A test instrument that applies voltage between the coating surface and the substrate and alarms when it finds a path through the film. Low-voltage wet sponge units, typically 67.5 or 90 V, suit thin films up to about 20 mils (500 microns). High-voltage spark testers, set from about 1 kV to well over 10 kV to suit coating thickness, use brushes, springs or rolling electrodes on thick pipeline coatings and tank linings. Too much voltage can punch through sound coating.
Set the holiday detector to the FBE spec voltage and check it with the jeep meter before every shift.
Also heard as
- spark tester
- wet sponge tester
- holiday tester
Related terms
Jeep
Pipeline slang for the high-voltage holiday detector, and also for the coating flaws it finds.
Holiday
Pinhole, void or bare spot in a coating that leaves the metal underneath exposed.
FBE
Fusion-bonded epoxy: a powder coating fused onto heated pipe, the standard external line pipe coating.
Field joint coating
Coating applied on site over the bare girth weld zone left between factory-coated pipe joints.