Testing and Purging Gas Pipework

Tightness Testing and Purging

Essex Heating Services are able to offer a Tightness Testing & Purging service, working to Industry Standards:

IGE/UP/1A – Industrial and Commercial gas pipe-work must comply with a volume of 1m³ or below

IGE/UP1 – Industrial and Commercial gas pipe-work must comply with a volume of 1m³ or above

A purge is required whenever gas pipe-work is repaired, extended, newly installed or if the pipe-work is to be decommissioned so that the system is safe

Procedure for Purging

After contacting us we will arrange for one of our engineers to come to site to carry out a full survey who will then generate a method statement and risk assessment taking into account Health and Safety standards and the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations. This will be discussed with your Facilities Manager or appointed person of contact. We will send you an estimate to carry out the works discussed. Once this is signed off we will contact you to arrange a convenient time for the works to be carried out.

Once the date has been set and your employees have all been notified we will turn up on site with a range of equipment to complete the task. Certain areas will be cordoned off for health and safety reasons. The equipment that we will bring to site will vary depending on the type of works involved but to give you an idea it will be some or all of the following: –

• Purge Stacks – Consisting of Gas Metres and Flame Arrestors
• Commercial Analysers – For sampling the gas within the pipe-work

As part of the process we will carefully calculate the volume of gas within the pipe-work which will enable us to know how long we need to purge the pipe-work for. The Gas will then be flared off.

A tightness test will be carried out before any purging and flaring takes place, to ensure that the pie-work is gas tight and a Strength pressure test (STP) will be applied to the pipe-work to locate any weaknesses. If any are found this will need to be rectified before we can continue.

Once the pipe-work has been purged and fully tested and passed all the regulations we will be able to issue a Certificate.

Your Responsibility

Although DSEAR (the Dangerous Systems and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations) was enacted in 2003 many designers, facilities and Plant Managers are unaware of it and their responsibility. It is a legal duty to make sure that site occupiers consider the risks and put in place measures to mitigate such risks. We would recommend as part of this process that an annual testing procedure is in place and adhered to. It is a simple process and not to costly for gas pressures below (100mbar) which covers most installations for a competent person to ensure compliance. Essex Heating Solutions can assist you with this.

Call us now on 01376 516513 to arrange an appointment for one of our highly skilled industrial and commercial engineers to carry out any of these scope of works in the Essex area.