art 501 practices?

[NECnoob]

I've been asked about work practices for maintenance electricians in class 1 div 1 areas...
Is there no work permitted unless the area is purged or the equip. is removed from the area?

 

[ryan_618]

Are you asking a licensing question? One that is perhaps specific to your state/city?

 

[NECnoob]

not licensing so much as just general practice - can I open a cabinet and use an ohmmeter, or do I have to shut the place down and purge it to do anything BTW: I'm in North Dakota

 

[don_resqcapt19]

You can't do anything that could possibly create any type of arc in a Class I Div 1 area unless any equipment that can create a flammable atmosphere is shut down, the area is purged and tested. In my opinion using a meter could cause a spark. This is one of the reasons, good design practice is to install a little equipment as possible in the Class I Division 1 area.
Don

 

[NECnoob]

Thank You. I was reasonably sure that no equipment was allowed in a C1-D1 area but I wanted a socond opinion. Thank you for putting actual, usable information on the internet - I researched for about 3 hours on this and couldn't find a single bit of info that I could use

 

[rbalex]

...I was reasonably sure that no equipment was allowed in a C1-D1 area ...

Actually, a great deal of electrical equipment is permitted in Division 1. Don's point (and I gather your original statement) was that the area needed to be rendered "unclassified" before work was permitted. This is true for Division 2 as well.

Section 501.4(A) requires the electrical area classification to be “properly documented.” A “Hot Work Permit” is a temporary document that essentially reclassifies a location to allow work. Properly drafted and executed, it will cite the tests and conditions Don called for.

Depending on the nature of the work, simply de-energizing the equipment from a location outside the classified location may be adequate. Each case should be “thought through” and documented.

 

[petersonra]

Thank You. I was reasonably sure that no equipment was allowed in a C1-D1 area but I wanted a socond opinion. Thank you for putting actual, usable information on the internet - I researched for about 3 hours on this and couldn't find a single bit of info that I could use

actually you can have as much equipment in such an area as you can afford.

it is generally more cost effective to reduce to the bare minimum what equipment is installed in a classified area, even a division 2 area.

the important thing is you do not change anything while working in a classified area that would increase the hazard, such as opening an enclosure.

you can do just about anything you want in a hazardous area if you change the area classification to non-hazardous as suggested by the illustrious Bob Alexander in a previous post.

 

[megloff11x]

You could also remove the hazardous chemicals to render the area unclassified - if you can get them all out. I've done quite a bit of testing and tweaking with water.

Matt