ASME B31.3 Inspection, Examination, Testing

Date 12-06-2009 18:06

A EPC contract comprises piping works as per ASME B31.3 code, regarding the Chapter 4 the EPC contractor shall comply with 340.2 and 304.5 requirements; questions for you opinion:

a) All the piping works shall be accepted by the Owner´s Inspector or Inspector´s Delegate?
b) Should be a record signed off by Owner´s Inspector or Inspector´s Delegate for the piping system acceptance?
c) Is there a company, organization, institutions that certifify piping inspectors according to ASME B31.3 paragraph 340.4?
d) It is correct that the "Project owner" waive the code requirements?
e) How works the above a, b, c, d items for packaged equipment (i.e. reciprocant compressors) to be supplied within the EPC contract scope comprising piping designated to comply with ASME B31.3?

By G.S.Crisi (****)

Date 12-07-2009 19:30

Normal practice among Engineering Firms, who are the usual EPC contractors (and I've worked for 35 years for EPC firms), is the following:
a) yes
b) yes, so the Owner's Inspector or his delegate can not claim that a particular piping hasn't been accepted.
c) I'm Brazilian, so I don't know in the USA or Europe. Here in Brazil, an inspector certified by Petrobras (the State owned oil company) enjoys a wide acceptance among companies. How about Lloyd's, American Bureau of Shipping, Bureau Veritas and other similar institutions, or ASME itself?
d) If by "Project Owner" you mean the Process Licensor, Consulting Engineer and other similar institutions, they may waive the code requirements only if so authorized in writing by the Plant Owner.
e) Package equipment use to be under the responsibility of the package supplier, because the package has been inspected in the supplier's factory by the Owner's Inspector or his delegate. So, the piping contained within the package is under the responsibility of the supplier.

Attention though. These are usual practices that may be changed in particular cases for particular reasons.
Giovanni S. Crisi
Sao Paulo - Brazil

By cremx

Date 12-07-2009 20:03

Thanks Mr. G. S. Crisi,

Just clarification for d); I'm refering to the "Plant Owner" who is waiving the requirements

By G.S.Crisi (****)

Date 12-07-2009 22:00

In this case, if you're the EPC contractor and the Plant Owner is willing to waive the requirements, I strongly suggest that you get a written order from him to waive the requirements. If you don't have the order and something goes wrong, the Plant Owner will blame you for not having followed the requirements, and it'll be completely useless that you say that it was him who told you to waive the requirements. 35 years of experience have taught me a lot of things.
As ancient Romans said: Verba volant, set littera manent (Words fly away, but written letters stay)
Giovanni S. Crisi