The pipe’s been laid, the joints welded, the flanges flogged. The pipe lengths were all ‘pre-tested’ at the manufacturer, and NDT crews have bombed the welds. It’s all looking good for commissioning, getting the product moving and the bills paid.

And then, enter the hydro tester. Before finalising reinstatement and popping the champagne corks, the pipeline needs that last check. Can it cope under applied pressure, or would that first flow of product have ended in a blow-out?

It’s the unenviable job of the hydro tester to essentially halt proceedings and report on final worthiness. Over the course of a hydro tester’s career, they will certify many pipelines, spools and vessels as being fit for service. So time spent holding up completion for testing can easily be seen by the client as an irritant, like having to sit through an in-flight safety demonstration for the hundredth time.

Over the course of a hydro tester’s career, they will also find many failures. They become the bearer of bad news. What a job, to be either the annoying safety announcement, or the harbinger of doom!

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It’s an essential service, but it is hard to see where the satisfaction lies.

Is it the pointy-headed glow that comes from making the assessment of a myriad of variables and figures look like black magic?

Is it the super hero glow that comes from detecting and locating a weakness that could have ended in catastrophe?

Or is it the altruistic glow that comes from doing what’s right for the project, without fear or favour?

So, who would be a hydro tester?

You’ll have to ask Jim Richardson, Testing Manager for Attested Pressure Services, a wholly-owned and newly established subsidiary of Robinsons Welding. Attested Pressure Services are NATA-accredited, equipped to pressure test in the field or in the workshop and ready to provide consulting advice, testing and certification to your project.