Questions about the hydrostatic testing class

It is in-person instruction in hydrostatic and nitrogen pressure testing of pipelines, taught by the HydroTech field crews who plan and execute the work, using the 172-page field book Proper Pigging as the text.

It is built for pipeline and integrity engineers, inspectors, testing technicians, project managers and owner’s representatives — at operators, engineering firms and construction contractors across the natural gas and hazardous liquids industry.

Three formats:

• HT I — Executive and Project Briefing. 4 contact hours.
• HT II — Engineering Workshop. 8 contact hours.
• HT III — Field Certification. Two days, 10 contact hours.

Many operators run the briefing for managers and the workshop for engineers across the same visit.

HT I is for the people who buy, schedule and accept pressure tests. No calculation is required of participants; the objective is fluency — reading a pressure ladder, interpreting a test window, recognising a defensible acceptance argument.

HT II adds calculation practice for engineers and inspectors: Barlow’s formula, allowable elevation windows, system compliance, pressure-temperature response and gas-law nitrogen inventory. A 16-inch crude oil pipeline is engineered end to end over the day.

HT III is the complete programme and the standard HydroTech’s own crews are trained against, taught with equipment displays and field-reality sessions, with checklists run as live exercises and a written assessment.

No. HT I is specifically designed for non-calculating participants — managers, project engineers and owner’s representatives who need to understand and accept a test rather than design one.

HT II and HT III involve calculation and suit engineers, inspectors and technicians.

Yes on HT II and HT III. The asterisked problems of Appendix E serve as the assessment set on the engineering workshop, and HT III includes a written assessment drawn from the same appendix, alongside live checklist exercises.

HT I is a briefing and is not assessed.

Yes. Every attendee keeps a copy of the 172-page field book, which is the course text. It is the part of the training that goes back to the desk and is still there at two in the morning on a jobsite, which is when it is actually needed.

A certificate of completion issued by HydroTech Testing Services, naming the attendee, the subject, the date of class and the hours completed, signed by the instructor. We can also supply an attendance roster for your training file.

The two-day class is 10 contact hours, and one contact hour of qualifying instruction is generally counted as one professional development hour.

Most state engineering boards do not require a provider to be board-approved or accredited for a technical course to count. They set criteria instead — typically that the activity has clear purpose and objectives and that its content maintains, improves or expands the skills and knowledge of the licensee’s field of practice. A course in hydrostatic and nitrogen pressure testing, taken by a pipeline engineer, is squarely within that description.

A continuing education unit is a standardised measure: one CEU represents ten contact hours of instruction. Our two-day class is 10 contact hours, which corresponds to 1 CEU by that standard conversion, or 10 PDH.

The distinction worth knowing: PDH generally does not require the provider to hold accreditation, whereas a formal CEU issued as an accredited unit normally implies an accrediting body such as IACET standing behind the sponsor. Our certificate states hours and subject, and shows the standard conversion, so your training department or board can apply whichever unit it works in.

Usually, but that is your training department’s determination. Most annual obligations are satisfied by documented instructor-led training with a defined syllabus, a stated duration and a record naming the course, date, hours and provider — all of which the certificate carries.

Our published syllabus can be mapped against your competency framework. Ask and we will do that mapping for you rather than leaving it to you to reverse-engineer.

No, and any provider telling you otherwise is overstating what they can give you.

Operator qualification under 49 CFR Part 192 Subpart N and Part 195 Subpart G is a determination the operator makes, under its own written plan, evaluating an individual against specific covered tasks. A training provider cannot make that determination on the operator’s behalf.

This training supports your OQ program by teaching the engineering and field judgement behind the covered tasks. Qualification remains yours to award.

Operator qualification demonstrates that a person is qualified to perform a covered task. It does not demonstrate that the person understands why the pressure moved six psi at two in the morning.

Qualification and competence are different things, and the distance between them is where tests get argued about instead of accepted. These courses exist to close that distance.

The longer answer →

There is no single federal interval. PHMSA’s position is that operator qualification is not a one-time event but a process continuing through an individual’s working life, and that the operator must designate an appropriate requalification interval for each covered task in its own program.

In practice that means the answer is in your operator’s OQ plan and covered task list. Contractors should request a copy from the operator they are working for.

Yes. Courses run at the HydroTech facility or at yours.

On-site delivery is usually the better option above a handful of attendees, and not only on travel cost: a class at your facility can work your procedures, your equipment, your acceptance criteria and your line profiles, so the group works the segment they will actually test next quarter rather than a generic example.

That depends on the format and whether it is on site or at our facility. Tell us the headcount and the rough timeframe and we will scope it, including which formats suit which parts of your group.

Course pricing is quoted per group, because it depends on the format, the headcount and whether the class runs at your facility or ours.

The field book is $89 plus shipping if you want to read it before committing to a class. Every class attendee receives a copy as part of the course.

Use the enquiry form and tell us the headcount and rough timing, or call the office on 724 809 3385. We answer order and class enquiries within one working day.

The same form orders the field book if you would rather read it first.

The regulatory framework and the two distinct jobs of a pressure test; pressure ladders, test windows and the pressure-temperature justification; water, stabilisation and drying as the true schedule drivers; instrumentation, the pressure-volume plot and the balance statement; and the life-of-line record requirements under 49 CFR 192.517 and 195.310.

HT III adds pigging, launcher and receiver setup, dewatering and drying worked with hardware in the room.

Both. The material covers gas transmission under 49 CFR Part 192 and hazardous liquids under Part 195, and it is deliberate about where the two diverge — the four-plus-four liquid test under 195.304 against the eight-hour gas strength test under 192.505, and the class-location stress caps under 192.503 that apply to gas-medium testing.

Crews who move between the two are the ones most likely to carry a habit across, which is exactly what the course is trying to prevent.

Yes. Forty short papers on pressure testing practice are published free at Field Notes, and the formulas, constants and regulatory anchors from Appendices B and D are published openly in the reference section.

If you want the whole thing, the field book is $89 plus shipping.