No. If nothing you store, produce or process can burn or can catch fire you don’t need to worry about area classification. A rock quarry, rock crusher, or ice cube making plant will not require an area classification drawing or report.
But beware; if your ice cube plant uses propane or ammonia for a refrigerant you do need an area classification! Or if you rock crusher uses a diesel generator, the diesel storage needs to be considered.
Other things that need Area Classification include:
- Hydrocarbons – methane, propane, butane, gasoline, diesel, varsol, alcohol,
- Combustible gasses – carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen
- Dusts – coal, grain, sugar, corn starch
- Ignitable filings, sawdust, magnesium,
No. But the probability that it will is greatly reduced. Area Classification is a statistical risk evaluation tool. The purpose of Area Classification is to specify the quality and type of permitted electrical materials and installation methods in a particular area of interest that balances the added cost of “classified” equipment and installation methods to decreased the likelihood that the installed equipment can cause an ignition incident when exposed to flammable or explosive conditions.
To eliminate every possibility of electrical equipment igniting a hazardous mixture of fuel and oxygen could only be accomplished by totally eliminating the use of electricity in the area to be protected. Therefore, Area Classification is an evaluation of the likelihood of an explosive atmosphere existing and the probability of the specified types of electrical equipment that can be installed in those designated areas causing an ignition event.
Area classification is specifically aimed at the selection of electrical equipment. It only applied to the installation of electrical equipment in the assessed areas and does not govern or attempt to control other sources of ignition such as mechanical failures, surface temperatures of equipment that is not electrical related, static electricity, lighting, vandalism, vehicles, smoking or other non-electrical sources of ignition.
However, it is advised that an Owner who is now armed with the knowledge that was obtained in an Area Classification Report and Drawing package, institutes other safeguards for the identified areas that need
additional safeguards put in place. For example, no vehicles allowed, no smoking, control of surface temperatures of mechanical equipment and piping, implementing a hot permit system for work in the area, etc.
I like to consider our work as “High Value”. Compared to a good lawyer we are inexpensive. Compared to your gardener, expensive. Compared to what you could overspend installing equipment in an overclassified installation, or what you could lose in the aftermath of a fire or explosion in an under classified situation: a bargain.
Absolutely, in more ways that you think. Not having an Area Classification Drawing can stop you construction dead in its tracks. Not to mention it has to be done by an Engineer with credentials in your geographical area! An electrical inspector (the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ)) may stop your project on the spot if you don’t have an Area Classification for an area that he/she thinks you should. This can cause huge construction delay costs.
An incorrectly done Area Classification may leave you installation subject to fire or explosion. Not identifying hazardous situations can result in installing under rated equipment that may cause a fire or explosion or loss of life, or have to be upgraded if the electrical inspector is unconvinced about it’s suitability. Removing equipment and installing better equipment the second time is expensive!
An overcautiously prepared Area Classification can waste a lot of your capital! Classifying everything in sight, or classifying it too vigorously can cost you multiples of extra cost. Buying Zone 1 equipment where Zone 2 could have been used will burn through your capital mighty fast.
If your plant / installation / process is going to use electricity, the Canadian Electrical Code says so in Section 18.
No! In fact the CEC has minimal rules for the determination of area classification and urges the end user to seek a qualified professional to assess and determine a suitable area classification using resources from NFPA, API, and other industry specific sources.
The CEC has many specific rules governing the installation of electrical equipment to make it compliant (and safe) for each of the levels of Area Classification that is specified in the Area Classification after it has been prepared by a qualified professional engineer.
Typically an Electrical Engineer is the one who will prepare an Area Classification report and drawing(s) along with a drafter. The engineer needs to have a valid Professional Engineering Registration in the jurisdiction where the facility, process, installation will ultimately reside. A process engineer may need to be involved if there is complicated chemical processes involved or the owner of the process / installation / plant cannot adequately tell the Electrical Engineer what pressures, temperatures, material compositions are happening in the process.
No, not if it’s in Canada anyway, the Canadian Electrical Code specifies that new installations are to be done using the Class and Zone system of Area Classification.
Yes, it is acceptable to continue to use the Class and Division system on an existing facility / installation / process.
It depends. Class 1 Zone 2 Engineering Inc. is full capable of reassessing an existing Class and Division facility / installation / process and updating it to Class and Zone ratings, but it might not be a cost effective or desirable thing.
