Api 653: Aboveground Storage Tank Inspector Exam Prep
Published 7/2026
MP4 |
Video: h264, 1920x1080 |
Audio: AAC, 44.1 KHz, 2 Ch
Language: English |
Duration: 3h 41m |
Size: 3.56 GB
Pass the API 653 exam - shell & bottom evaluation, Annex B settlement, repairs, worked calculations & mock exam
What you'll learn
Calculate shell minimum thickness and maximum allowable liquid height by the one-foot method
Determine bottom minimum remaining thickness and set the internal inspection interval
Work exam-style tank calculations and navigate the code under time pressure, with a structured study plan
Navigate API 653 - scope, its link to API 650, the inspector and owner-user roles, and inspection intervals
Understand tank anatomy - bottom and annular plates, shell courses, fixed and floating roofs, and wind girders
Identify tank damage mechanisms - soil-side and product-side bottom corrosion, shell and roof corrosion, settlement and cracking
Apply inspection and NDE - shell thickness, magnetic-flux-leakage floor scanning, vacuum-box testing and cathodic-protection survey
Evaluate settlement using the Annex B procedures - planar tilt, edge and out-of-plane (cosine-curve) settlement
Apply the repair, alteration and reconstruction rules - patch plates, annular ring and hydrotest requirements
Assess change of service and brittle fracture using the API 653 exemption curve
Requirements
No prior tank inspection experience is required - the code context is built from the ground up
Any engineering or technical background is enough to follow the course
Access to API 653 and API 650 is recommended for exam preparation, though every principle is explained independently
No software or purchases needed - bring a calculator and a willingness to work the numbers
Description
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The API 653 exam does not really test what you know about tanks. It tests whether you can find it in the code and calculate it correctly, under time pressure.
That is a different skill, and it is the skill this course trains.
API 653 is the third pillar of the inspector certification trilogy. Most professionals holding API 510 and 570 go on to take it, because aboveground storage tanks are everywhere and certified tank inspectors stay in demand. The exam spans API 653 and its reference set - API 650, 651, 652 and 575 - and rewards fast navigation and clean arithmetic over memorisation.
Tanks also have their own engineering, and it is not vessel engineering scaled up. Soil-side bottom corrosion, magnetic-flux-leakage floor scanning, the one-foot method for shell thickness, and the Annex B settlement evaluation with its cosine-curve analysis exist nowhere else in the inspector syllabus. This course teaches each of them properly, then works them as exam questions.
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This course is deliberately efficient
No code read aloud, no padding. Six tight sections and a dedicated exam-preparation block, built so you can work through it in a week of evenings and then drill. If you want twenty hours of narration, there are other courses. If you want the material that is actually examined, worked the way it is actually asked, you are in the right place.
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What you will master
- Calculate shell minimum thickness and maximum allowable liquid height by the one-foot method - the calculation most likely to appear on your paper
- Determine bottom minimum remaining thickness (MRT) and set a defensible internal inspection interval
- Evaluate settlement with the Annex B procedures - planar tilt, edge settlement and out-of-plane cosine-curve analysis
- Apply the repair, alteration and reconstruction rules - patch plates, annular ring requirements and when a hydrotest is mandatory
- Assess change of service and brittle fracture using the API 653 exemption curve
- Navigate API 653 and its references - API 650, 651, 652 and 575 - quickly enough to finish the open-book section
- Identify tank damage mechanisms - soil-side and product-side bottom corrosion, shell and roof corrosion, settlement and cracking
- Apply inspection and NDE correctly - shell thickness surveys, MFL floor scanning, vacuum-box testing and cathodic-protection survey
- Know tank anatomy cold - bottom and annular plates, shell courses, fixed and floating roofs, wind girders
- Sit the exam with a structured study plan and a worked calculation method you have already rehearsed
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Who this course is for
Engineers and technicians preparing to sit the API 653 Aboveground Storage Tank Inspector examination
Working tank inspectors who want their applied API 653 knowledge and calculations sharpened
Inspectors holding API 510 and/or 570 who are completing the inspector certification trilogy
Mechanical and integrity engineers responsible for storage-tank inspection programmes and fitness for service
Reliability and terminal engineers managing tank-farm integrity and release prevention
Anyone who needs to understand storage-tank integrity - terminal operators, HSE and asset-integrity staff working around API 653 inspections
Api 653 Aboveground Storage Tank Inspector Exam Prep
