It’s a bit like buying a motorbike—should you go for the air-cooled single cylinder engine or the water-cooled four-cylinder one? The fact is water-cooled designs are often more durable and certainly boast better handling.

And welding systems are no different: Anyone who has used a welding system with water cooling right up to the tip of the gas nozzle will tell you how smooth the torch control felt and how easy it was to handle. Plus, water-cooled systems last longer and provide more power.

Air-cooled laser welding torches are not very suitable for higher laser power, whereas water-cooled torches continue to perform well at higher lightpower, up to 2kW Continue Wave (CW) laser welding or 6kW maximum pulsed laser welding

Naturally, the advantages of water-cooled over gas-cooled come at a cost, with purchase prices for water-cooled torches coming in 30–50% higher on average. There is also the additional cost of installing the water cooling system itself. As wearing parts, laser welding torches will form part of your ongoing operating costs and therefore price is an important consideration when deciding between gas or water-cooled options.