Local Jurisdictions and how they apply to design and fabrication
/This week’s blog we will go through local jurisdictions and the impact they may have on the design, registration and fabrication of your pressure equipment. Below is a hierarchy of local jurisdictions to construction codes.
The starting point for any project should be the installation location of the equipment you are building. Your client may reference ASME VIII-1 as the construction code but the local jurisdiction may have different requirements and will take precedence. This is outlined in ASME Section VIII Division 1 U-1(c)(1).
“The scope of this Division has been established to identify the components and parameters considered in formulating the rules given in this Division. Laws or regulations issued by municipality, state, provincial, federal, or other enforcement or regulatory bodies having jurisdiction at the location of an installation establish the mandatory applicability of the Code rules, in whole or in part, within their jurisdiction. Those laws or regulations may require the use of this Division of the Code for vessels or components not considered to be within its Scope. These laws or regulations should be reviewed to determine size or service limitations of the coverage which may be different or more restrictive than those given here.”
A great resource to provide an overview of the laws, and regulations related to pressure vessels, boilers and piping (related more to Canada) is the National Board NB-370. As a cautionary note, due to the scope of what is required to be maintained as current, I would use the link below as a starting point reference and refer back to the local jurisdiction for the actual requirements.
Overview of NB-370
http://www.nationalboard.org/ViewAllSynopses.aspx
Adopted edition year for ASME and NBIC (National Board Inspection Code)
http://www.nationalboard.org/SiteDocuments/Synopsis/2016_code_edition.pdf
All Local Jurisdictions with laws and regulations references, contact information and summary information:
http://www.nationalboard.org/PrintAllSynopsis.aspx?Jurisdiction=Select
So how do you put this into practise? As an example, a client plans to install a pressure vessel in the Buffalo, NY. They have specified in their datasheet that the construction code is ASME VIII-1 2015 edition and the vessel looks like it is only 4.5 cubic feet in size. First we look up Buffalo NY on the national board site. The website states the 2001, 2002 Addendum are the adopted edition years for the city and the local law states that pressure vessels with volumes under 5 cubic feet do not need ASME stamping. The contact information is present for the municipal department. If you are not familiar with the state law, you review their state law here:
or contact them directly to confirm the ASME adopted edition years, if newer edition years are accepted and whether an ASME stamp is required for vessels under 5 cubic feet. Once confirmed you may make your client aware of these permitted conditions or changes and provide them these cost savings.
Canada is a little different than the US since we have provincial requirements that modify the requirements of CSA B51 and CSA B51 makes reference to the ASME codes with slight modifications.