Field Measurements
5:26
CP 1 – Cathodic Protection Tester Course Manual
©
NACE International, 2000
02/01/05
alert for these attachments and other short circuits. If you find a
structure that is not up to its protection criterion, a short circuit may be
the cause. Watch for such shorts as you go about your daily routine.
•
Casings. Casings need to be electrically isolated from carrier piping so
as not to shield the carrier pipe from cathodic protection. A properly
isolated casing is shown in Chapter 9. You may be called upon to assist
in the installation of a casing. It is important that you help ensure proper
isolation.
•
Grounds: Additional problems may be associated with equipment
grounds and safety bonding. Here again, it is essential to ensure that
such grounds and bonds do not short-circuit any dielectric isolation.
Methods for testing an isolation fitting include:
•
Measure the pipe-to-soil potential on each side of the isolation fitting
with the reference electrode in a stationary position. If the difference in
potential is approximately 100mV or greater, the isolation fitting is
effective. If less than 100mV, further testing may be necessary.
•
If the cathodic protection current can be interrupted “on” and “off” pipe-
to-soil potentials can be recorded on each side of the isolation fitting
with the reference cell in the same location. Similar “on” and “off”
potentials on opposite sides of the fitting indicate a short. If the “on”
potential was depressed on the side of the isolation away from the
current drain, the fitting is effective.
•
If there is no cathodic protection current to interrupt or if it is difficult to
do so, a temporary current drain could be established and “on” and “off”
readings recorded as described above.
Testing Resistance Between a Pipe and Casing
The procedure is the same as used to test the resistance across an isolating
fitting. The test current is set up between the pipe wires and those on the
casing. If the casing has only one wire, the vent is used as the other one.
Measuring Structure Continuity
There are several ways to measure structure continuity. We will discuss
only the fixed cell, moving ground method. In this test, one reference
Summary of Contents for CP 1
Page 1: ...CP 1 Cathodic Protection Tester Course Manual February 2005 NACE International 2000 ...
Page 265: ......
Page 266: ......
Page 267: ......
Page 268: ......
Page 301: ...RP0169 2002 32 NACE International ISBN 1 57590 035 1 ...
Page 535: ...TM0101 2001 24 NACE International ISBN 1 57590 137 4 ...