but it's a lot like regular surface welding – which is why underwater welders need regular welding certifications before moving onto the underwater program.
On a molecular level, underwater welding uses MMA – or stick welding – that uses an electric arc as an energy source. The “stick” part is called the cathode, and it’s negatively charged, and the weld area, or anode, is positively charged. Both processes allow electrons to travel through plasma – a conductive gas, and that plasma is also where the electric arc is formed.
When the arc hits the metal surface, the cathode’s negative electrons travel down to the anode, and the anode’s positive ions travel back up to the cathode within the plasma. This creates a heat distribution of roughly a third in the anode and two-thirds in the cathode – which is necessary for welding.
Since all those processes are dangerous, welders require serious protection. Some of the personal protective equipment (PPE) underwater welders use are:
- Gloves
- Hoods and lenses
- Boots
- Flame-resistant pants and jacket
- Caps, and
- Hood liners
The type of equipment varies based on whether it’s a dry or wet environment, too. Most underwater divers aren’t actually scuba diving while welding, but doing so in a dry environment among the sea creatures – called dry welding. Working in the water – wet welding – is more intense and requires extra equipment like oxygen tanks.
Dry vs. Wet Welding
Dry welding is the most common form and involves welding underwater but in a dry chamber or habitat filled with a gas mixture so welders can work in a safer environment. These chambers can be as small as a basketball or as large as a bedroom, allowing divers to work more quickly and efficiently.
Dry welding uses a specialized cable system like surface welding. Its power supply has an alternating or direct current (AC/DC), a return lead from the weld site to the power supply, and a vent system to release gasses.
It’s costly to have a dry chamber, so not every underwater welder has the opportunity to work in one. In those cases – they’ll use wet welding to get the job done.
Wet welding is truly welding while wet. It uses specialized diving gear and tools to handle cold, high-pressure environments. Wet welding is mainly done as shielded metal arc welding when the filler is melted and applied to the joint with an electric arc that comes from the electrode – or stick, a coated metal wire.
Wet welding works with direct currents and cables using a welding and return lead.
In addition, it uses a knife switch to control the power to the welder. The knife switch makes the process much safer because the welding machine is turned on and off manually – meaning it won’t send out electricity unless the welder commands it.
In the process, the welder’s stick or electrode creates a gaseous bubble that shields the electricity from the water and corrosive gasses. Those thousands of bubbles create a pathway between the stick and weld area, sealing the electricity away.
Those thousands of bubbles also make wet welding a unique and specialized niche of its trade, so many work hard to achieve its high pay and benefits.
About the Lucrative, High-Intensity Career
Underwater welders possess skills and qualifications that set them apart from standard welders, including their expert diving ability.
These specialized welders – of course – mostly live near water, but they flock to the ocean for big money, especially along the south and the southeastern United States coasts.
Here are the job duties, schedule, salary, and dangers of underwater welding. They’re seriously intense!
Job Duties
Underwater welding requires a lot of challenging and dangerous work. These welders begin with smaller projects at the entry-level as they build their expertise and become higher-level experts with bigger projects and salaries.
Offshore welders work on oil rigs, ships, and other offshore stations. Many work with the military. Their work involves:
- Development of plans and tests for projects
- Operation of heavy industrial machinery
- Emergency repairs of pipes and other equipment
- Installation of equipment
- Routine maintenance of equipment
- Hyperbaric wet and dry welding
- Cutting and fitting metal pieces
- Rigging metal pieces, and
- Weld inspections
Inland welders complete a lot of these same tasks, but they do them anywhere that’s not the ocean, like lakes or reservoirs and work on things like:
- Bridges
- Watercraft
- Dams
- Pipelines
- Locks
- Intake systems, and
- Docks
It sounds like a lot, but underwater welders aren’t doing all that daily. Their work is project-based and sometimes an emergency, so plans and duties change based on individual cases.
Schedule
Inland welding provides a much more stable schedule than offshore. Usually, these welders work 8-hour days – although they may be on-call for emergencies – and enjoy more time for a personal life.
Depending on the project, offshore welders can be gone for days, weeks, and months. It’s a lot harder to maintain a personal life this way, but you can expect to get breaks of a week or more at a time. This also means more pay!
Salary
The salary for an underwater welder depends on the job location, experience, and the number of overtime hours. They can work on a salaried, hourly, freelance, or contractor basis.
Entry-level onshore welders have an average salary of $30,000 to $50,000 because they usually work locally and with easier schedules. After 3 to 5 years, they’ll earn around $60,000 to $80,000.
Offshore welders make around $40,000 to $60,000 more than inland welders because of the higher risk, workload, and travel involved. And because companies provide depth pay – like $1 to $4 per foot of depth you’re working – that salary only increases.
Their schedules are so rigorous that they’ll often work multiple 60 to 80-hour work weeks before coming home for breaks. Like inland – offshore welders will make significantly more money after a few years of experience.
