ASME-QW301

By jon20013 (*****)

Date 06-07-2005 11:47

QW-301 discusses "Tests" and requires each contractor or manufacturer to qualify each welder or welding operator in accordance with the testing requirements defined within ASME IX. From the sounds of your posting it seems you may want to make sure that your sister company has qualified welding procedures before you even think about it's welder's because they will need qualified procedures to test the welders to.

As for your "R" Stamp work, it depends on how your "R" Stamp scope reads. "Normally" the work is limited to the facility which has been granted the "R" Stamp. In other words, if your sister company has not been assessed by the National Board (and listed on the scope of your company Certificate) they may not be able to perform the hydro at their facility.

By tncwi

Date 06-07-2005 12:04

Thanks for the quick response.

I just got off the phone with the production manager at our sister company before posting. He read me the scope of work and there was no mention of an "R" stamp. I was assuming that in order to do any work on pressure vessells IAW ASME IX that the company had to have an "R" stamp. Am I wrong in assuming this?

Thanks again.

By NDTIII

Date 06-07-2005 12:16

ASME Section IX is the qualification standard for welder qualification. It has nothing to do with hydrotesting.
QW-301 as John stated, discusses welder performance qualifications.This vessel must be built to ASME Section VIII, not ASME IX.
You may want to get a copy of ASME Section VIII and look at it. You may also want to find out if it is ASME VIII, Division 1, 2 or 3.
If the vessel requires PWHT, you'll need welding procedures that include it.
If I were you, I would try to contact an "Authorized Inspector" (AI) and find out the requirements.
Pressure vesssel construction can get very complicated.

By tncwi

Date 06-07-2005 12:26

I will take your advice and get in contact with an AI. Thanks for the help guys.

By jon20013 (*****)

Date 06-07-2005 13:27

We might be jumping the gun here and assuming too much.

First, you mentioned that you assumed "that in order to do any work on pressure vessels IAW ASME IX that the company had to have an "R" stamp."

This is not true. Are you working on an already fabricated vessel; i.e, repairing it? If so, you may, or may not need an "R" Stamp. If you are fabricating a new vessel, you may, or may not need a "U" Stamp (or similar ASME certificate).

ASME Section IX works in conjunction with all of the other Boiler & Pressure Vessel Codes and the NBIC. Regardless of the applicable fabrication or repair code, you will need an ASME Section IX, along with qualified welding procedures and welders/welding operators.

It may be to your benefit to do a little research before calling your AI in as they are quite expensive and normally have minimum hours for which they bill. Does your company have a welding engineer? If so, contact him/her and ask their advice. Good luck and keep us posted!

By jon20013 (*****)

Date 06-07-2005 13:31

Forgot to mention this very important item: if your company (or sister company) is working on stamped vessels, or vessels which will be stamped with an ASME Stamp, the company MUST have a written (and approved) Quality Assurance Program; you should be able to find an awful lot of the information you'll need within it. Again, good luck and keep us posted!

By tncwi

Date 06-07-2005 14:02

Our companies are ISO 9001 certified companies. The work on this vessel is just going to be a repair. I will check but I don't think this particular vessel is stamped. I will get the scope of this project as soon as the production manager gets out of an ISO meeting. Should be sometime after lunch. I will keep you guys posted on what I find out.

By jon20013 (*****)

Date 06-07-2005 14:06

ISO 9001 really doesn't have much at all to do with whether or not one would need an ASME Certificate to do vessel repairs. If it's not a stamped vessel my best guess is you probably won't need an "R" stamp unless required by purchase order. (Which doesn't negate the need for qualified WPS' and welders ~ these should be addressed in your company ISO QA Manual).

By Jim Hughes (***)

Date 06-07-2005 19:20

Hello tncwi,
you can't build a vessel to Sec. IX. You can test your welders that are going to weld on the vessel to Sec IX. It most likely would be built to ASME Sec. VIII. There alot of variables involved in you questions. It also depends on where you are building it, or working on it. The state of Texas works under Texas boiler and vessel law. You are not required to have a R-stamp to work on a vessel. Look at your states codes. Also I had a good relationship with my A.I and could call him and ask questions with out him charging me. But I kept him pretty busy with other work. If you do find out that you need a R-stamp to do this work an A.I can tell you if the work will be clasified as "a repair of a routine nature or repair. It makes a difference on the amout of paper work that is involved.
Good luck

By tncwi

Date 06-07-2005 20:26

Thanks for the words of wisdom Jim.
It turns out that we will only be doing repair work to the vessel. I only have to have the welders certified to ASME section IX. The customer does not require us to have a "R" stamp.

Thanks for all the help