There are more levels of Zone requirement to choose from compared to the Division system. Often, after revising an installation to the Zone system less expensive equipment can be selected that what was typically used in the Division system. Therefore if major renovations are planned for a plant, it can be cost advantageous to change the entire plant Area Classification to Zone where the savings in equipment cost and installation will outweigh the Engineering costs to reassess the plant Area Classification.
There are certain cases though, where Class 1 Division 1 equipment has been used in an existing installation where conversion to the Zone system of classification will disallow the use of equipment that was previously allowed. Although this is rare, Class 1 Zone 2 Engineering Inc. can help make that determination.
No. Area Classifications do not expire. However, they are very vulnerable to “Management of Change”. Changing products, changing pressures, temperatures, changing equipment, changing flow rates, changing wind patterns from things as innocent as adding an adjacent building, changing ventilation programming, can all affect and invalidate a perfectly fine Area Classification report and/or drawing that was done previously.
It could be. Depends what is on the drawings that you have. A good Area Classification will identify the products being used, the pressures, the temperatures, the volumes, and provide the rationale of the selected areas which are classified. If the drawings have all this, then it is clearly adequate.
Often, Area Classification has been done in the past using cookie cutter methods by copying figures from various publications by parties who were not well versed in the preparation of an Area Classification Drawing. Often you get what you pay for, a shortcut job for a shortcut price.
If your Area Classification Drawings don’t have all this information, they may not be adequate. Let us evaluate them for you. We will have a look at them and give you a no obligation opinion for free.
No, locations that are hazardous do to the presence of pyrophoric materials are not suitable to be covered by a classified areas study or drawing as defined in the Electrical Code. Those materials are subject to NFPA standards 45 and 55, as well as Canada’s Emergency Response Guide ERG 135 for Spontaneously Combustible Substances.
Unlikely. But your choice of clothes might. Notice I didn’t say an outright no? There is enough energy in a cell phone battery pack to ignite almost anything, fortunately it is contained inside the phone an generally anything short of tossing it vigorously on the ground will not allow it to short our and cause ignition of fumes emanating from your gas filling nozzle. Besides the gas fumes have a low ignition probability next to the ground anyway.
As for that little buzzing motor in there, there is not much to worry about there either. Typically gasoline fumes will not get into the phone protector case, the phone enclosure, past the motor case, and in the off chance you receive a phone call the sparks produced by that tiny little motor are not “hot” enough to start the explosive chain reaction going.
There is a small chance that plugging your charger in or unplugging it while fueling you vehicle could initiate a tiny spark where the charger connects, but most modern cell phones actually take a second or two after the connection is established before significant current begins to flow.
You are far more likely to create a static electricity spark from your body to the vehicle that could ignite your gasoline fumes than having your phone cause you a problem. In fact it is documented that females have more fueling fires than males do. Why? A couple of reasons, first are their choice of clothes. Women wear tighter fitting and more man made fibres than men, which are prone to have more friction movement that can generate static electricity. That, mixed with the more prevalent habit of multitasking or cold aversion which sometimes leads to females getting back into their vehicle while fueling and returning to the pump once it shuts off, only to get a very nasty surprise when the little static electricity spark jumps from their hand to the pump trigger and causes all hell to break loose. Please be careful sliding back onto those fuzzy bunny seat covers in those nylon pantyhose okay?
Two things to keep in mind here. Gas pumps that do not “lock-on” while filling are inherently safer because you must keep your hand on the trigger to make them pump which reduces the opportunity to build static charge on your body. (The nozzles are grounded through steel braid in the hose). Secondly, if you do decide to leave and return in a minute to remove the nozzle, discharge your body static by touching either the any metal part of the vehicle or the gas pump with your hand at least one meter away from the pump nozzle. That little snap of a spark is enough to ignite those fumes!
Unfortunately, your cellphone has not gone through a certification process and as a result you technically are not allowed to use it in a classified area. So even though it’s not going to blow you up, don’t pick an argument with someone at a gas station, or in an industrial plant, they are still right to tell you not to use it.
