Cathodic Protection Testing

August 3, 2016

Code Requirements

The following code requirement can be found within NFPA’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code document:

NFPA 58 6.6.6.1 (K) Sacrificial anodes installed in accordance with (I) above shall be tested in accordance with the following schedule:

Upon installation of the cathodic protection system, unless prohibited by climactic conditions, in which case testing shall be done within 180 days after the installation of the system.
For continued verification of the effectiveness of the system, 12 to 18 months after the initial test.
Upon successful verification testing and in consideration of previous test results, periodic follow-up testing shall be performed at intervals not to exceed 36 months.
Systems failing a test shall be repaired as soon as practical unless climactic conditions prohibit this action, in which case the repair shall be made not more than 180 days thereafter. The testing schedule shall be restarted as required in (1) and (2) above and the results shall comply with 6.6.6.1(J).
Documentation of the results of the two most recent tests shall be retained.

As of January 1, 2011

HOW P3 CAN HELP

P3 provides you with proper documents, guidance documentation and reporting to ensure you are meeting all of your cathodic protection testing requirements.

P3 Process

To view the status of your underground storage tanks in P3, all you need to do is go to the Reports menu and select the Cathodic Protection Flash Report.

The Cathodic Protection Flash Report will tell you how many underground containers you have that have not been inspected, how many have been tested at least once but fall outside of the requirements, how many containers are current, any tanks that might require servic (such as an anode retrofit, dielectric union or a tank replacement), and finally any containers that were left unspecified during data entry (so that you can further research and decide if cathodic testing is required).

A full list of affected customers and containers is available when you click on any of the numbers in the report.

Documents to help you become compliant can be found under the P3 menu. The proper form is available under Forms and Documentation, and guidance documentation offering step-by-step instruction and troubleshooting tips can be found under Guidance Documentation.