fel3
Civil/Environmental
- Jul 9, 2001
- 884
Greetings...
A colleague asked me to research a question posed by one of his clients while he is on vacation this week. Both of us are civil engineers with lots of experience (me, 41 years; my colleague, 28 years), but our combined experience with pressure vessels is limited to sizing and specifying non-fired vessels for use in water systems (e.g. hydropneumatic tanks, filter vessels, etc.). Neither of us has all that much experience with the details of the ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Codes and none with how these Codes apply to the following situation.
My colleague's client is overseeing a contract that includes repairing a filter vessel at the city's water treatment plant. The vessel is about 2,500 gallons, is rated at 125 psi, and operates at about 70 psi. It is an ASME-certified pressure vessel and has been subject to periodic inspections by CAL-OSHA. My colleague has no involvement with this contract, but is trusted by his client and so was asked for his opinion.
As I understand it, the repairs are limited to removing the old interior coating, weld-filling surface pits, then recoating the interior of the vessel. The work is being done by an engineering contractor and not the OEM. On Thursday, my colleague's client found out that the welder who did the weld-filling work inside the vessel was not ASME certified to work on pressure vessels. My colleague's client, my colleague, and I each suspect that this omission would remove the ASME certification for the vessel and thus affect an upcoming CAL-OSHA inspection. However, I haven't yet found anything that would back up our hypothesis.
My attempt to track down an answer started with finding PDFs online covering what appear to be the relevant portions of the 2017 ASME Codes (specifically Sections VIII and IX), related codes, and some commentaries on the Codes. I have just started to dig into these documents. Unfortunately, I don't have ready access to the current version of the Codes. I have seen tables that show how each state applies the ASME Codes, but I don't yet understand the implications of these differences. The key point here is that the pressure vessel in question is in California, so California rules will apply. I also have some phone calls out to people who might be able to help me and I thought I would try here as well.
I have seen, for example, that API 510 (which does not apply here), Section 8.1, requires repair work to conform to the ASME codes, but I didn't see in that document a specific requirement that the welder be certified. On the other hand, I suspect that the ASME codes require an ASME-certified welder for repair work. But, all I have found so far is the requirement to be certified for production welding, which I assume means the initial manufacturing of a pressure vessel (2017 ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code, IX Qualification Standard for Welding..., Article III, QW-301.2).
So, can any of you pressure vessel experts point me in the right direction? I would like to give my colleague's client one or more code references that would back up our hypothesis that repair welding (even if it's just weld-filling) requires an ASME-certified welder --OR-- one or more code references that would allow a non-certified welder do the weld-filling...whichever is the correct answer. I thank you all in advance.
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"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill
A colleague asked me to research a question posed by one of his clients while he is on vacation this week. Both of us are civil engineers with lots of experience (me, 41 years; my colleague, 28 years), but our combined experience with pressure vessels is limited to sizing and specifying non-fired vessels for use in water systems (e.g. hydropneumatic tanks, filter vessels, etc.). Neither of us has all that much experience with the details of the ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Codes and none with how these Codes apply to the following situation.
My colleague's client is overseeing a contract that includes repairing a filter vessel at the city's water treatment plant. The vessel is about 2,500 gallons, is rated at 125 psi, and operates at about 70 psi. It is an ASME-certified pressure vessel and has been subject to periodic inspections by CAL-OSHA. My colleague has no involvement with this contract, but is trusted by his client and so was asked for his opinion.
As I understand it, the repairs are limited to removing the old interior coating, weld-filling surface pits, then recoating the interior of the vessel. The work is being done by an engineering contractor and not the OEM. On Thursday, my colleague's client found out that the welder who did the weld-filling work inside the vessel was not ASME certified to work on pressure vessels. My colleague's client, my colleague, and I each suspect that this omission would remove the ASME certification for the vessel and thus affect an upcoming CAL-OSHA inspection. However, I haven't yet found anything that would back up our hypothesis.
My attempt to track down an answer started with finding PDFs online covering what appear to be the relevant portions of the 2017 ASME Codes (specifically Sections VIII and IX), related codes, and some commentaries on the Codes. I have just started to dig into these documents. Unfortunately, I don't have ready access to the current version of the Codes. I have seen tables that show how each state applies the ASME Codes, but I don't yet understand the implications of these differences. The key point here is that the pressure vessel in question is in California, so California rules will apply. I also have some phone calls out to people who might be able to help me and I thought I would try here as well.
I have seen, for example, that API 510 (which does not apply here), Section 8.1, requires repair work to conform to the ASME codes, but I didn't see in that document a specific requirement that the welder be certified. On the other hand, I suspect that the ASME codes require an ASME-certified welder for repair work. But, all I have found so far is the requirement to be certified for production welding, which I assume means the initial manufacturing of a pressure vessel (2017 ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code, IX Qualification Standard for Welding..., Article III, QW-301.2).
So, can any of you pressure vessel experts point me in the right direction? I would like to give my colleague's client one or more code references that would back up our hypothesis that repair welding (even if it's just weld-filling) requires an ASME-certified welder --OR-- one or more code references that would allow a non-certified welder do the weld-filling...whichever is the correct answer. I thank you all in advance.
============
"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill
