How long should a pressure test be held?

29, Apr. 2024

 

1313.0 Pressure Testing and Inspection - UpCodes

2, or nitrogen 2, or nitrogen pressure and shall be made in the presence of the

This inspection shall include an air, CO, or nitrogen pressure test , at which time the gas piping shall stand a pressure of not less than 10 psi (69 kPa) gauge pressure. Test pressures shall be held for a length of time satisfactory to the Authority Having Jurisdiction but in no case less than 15 minutes with no perceptible drop in pressure. For welded piping , and for piping carrying gas at pressures in excess of 14 inches water column (3.5 kPa) pressure, the test pressure shall be not less than 60 psi (414 kPa) and shall be continued for a length of time satisfactory to the Authority Having Jurisdiction , but in no case for less than 30 minutes. For CSST carrying gas at pressures in excess of 14 inches water column (3.5 kPa) pressure, the test pressure shall be 30 psi (207 kPa) for 30 minutes. These tests shall be made using air, CO, or nitrogen pressure and shall be made in the presence of the Authority Having Jurisdiction . Necessary apparatus for conducting tests shall be furnished by the permit holder. Test gauges used in conducting test shall be in accordance with Section 1303.3.3.1 through Section 1303.3.3.4

Are you interested in learning more about pressure test unit? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Contact US

FIRST NAME

*


LAST NAME

*


EMAIL

*


MESSAGE

*


ADDITIONAL DETAILS

Thanks. We have received your request and will respond promptly.

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!

  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
Join Us!

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines



Students Click Here

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Eng-Tips Posting Policies

Contact US

thread378-318255 Forum Search FAQs Links MVPs
  • Forum

  • Search

  • FAQs

  • Links

  • MVPs

Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

Bluecat46

(Mechanical)

(OP)

For more hydro test chart recorderinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

15 Mar 12 12:18

Can any point me in the right direction regarding, how long should you leave a system under pressure for a test?

In Process Piping by Charles Becht Chapter 14 states pressure to be held for at least 10 minutes or as long as it takes to examine the pipe.

EEMUA Guide to the pressure Testing Section 3.3 Test pressure to be maintained for not less than 30 minutes.

I guess really I am asking what is the general opinion to pressure testing time and is there any other documents that mention a time period.
 

RE: Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

zdas04

(Mechanical)

15 Mar 12 12:45

Both ASME B31.3 and ASME B31.8 have times, and they're different.  Company policies (if longer than the code) will usually supersede.  I used to regularly see company policies that required 24 hour tests, but not so much anymore.  I see a lot of 3 hour tests.  A lot of 1 hour tests.  No real consistency.

I think the longer tests are trying to guard against creep in semi-resiliant piping from parting a weld or fitting connection, but I see them required in steel too.

It is really all over the map, and there is a lot more opinion than justification in the literature.

David

RE: Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

eyec

(Industrial)

15 Mar 12 13:44

what you find in any Standard is considered the "Mnimum".  different pressure media (hydro, pneumatic, helium, etc) present various hold times by company Specifications and criticality of the item being tested.

i have witnessed everyting from 5 minutes to 8 hours and know of instances of 24 hours for dye penetrant testing.

RE: Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

pennpiper

(Mechanical)

15 Mar 12 13:55

Getting to the "Hold Time"(*) is only part of the equation. In my experience if you are doing a "System wide" hydro-test the size and complexity of the system has a baring on the "Hold Time".
Before the Clock starts for the "Hold Time" you need to fill the system.  To do this you need people to vent off all the high points.
How many high points are there and where are they?  How many people do you have involved in this activity?  

(*)
("Hold Time"= The number of potential leak points + the distance between the points * by the number of people to do the checking)

RE: Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

zdas04

(Mechanical)

15 Mar 12 14:57

penpiper,
Good points.  When I'm designing a test, I generally define the things that have to happen between starting to fill and starting the clock on the test.  One big reason why is that in the procedures I write the tester is not allowed to add test fluid after the test starts (and I define a minimum acceptable finish pressure to account for temperature drops, I allow them to bleed fluid to account for temperature rises).

David

RE: Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

SNORGY

(Mechanical)

16 Mar 12 14:52

If you require proof of successful hydrostatic test as part of a QA/QC file that will withstand audit scrutiny by a Regulator, then you typically need to provide the test chart instead of just an affidavit that says, "Yep.  We did it.  It's all good."  The test duration then becomes the length of time it takes to create a meaningful chart by the chart recorder, which is typically several hours, not ten minutes.

B31.3 says ten minutes or the amount of time it takes to examine each joint.  Pipeline codes specify minimum durations much longer than that.

Where I am at, we make it simplistic.If you require proof of successful hydrostatic test as part of a QA/QC file that will withstand audit scrutiny by a Regulator, then you typically need to provide the test chart instead of just an affidavit that says, "Yep. We did it. It's all good." The test duration then becomes the length of time it takes to create a meaningful chart by the chart recorder, which is typically several hours, not ten minutes.B31.3 says ten minutes or the amount of time it takes to examine each joint. Pipeline codes specify minimum durations much longer than that.

Regards,

SNORGY.

RE: Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

Bluecat46

(Mechanical)

(OP)

19 Mar 12 05:16

Thanks everyone for their input it seem that this is a area that boils down to your site standards (difficult if your being asked to advise on the site standard we use the hold for 30 mins after system is filled on all pipework) however another question!

All the answers seam to be based on a pressure test for pipeline systems, what would be done if you are test a single spool of pipe i.e. after welding/dye pen?
 

RE: Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

BigInch

(Petroleum)

19 Mar 12 16:30
B31.4 liquid hydrocarbon pipelines, requires a strength test for 2 hours.  Prior time to stabilize pressures and temperatures may vary considerably, as well as requirements for longer strength hold times as may be specified by the client.

In any case, if you want to know for sure, read your design code.

B31.3 isn't pipeline.B31.4 liquid hydrocarbon pipelines, requires a strength test for 2 hours. Prior time to stabilize pressures and temperatures may vary considerably, as well as requirements for longer strength hold times as may be specified by the client.In any case, if you want to know for sure, read your design code.

From "BigInch's Extremely simple theory of everything."

RE: Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

dmfa200

(Mechanical)

20 Mar 12 12:29

One thing to consider is ambient temperature especially outdoors in the sun.

Filling a spool with cool ground water and applying pressure before the spool has a chance to equalize with the ambient temperature will result in overshooting your test pressure.

Our inspector did not like to see pressures any more than 10% over the specified test pressure.

 

RE: Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

duurai

(Mechanical)

2 Jun 12 14:01

as per ASME31.3 Process piping are need 10 to 15 Minutes only
as per ASME31.4 Pipe line are need 2 hours....

RE: Lenght of Time to do a pressure test?

BigInch

(Petroleum)

2 Jun 12 14:21

drrrai, You're 3 months late with a copy of the answers already given above.

What would you be doing, if you knew that you could not fail? Ans. Bonds and derivative brokering.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.


Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members! Already a Member? Login



News

Contact us to discuss your requirements of hydraulic pump test bench price. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.