16mm NGM mandatory boiler testing

[JMORG]

Hi all,
My father is an official 16mm boiler tester. He's received the new association testing kit for use with testing, it's quite large and over engineered so prepare yourself for the future.
However, some of the Gloucestershire group members have heard that annual boiler testing is no longer mandatory in the association? Would anyone be able to confirm this please?
Cheers!

[TonyW]

My father is an official 16mm boiler tester. He's received the new association testing kit for use with testing, it's quite large and over engineered so prepare yourself for the future.

Ahhh... I live in North Wales and your father is my nearest Association boiler tester ... 150 miles away!

However, some of the Gloucestershire group members have heard that annual boiler testing is no longer mandatory in the association? Would anyone be able to confirm this please?

Tag is the man to answer this definitively, but I am not aware that boiler testing by an Association tester in our scale has ever been mandatory. Sure, there are circumstances (exhibitions, running in public, over 3 bar/litre, etc.) where a certificate is desirable or required but for general "back garden" operation my understanding is that no test certificate is needed.

[Tag Gorton]

More worries about something that isn't happening. Briefly, if you buy a commercial locomotive with pressure vessels below 3 bar litre (practically everything in our scale) you will not need to undertake either a twice working pressure with fittings off or a 1.5 working pressure with fittings on. Commercial locomotives come with a certificate of compliance with EEC Pressure Vessel Regulations which include hydraulic test. Have a look at the instruction manual for your Lady Anne - it is in there! If you are one of the overwhelming majority that source their motive power in this way, then there is absolutely nothing to worry about. User driven 'steam tests' (NOT hydraulic) as per the info on our current website is all that is required – and even that is not mandatory. Some venues however will require a steam test. The Model Engineering Clubs are changing as well and most will require an observed steam test to ensure of course that the loco blows off at the right pressure and fittings are not damaged. If. on the other hand, you make your own pressure vessels then full hydraulic tests are required of both boiler and gas tank (2WP with fittings off and 1.5WP with fittings on. The Assocs test kits have merely been upgraded to undertake hydraulic tests for any pressure vessel. All the above makes little difference to the run of the mill member and indeed most of those who manufacture pressure vessels to build their own locos are generally members of a local engineering club as well as the 16mm Association. So no problem and indeed the new MEC guidelines (or club rules) are likely to make it easier to join one's local MEC. Thos of us who use commercial certificated pressure vessels (to be clear - all UK manufacturers (including the original Mamod Co do this have nothing to worry about at all. I would however suggest reading the Associations website regarding steam tests and undertaking same regularly. You may do them yourselves and indeed most do it anyway informally - but just don't bother to write it down.... It is all about learning to take care of ones little dragon - so 'Don't panic Mr Manwaring...' To answer the second point, 'boiler testing' in terms of a hydraulic test is not mandatory and was only thus for a brief period and then only if running at an association sponsored show - it has not been a requirement for years and, in any case there were no facilities for testing gas tanks which of course don't hold water at 40/50psi, but a volatile liquid at psi figures in the hundreds

[JMORG]

Cheers guys,
The group members were told by different sources that certificates were required annually for boilers.
Glad to know the actually truth!