RE: Re: ASME (or other) Piping Codes and Standards

From: <Michael>
Date: Tue Jul 31 2007 - 11:45:00 EDT

I'm not sure this is all about what they can and can't afford, I don't think that's really the issue. This is mostly just me, going on my own and trying to dig up stuff to present to the boss. This was something brought up to the group as a whole, and my boss didn't really expect anything from me, seeing as I'm by FAR the least experienced in our group. So I did a Google search, and I came up with minimal results, so I figured I'd check in here.

Thanks for all your input though Chris, it's greatly appreciated.

Today I dug through old jobs I did and turned in a couple client-specific piping standards we've used in the past, plus I had given him a copy of B31.3 several months back, hopefully that'll do.

Chris, is there an "official" location to purchase these specs from? In my search, there was MANY sites that offered specs, and if I (or the company) ever plan on buying them, I'd like to make sure they are the "Holy Grail" of specs. I'm assuming (I'll check at lunch today) that ASME has their own site?

From: PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com [mailto:PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Christopher Wright
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 11:28 AM
To: PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [PipingDesign] Re: ASME (or other) Piping Codes and Standards

On Jul 31, 2007, at 4:21 AM, Michael Roble wrote:

> I figured I might still be able to find maybe an outdated one for free
> or something, like from maybe 2-3-4 years ago or something.
Do yourself a big favor and don't try to save money this way--you're stepping over dollars to pick up pennies. Proper standards are the lifeblood of your business. Clients need to know that you're not trying to cut corners and that you're up to speed on design requirements. There are plenty of second rate hackers around who can cobble up something and retreat into the shadows, but you don't need the kind of clients they appeal to. The only thing that'll keep clients coming back is trust--too many people are getting burned when they find the lowest bidder is simply not competent.

Think about it for a minute. B31.1 downloaded from the ASME site will cost you $270. That's something like --about half a billable day. If your practice can't afford that you need to start looking for work that'll pay your bills.

> For some reason, our company doesn't have a "set in stone" company
> piping standard, and our boss (as well as I) can't seem to understand
> why there isn't one.

The ASME piping standards are a worldwide standard of care for piping systems and have been for 75 years or more. They don't contain everything, such as process engineering or fluid flow requirements and certain site requirements for piping systems but they're the heart of what's needed for overall system design. Look in your customer specs and you'll find the ASME Codes or other equivalent engineering standards incorporated by reference. Much of the rest will have to do with company preferences or the specifics of design for a particular product. This would cover material requirements, valve types, site requirements and suppliers and other things that the particular firm is comfortable with.

Go back over the work you've done in the last few years and see what standards you've needed. Maybe make yourself a little listing of the time you've had to spend because you didn't have a set of standards at hand. Then make yourself a budget for stuff you should have right away, and another long term wish list for stuff you may need on down the line. Then bite the bullet and get the stuff you need for a successful businesslike engineering practice.

Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at chrisw@skypoint.com <mailto:chrisw%40skypoint.com> | this distance" (last words of Gen.

.......................................| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania

1864)
http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Received on Tue Jul 31 11:45:00 2007