Does My Piping System Need a CRN?

Introduction:

Under the Canadian B51 standard "Boilers, Pressure Vessels, and Pressure Piping" the need to register Vessels, piping systems and fittings is introduced. Of the three, piping is by far the hardest to register.

The first problem is that the Canadian B51 standard provides the need to register piping systems, but does not define what a piping system is and when it needs registration. In absence of clarity in the covering standard, each province has provided their own interpretation of what should be covered or not covered. This is the subject of this article - determining the need for registration province by province.

The second problem is that registered piping systems need CRN registered components. The search for these parts is a more difficult topic not covered here.

Common definitions:

Expansible fluid: expansible fluid means any vapour or gaseous substance, or any liquid under a pressure and at a temperature that is such that the liquid will change to a gas or vapour when the pressure is reduced to atmospheric pressure. http://www.gnb.ca/0062/regs/84-174.htm

Or: expansible fluid which may be any vapour, gas, or may be a liquid that will change to a vapour or gas at atmospheric conditions(14.7 psig and 70° F)

		BC Safety Authority

15 psi exemption: many provinces do not specifically state that piping must be over 15 psi to require registration. This is taken from The B51 standard which only covers items over 15psi. Some provinces require steam piping at any pressure to be registered.

From Coast to Coast:

British Columbia

This flowchart is an approximate combination of information collected from the following source:

"Pressure Piping Registration"

Alberta

This flowchart is an approximate combination of information collected from the following sources:

Safety Codes Act Flow Chartfrom ABSA's website

ALBERTA REGULATION 49/2006 / Safety Codes Act / PRESSURE EQUIPMENT SAFETY REGULATION

Saskatchewan

This flowchart is an approximate combination of information collected from the following source:

"Registration Requirements for Pressure Piping Systems"

Manitoba

This flowchart is an approximate combination of information collected from the following source:

"Steam and Pressure Plant Programs"

Ontario

This flowchart is an approximate combination of information collected from the following sources:

"GUIDELINE FOR REGISTRATION OF MEDICAL GAS PIPING SYSTEMS"

"SAFETY INFORMATION BULLETIN: SB00-7 Rev. 4" - very useful piping flow charts

Quebec:

[Piping registration requirements for Quebec ONLY] Registration of piping is done at the time the installer submits to the "Regie du batiment du Quebec" a declaration of installation of the piping. If the declaration of installation is accepted by the "Regie du batiment du Quebec", a number is given to the installer and that number shall be used by the manufacturer of the piping as the provincial piping design registration number.

Fittings used in piping systems shall be registered by the fitting manufacturer [fittings need a CRN].

This flowchart is an approximate combination of information collected from the following source:

www.rbq.gouv.qc.ca

New Brunswick:

The New Brunswick pressure vessel code does not specifically mention the need to register piping systems.

We are currently attempting to find out from New Brunswick if piping needs to be registered there, and if so, what piping systems need to be registered.

Nova Scotia:

High pressure piping needs to be registered in Nova Scotia. We are currently in contact with Nova Scotia to determine if a definition of high pressure piping in the province of Nova Scotia exists. New regulations are expected fall of this year (2009).

Prince Edward Island:

This flowchart is an approximate combination of information collected from the following source:

http://www.gov.pe.ca

Newfoundland and Labrador:

This flowchart is an approximate combination of information collected from the following source:

http://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/regulations/rc969119.htm

Yukon:

This flowchart is an approximate combination of information collected from the following source:

http://www.canlii.org/yk/laws/regu/1980r.303/20060728/whole.html

North West Territories:

"Pressure piping" means a pipe or tubing used for transmitting fluid to or from a pressure vessel; (conduite sous pression).

Nunavut:

Use the Ontario chart:

http://cgs.gov.nu.ca/en/protection-services/safety-services/boiler

Authors Comments:

Canada does not have a Canadian Registration System. We have a collection of provincial systems. How is it possible that each province carefully studied what is required to keep the piping systems in their provinces safe and all came up with vastly different requirements? Alexis de Tocqueville (1805 to 1859) might have been thinking about piping registration:

After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power [of democracy] then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicate rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent and guided... men are seldom forced to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting... Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervate, extinguishes, and stupefies a people...

Thus the spirit is gradually broken.... gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and acting for themselves. [People then console themselves at the loss of their liberties] by reflection that they have chosen their own guardians.

The Canadian B51 standard has been around for 70 years. The piping registration is really only started to happen now. It is mainly applied to new installations when an Authorized Inspector is expected to find it. Existing piping systems are seldom registered and usually ignored. We are only now, 70 years in, determining if this system is even possible. The tools to make it practical like searchable databases for registered parts, and rules to determine if systems are piping and if they need to be registered are still being developed.

Laurence Brundrett
President, Pressure Vessel Engineering

Pressure Vessel Engineering Limited
120 Randall Drive, Suite B
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
N2V 1C6

Phone - (519) 880-9808
Fax - (519) 880-9810

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