🔩 Pipefitting · UA Local
Pipefitting Code Practice for Apprentices
Practice pipefitting math and code — pipe sizing, rolling offsets, thermal expansion, and ASME B31.9 — in real mechanical-room puzzles. Free for UA apprentices.
What you'll practice
- ✓Pipe sizing and flow (Hazen–Williams)
- ✓Rolling offsets and fitting-angle trig
- ✓Thermal expansion (steel, copper, PVC)
- ✓Hangers, supports, and expansion loops
Code standards covered
Fitter math that shows up on real spools
A fitter who can't run the math waits on someone who can. CraftIQ drills the calculations that come up on real fabrication and installation work: rolling offsets and the fitting-angle trig behind them, pipe sizing from flow using the same Hazen–Williams reasoning engineers use, and thermal expansion across steel, copper, and PVC — because a hot line that was fit cold moves, and the fitter who forgot that finds out loudly. These are not textbook abstractions; they are the difference between a spool that fits and a trip back to the shop. Each puzzle makes you commit to a number before revealing the worked answer, so you build the habit of trusting your own math. Difficulty scales from first-year fundamentals to journeyman-level problems, which keeps the puzzles useful well past the first month.
The piping codes behind the weld
Building-services piping runs under ASME B31.9, materials carry ASTM designations that matter the moment someone proposes a substitution, and flanges and fittings follow ASME B16 standards that decide whether bolt holes line up. CraftIQ's code-check and spot-the-violation puzzles put those standards in working context: is this hanger arrangement defensible, does this expansion loop belong here, will that support hold when the line heats up and grows? Sequence puzzles walk installation order — the discipline that keeps a mechanical room from becoming a rework list. Every answer cites the governing standard, and the code library explains what each cited section actually requires, in the language fitters use rather than the language committees write. Joining methods appear where the scenario genuinely calls for them — threaded, grooved, welded, flanged — instead of being quizzed in the abstract.
From apprentice math to journeyman judgment
CraftIQ is free for individual UA apprentices and plays in English or Spanish, with the technical vocabulary kept in English because that is what the shop and the test use. Every pipefitting puzzle has been code-audited against the standard it cites. Training centers can license CraftIQ for a whole class and watch where apprentices actually struggle — if half the second-years are missing thermal-expansion questions, the instructor knows before the fit-up does. Practice happens on your phone, five minutes at a time, which beats intending to study a code book that stays in the truck.
Start practicing freeCodes & standards for this trade
- ASME Codes & StandardsEvery section CraftIQ tests, explained in plain language →
- MSS Standard PracticesEvery section CraftIQ tests, explained in plain language →
- Other Standards & ReferencesEvery section CraftIQ tests, explained in plain language →
Prepping for a license? Try the timed exam-prep mode.
Frequently asked questions
Does CraftIQ teach rolling offsets?
Yes — rolling offsets and the fitting-angle trig behind them are a core pipefitting topic, drilled as sizing puzzles where you commit to a travel length before seeing the worked answer. The goal is a fitter who can run the numbers at the bench without waiting on someone else.
What piping codes does CraftIQ cover for fitters?
Primarily ASME B31.9 for building-services piping, with ASTM material designations and ASME B16 fitting standards where they bear on the work. Hanger, support, and expansion questions cite the governing standard on every answer, and the code library explains each cited section in plain language.
Does CraftIQ cover thermal expansion?
Yes, across steel, copper, and PVC — how much a run grows when it heats up, why expansion loops and offsets exist, and where anchors and guides belong conceptually. Puzzles make the consequences concrete: a line fit cold with nowhere to move is a failure you can predict.
Is CraftIQ useful for UA apprentices prepping for a fitter exam?
That is who it is built for. The math puzzles mirror the calculation style of UA aptitude and journeyman testing, the code questions build the section-citing habit, and timed exam mode adds pacing pressure. It complements shop hours and classroom instruction — nothing replaces hood time.