[modeleng] US Codes is/was Boiler Certificates

At 05:48 AM 8/27/07 -0700, you wrote:
>> I am sure that some of the US members here will comment, but with no 
>> national code or rules, it is down to each club. - Alan Stepney

Alan, Bede, Al, et al,
        There very definitely is a boiler code in the USA but it is not a 
national
code in the usual sense and it does not apply to model boilers.
        The US Federal Gov't is not in the boiler business so there are no 
Federal
boiler laws or codes beyond what regulations the Gov't creates for itself
for use in its own service installations, military, etc, or consumer
proctection regulation which might set standards for design and testing of
things like domestic water boilers, air compressor reservoirs, etc.
        All US boiler codes are enacted and enforced by the individual states 
and
the majority of those state codes are based upon the ASME (American Society
of Mechanical Engineers) code for fired pressure vessels.  Some states
adopt the entire ASME code and some states adopt only parts of it or
paraphrase it and may include or exclude things as they see fit and for
this reason individual state codes can vary considerably.
        Other than for flues or heat exchanger tubes, the ASME code does not 
allow
copper as a building material in any boiler so a copper boiler cannot meet
the requirements of a state code which has the ASME code as its basis, but
then one must remember that the purpose of the ASME code is to provide a
code for full size working industrial and commercial power boilers, not to
cover hobbyists.
        Simply building a model boiler in steel rather than copper does not 
assure
code compliance.  There is no middle ground, a boiler is either "compliant"
or "Non-compliant", and many model boilers cannot comply because size
limitations prevent them meeting every single ASME code requirement.
Although the ASME code has a section entitled "Miniature Boilers" that name
does NOT mean "model" or hobby boilers; it refers to small commercial
boilers such as might be used by manufacturers or laundries and such.
        As a result of work by live steamers and other steam hobbyists, many
states have enacted "exclusions" in their boiler laws which specfically
exclude hobby boilers of certain size, typically by grate area, age,
operating pressure, or capacity in volumn, or a combination of these.  Some
states have no exclusions at all and enforce their boiler law vigourously
while others have an almost no-see/no-tell approach.
        What the US does not have, and in all probability will never have, is a
comprehensive MODEL code which is created, applied, and enforced by
hobbyists.   The reasons historically are that there are too many experts
and many builders aren't going to allow someone else tell them what to do
(this being a "free" country and all . . . )
        Currently in the US there is a positive direction.  Although I'm not 
sure
how much longer this trend will continue, for some time now US live
steamers have been building bigger.  Due to costs of materials and loss of
the art of copper bashing (well except for one or two of us) copper boiler
building in large scales is decreasing and steel is increasingly the
material of choice.  In that shift there is also an increased awareness and
desire by most builders to have a boiler that is "code", at least to the
extent possible.  Whether this comes from increased individual awareness of
the need for safety, or whether builders are feeling the cold breath of
state inspectors on their necks, the result is the same.

Regards,
Harry

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