Edmonton doesn’t care about your project timeline. When it’s minus thirty and the wind is cutting across an open lot, the weather has opinions about whether your welding job is going to go smoothly. Metal behaves differently when it’s that cold, equipment fights you, and the human body has its own hard limits.
We weld year-round in Edmonton. Here’s what actually changes when the temperature drops — and what we do about it.
Cold Metal Is Brittle Metal
This is the big one. Steel that’s perfectly ductile at room temperature becomes more brittle as it gets colder. The technical term is ductile-to-brittle transition, and for common structural steels, that transition zone starts around -20°C to -30°C — exactly where Edmonton lives for weeks every winter.
What this means practically: if you weld on very cold steel without preheating, the rapid temperature change from the arc (thousands of degrees) to the surrounding metal (minus thirty) creates enormous thermal stress. The weld and the surrounding heat-affected zone can crack — sometimes immediately, sometimes weeks later when the joint is under load.
The Fix: Preheat
Before we strike an arc on cold steel, we preheat the area with a rosebud torch. Depending on the steel thickness and grade, we’re bringing it up to anywhere from 50°C to 150°C in the area around the joint. This slows the cooling rate, reduces thermal shock, and gives the weld a chance to develop proper grain structure.
Yes, it adds time. But a weld that cracks in March isn’t worth the hour you saved in January.
Hydrogen Cracking Gets Worse in Cold
Hydrogen-induced cracking (also called cold cracking or delayed cracking) is one of the most common weld failures, and cold weather makes it significantly more likely. Moisture in the air, on the metal surface, or in welding consumables introduces hydrogen into the weld pool. As the weld cools — and it cools faster in cold weather — hydrogen gets trapped and creates internal pressure that can crack the joint hours or even days after welding.
Our cold-weather protocol includes:
- Using low-hydrogen electrodes (E7018) for all stick welding
- Keeping electrodes in a heated rod oven until the moment they’re used
- Thoroughly cleaning and drying the joint area before welding
- Controlling interpass temperature to keep the joint warm between passes
Shielding Gas Doesn’t Love the Cold Either
For MIG and TIG welding, we use argon or argon/CO2 mix shielding gas. When the bottle is sitting in a truck at -30°C, the regulator can freeze up, flow rates become inconsistent, and moisture can condense inside the lines. Add wind — and Edmonton’s river valley can funnel some serious gusts — and maintaining proper gas coverage over the weld pool becomes a real challenge.
Wind screens, heated gas lines, and sometimes switching to stick welding (which doesn’t use shielding gas) are all part of the winter toolkit.
Equipment Challenges
Everything gets harder in extreme cold:
- Generators are harder to start and run less efficiently
- Wire feed in MIG welders can become inconsistent as lubricants thicken
- Power cables stiffen and become difficult to route
- Grinders and cut-off wheels — resin-bonded discs can become brittle and shatter more easily in extreme cold
- Batteries in cordless tools lose capacity rapidly
We keep the truck running and heated, stage tools inside the cab between uses, and carry backup equipment for anything likely to give trouble. It’s not glamorous, but it keeps the job moving.
The Human Factor
Let’s be honest: welding in minus thirty is hard on the welder. You’re managing fine motor control with thick gloves, your helmet lens fogs when you breathe, and exposed skin starts getting frostbite warnings after about ten minutes. Fatigue sets in faster because your body is burning energy just staying warm.
Good winter welding means shorter work intervals with warming breaks. Trying to push through three straight hours of outdoor welding at -35°C doesn’t make you tough — it makes you sloppy. We’d rather take breaks and deliver clean welds than rush and deliver garbage.
Should You Wait Until Spring?
Sometimes, honestly, yes. If it’s a cosmetic project, a non-urgent fabrication, or something that can safely wait a few months, spring welding is easier, faster, and cheaper (less preheat, less fuel, more productive hours per day).
But if your railing is a safety hazard, your equipment is down, or you’ve got a structural failure that can’t wait — we’ll be there. We’ve welded in every temperature Edmonton has thrown at us, and the work holds.
Need a winter repair? Call 780-233-8285 or send us a message. We’ll give you an honest answer about whether it should be done now or can wait for warmer weather.
This article is for informational purposes only and may contain inaccuracies. Always consult a certified welding professional before starting any project.
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