As of 2022, the U.S. median salary for underwater welders is $53,990 and $25.96 per hour. However, highly specialized welders have opportunities to take home huge salaries when working commercially and offshore for long periods.
Saturation divers, in particular, make big bucks because they spend so long underwater – sometimes for weeks at a time – and in such dangerous conditions. Their salaries range from around $200,000 to $300,000, and the top experts make up to $500,000 a year!
Sounds insane, right? That’s what happens when you work a hazardous and intensive job!
Dangers
Underwater welding is considered one of the most dangerous professions in the world. Still, people keep joining because you can also travel to new places and take on challenges that drive your expertise – and salary expectations – sky high.
That high salary comes with a risk, which explains why the profession is so dangerous. Here are some dangers of underwater welding and how they’re prevented:
- Electric Shock
- Electricity and water create a dangerous scenario – especially when wet welding.
- Underwater welders must use tested, waterproof, and insulated equipment before diving to prevent electric shock.
- Decompression sickness
- DCS can be extreme and happens when divers ascend too quickly, causing blood to flood other body areas.
- Welders counteract this by descending an average of 33 feet per minute to allow their bodies to regulate the changing pressure.
- Explosions
- When too much hydrogen and oxygen combine during welding, it becomes flammable and puts welders at risk of explosion.
- Many safety measures prevent this, most notably working from top to bottom and using vents to release gasses.
- Drowning
- This primarily happens when equipment fails – like masks, tanks, and hoses.
- Underwater welders have extensive training to prepare for this situation – they’ll know how to stay calm, ascend slowly, and perform the correct safety procedures.
Benefits & Opportunities
There are many benefits and opportunities for pursuing a career in underwater welding.
On top of the potential for making a lot of money, offshore welders also enjoy seeing new sights, longer breaks from work, and other career opportunities.
Inland welders have more structured schedules and work closer to home, which lets them live a more normal life.
If these welders switch careers, their experience and qualifications as underwater welders can help them get other marine-related jobs like construction.
How to Become an Underwater Welder
Becoming an underwater welder is intense and can’t be done quickly.
First, you need a high school diploma or GED.
From there, you’ll need to get certifications in surface welding and commercial diving to progress to the next step.
Once you have the required education and certifications, you’ll take a physical exam before starting underwater welding school.
Underwater welding programs are rigorous and take anywhere from six months to two years to complete.
When choosing a school, it’s best to pick an accredited one so you have the best chance of getting a job after graduation.
Water Welders named their top ten underwater welding programs in 2022 which are:
- Diver’s Institute of Technology
- National University Polytechnic Institute
- The Ocean Program
- South Louisiana Community College
- Commercial Diving Tech Institute
- CDA Technical Institute
- International Diving Institute
- Divers Academy International
- Hydroweld USA, and
- Santa Barbara City College
After graduating and getting an entry-level job, underwater welders work as assistants – or dive tenders – to professional divers and move up to the expert level after a time.
Qualifications & Skill Requirements
Here’s a list of qualifications we just talked about, followed by the skills required for a career in underwater welding.
- High school diploma or GED
- Surface welding training certification
- Commercial diving certification, and
- Completion of underwater welding program
Some employers will also ask for knowledge of GMAW, SMAW, FCAW, and TIG procedures, construction experience, and OSHA certification.
As far as an underwater welder’s skill set, they’ll need to possess:
- Ability to swim
- Critical thinking skills
- Interpersonal skills
- Steady hands
- Endurance
- Creativity, and
- Mechanical aptitude
The job’s intense and requires expert skills – but the rewards are plentiful!
Looking to the Future of Underwater Welding
The future of underwater welding is both promising and concerning.
By 2023, economists predict there will be a shortage of 375,000 skilled welding professionals, and more are retiring than entering the profession.
Luckily, underwater welding schools like Austin Community College are noticing an influx of students and are hopeful that they can build the workforce back up. The American Welding Society expects around 84,000 welders to join the workforce annually until 2025.
The rebuild is critical as the world turns toward renewable energy. Watertight pipes, in particular, are increasing in demand quickly.
Robotics is also emerging in the welding industry, mostly how robots can protect welders. Only the most advanced are used for the actual weld – so unless engineers can make these robots as dexterous and detailed as humans, welding will always be mainly done by us.
Taking the Dive
So that’s everything about underwater welding – awesome, right? These welders are responsible for some extraordinarily important projects and deal with serious amounts of danger.
You may be wondering – why would anyone want to do this?
Others may be intrigued by this intense career and thinking – how can I become an underwater welder?
If you’re interested in this career, dive into the research of the profession’s responsibilities, certification programs, and schools. You’ll also want to look at possible places to live to get the most job opportunities. As a bonus, many of those places are warm and sunny!
Connect with as many people related to this industry as you can to get advice and job leads. A friendly professional relationship can do wonders for your career, especially in this lucrative industry.
Wrapping Up
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