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Up Topic American Welding Society Services / Certifications / CWI Questions (Power Plants)
- - By commonarc (**) Date 12-16-2005 00:52
Greetings,

I am a union Boilermaker and would like to become a CWI.
We work primarliy in power plants and weld boiler tubing (E7018), stainless, inconel, monel and chrome steel (E9018). My background is as follows: Boilermaker for 6 years and a certified welder for 19 years working everything from heavy industrial shops to pipelines.

My questions involves what type of CWI exam I should take. I just finished a job in our local power plant and the company CWI suggested I take the API-1104. He said to get this one at my own expense as a start. Is this the CWI type that most power plant contractors require? Is D1.1 also required? I have dozens of other questions but I figured I start with this one. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Parent - - By gkcwi (**) Date 12-16-2005 12:59
Hello,
Just a few thoughts for you.

1. Are you a high school graduate/ have a GED?

2. Can you get past employers to sign off as to your position that has a direct relationship to welded assemblies fabricated to a national or international standards that will relate to design or production or construction or examination or repair? This time has to account for 5 or more years.

You must pass a three part exam: a open book test on code: You can use AWS D1.1, API 1104, or the ASME- the choice is yours. A closed book test on fundamentals. And A hands-on portion on practial applications of welding inspection knowledge. The AWS and other groups have a varity of home study and class room instruction material avaiable, it seems that a greater percentage of people who use these resources pass the test the first time.
Parent - - By commonarc (**) Date 12-16-2005 14:49
I have a two year college degree in Business and I have letters from all my former employers showing dates of employment.

Is API-1104 the CWI exam that most Boilermaker contractors require?

Thanks
Parent - - By chall (***) Date 12-16-2005 15:05
API 1104 is a welding code primarily relied on for pipeline construction (gas and liquid). There are many API codes that also specify 1104, but in most cases, ASME Section IX is accepted as an alternate.

It's funny, DOT allows both ASME Section IX and API 1104 for pipeline construction, but most owner operators really only allow 1104.

If you intend to inspect only boiler and pressure vessel work, study the ASME code and take the test using that.

Most people that are in the CWI field do not limit what they will inspect, so it is really shortsighted to think you'll be able to get away with understanding only one code.

If you have a company that will pay to send you to the AWS seminar the week before the exam, I suggest taking it using D1.1. Afterall, the seminar is going to cover how to use D1.1, and it will all be fresh in your mind the day of the test. If you have to pay your own way, there are seminars available that cover which ever code you desire. If you are not going to a pretest seminar, you should study the code you are most familiar with in order to be able to pass the test.

In the long run, you will need to understand the basics of all codes. You aren't expected to (and in fact are discouraged) from memorizing codes. SInce they all change frequently, it will only cause you trouble if you start relying on memory. So, instead you need to understand how to look information up in what ever code you happen to be refering to for the task at hand.

If you want to talk this over, send me an email.
Charles.
Parent - - By jon20013 (*****) Date 12-16-2005 16:41
commonarc; your background and mine are very similar. I was a boilermaker welder when first taking my CWI exam back in 1980. Up until that time I had very little exposure to Codes. My Inspector at the time recommended I take the exam using the API 1104 Code and I'm sure many CWI's today would say the same thing.

It doesn't matter which code you take your test to as it isn't indicated on your CWI Certificate. While API 1104 is certainly not any easier to get through than any of the other permitted Code tests it does give a benefit in the number of pages you must wade through to find an answer. To that end, I strongly recommend API 1104 instead of the other codes only because it has few pages.

Good luck, and you may also e-mail me if you have any further questions.
Parent - - By QCCWI (***) Date 12-16-2005 18:44
It does not matter which code book you use to take the test, the only thing that matters is that you know how to read the code book that you use. I knew how to read the AWS D1.1 3 years before I took the CWI test and used it almost everyday. So after using the D1.1 for years why try to learn a smaller code book for one test.

If you have spent years working to API 1104 then you are better off taking the API test only because you are familiar with it.If you have spent years working to AWS D1.1 do not waste valuable study time learning API 1104 just because it is smaller.

Then only time I have seen API 1104 is at the CWI Seminar.AWS D1.1 covers the structural steel I work with everyday so until I need a job working on boilers and pipeline API 1104 is a worthless to me.
Parent - - By jon20013 (*****) Date 12-16-2005 18:57
With all due respect, it sounds as if the person asking for advice does not really have any practical experience working with codes at all ~ a situation we've all been familiar with at one point or another.

That was why I suggested API 1104, while it may be useless to him after certification, it will certainly take less time to acquire a working knowledge of, if starting from scratch. Again, this is only due to the lesser number of pages of API 1104 as compared with D1.1, Section VII, IX, etc.
Parent - - By QCCWI (***) Date 12-16-2005 19:22
If he is working to API 1104 today and knows what is acceptable by the code he already knows more of the API 1104 than he thinks he does. So I agree he needs to use API 1104 for the code book part of the test.

My point is this:
What about the next person who does not ask for advice just reads old posts, should that person also believe that he/she is better off learning API 1104 even if they have worked to D1.1 for years.

I just firmly believe you are better off adding to what you know from a code even if you have never seen the book than to go out and start from the beginning.

When I was welding I was told the weld could have this but could not have that. When I started looking at D1.1, I was like I know that and I knew that too. For years I knew what AWS D1.1 said and know I can open the book and find the page it is on. Most of what the D1.1 says I learned from working to the code and not from working with the code.
Parent - - By jon20013 (*****) Date 12-16-2005 20:30
commonarc; as has been said in earlier posts the choice of which code to take your open book exam is up to you. I am not aware of Boilermakers requiring one Code versus another. It's really a matter of personal preference. If you ahve a better knowledge of one code versus another take it to that code if not, use API 1104. When I was employed in the Certification Department at AWS Headquarters that was our "unofficial" recommendation simply due to page numbers. Drop me a line I'd be more than happy to help guide you!
Parent - By commonarc (**) Date 12-19-2005 00:56
Thanks to all who replied to my post. I really appreciate this forum and the QUALITY people who took the time to respond to my inquiry.

I will post several other questions over the coming months and appreciate any and all comments.

Up Topic American Welding Society Services / Certifications / CWI Questions (Power Plants)

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