Statistically he is safe most of the time. Diesel has a high flash point, typically 37 to 70 degrees Celsius depending on the season and blend. Most days, at least in Alberta we only get temperatures in the low 30’s. Diesel is usually stored in underground tanks which stay much cooler. (The average year round temperature in Edmonton is about 1 degree celcius). So most of the time, the diesel is too cool to produce sufficient fumes to ignite from a cigarette, match or lighter. Ever seen daredevil guys flick lit matches onto a bucket of diesel? Not much happens, they just go out.
On the rare occasion, say refueling from a tidy tank in the back of a truck, that has been sitting in the sun, the fuel just might be warm enough to exceed it’s flash point. Suppose it is winter diesel (with a low flashpoint) in the tank on a hot day. Add to that the splashing of the diesel in the tank being filled releasing just enough additional vapors or droplets to form an ignitable mixture. Or, just maybe someone transferred gasoline in a in the same container and then used it carry diesel, that little bit of extra volatility could make the difference. Any combination of unusual factors can contribute to the diesel vapour just getting to that point of sufficient flash point and surprise, fire and explosion occurs.
I do personally know of at least one local incident when a trucker was filling a big rig diesel tank while smoking on a hot day and he did experience a flash fire. It’s just not worth taking the chance, it only takes one incident to cause a lifetime of regret.
No. It is the job of certified testing agencies to perform the required tests to certify equipment as suitable for classified areas. See the tab for testing agencies from our links page.
Maybe. It is always possible to re-evaluate an existing Classified Area and in fact is recommended to do so as an ongoing part of Change Management. If the conditions have changed for the better, or the Area Classification was initially done over-conservatively or blanket classification was done without good engineering judgement it may be possible to reduce the size or the severity of the Area Classification.
However, it is not ethically correct to “shop” your facility around to Area Classification engineers until one agrees to classify it to your liking. It is a reviewing Engineers ethical responsibility to contact the former signing Engineer if his / her work was done recently and the review is being done in an effort to determine an alternate outcome.
This can be an unpleasant outcome, however it will have a positive eventual outcome. Investment may be required if upgrades are required to bring a facility into compliance. In actuality, if the non-compliances are bad enough and the cost to remediate the deficiencies is high, the facility may need to be shut down rather than spend the money to bring it into safety compliance. Regardless of the choice, it will always be less expensive to improve the installation and bring it up to a safe level rather than rebuild it from the ground up in the event of a catastrophic failure. Insurers such as FM or others could easily deny a claim if it determines that a plant / installation / process was deficient in safety practices / maintenance / or design whether you knew it or not. Worse yet, operating a facility, knowing that it was unsafe and doing nothing about it will likely involve OH&S investigation and likely penalties. Having an Area Classification update done sooner than later might just save lives and your business.
Yes. Class 1 Zone 2 Engineering can come to your site and examine equipment for suitability in Classified Areas. You may need to provide a maintenance electrician for support, particularly if equipment needs to be examined inside or de-energized for inspection. You may also need to prepare work permits that are supported with portable gas sampling if equipment needs to be internally examined. On site orientations may be required for your particular facility and personnel from Class 1 Zone 2 Engineering will gladly participate in any orientation training that is required.
Usually yes.
Yes. Power quality, load flow, coordination, grounding, step and touch potential calculations, schematics, wiring diagrams, control wiring, remote I/O wiring, UPS, VFD, power factor correction, voltage drop calculations, DBM, EDS, FEED, Pre-FEED, cost estimations, and detailed electrical engineering and drafting are all services that we can provide for our customers.
Not typically, but we do have a number of places we could refer you.
No. We are not certified to install equipment, you need an electrician for that.
Yes. We can arrange rental of the necessary equipment, choose appropriate locations to connect it and with the support of your electrician / operators get it connected for data collection.
Probably, with 25 years of electrical engineering experience there isn’t much that we can’t help you solve.
Yes. Don’t touch something that has failed if you want to really know why it failed. Much of the information that can be retrieved from a failure is much like a crime scene. The scene must be as undisturbed as possible to preserve the clues as to what really happened. Gathering up a box of burnt scraps for a look at later usually doesn’t result in a very good conclusion. Call us immediately!
No one can predict the future. However, some things can be statistically or conditionally identified as likely to fail. Call or E-mail and we can discuss what’s concerning you.
Yes, we have produced many specifications and data sheets over the years and would be pleased to help you purchase a cost effective appropriate piece of equipment.