meat prossesing plant

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aarifisher

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I am bidding on a small meat processing plant with no electrical plans
they are going to pressure wash the walls every day after work.
do I need nema 4 boxes and wiring ?
I don't have experience with the nema4 can anybody give me a heads on
 
aarifisher said:
I am bidding on a small meat processing plant with no electrical plans
they are going to pressure wash the walls every day after work.
do I need nema 4 boxes and wiring ?
I don't have experience with the nema4 can anybody give me a heads on
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You need to know the specifications of the pressure washer they intend to use.

While a NEMA 4 enclosure is 'watertight' when sprayed by something like a fire house, it may not be watertight if the spray is a 10,000PSI 1/8" diameter stream.
 
You might jump over to your state health web site and see what they specify.

Aluminum RMC, is what I saw at a very large meat processing plant.

I?d study all of Article 344, and all the cross referencing that it will lead you.

Also be prepared for seal off if your circuit?s transition from the various temperatures eg, area to area.
Just turned out of electircal room might do it, if all one temperature,but that?s kind of tough with no plan.

One thing I did notice in the plant is they dropped down from the ceiling and racked the conduct behind work panels,
manned stations and flexed around accordingly.

I would also ask for a raised floor in the electrical room with the area drain outside the door.

Good Luck!
 
NEMA 4 at the minimum, NEMA 4X if they plan on using caustic chemicals for scrub down as many meat packing plants need to do. The "X" as corrosion resistance to the equation. Aluminum is OK but corrodes from some types of caustics. Stainless Steel is the type most often used in meat packing plants I have been in. If anything comes in direct contact with the meat, i.e. sensors or switches, they must also be classified as "sanitary", which means no threads or crevasses that can harbor bacteria.

NEMA 4 means 65GPM from a 1" nozzle from any direction, which means even from the back side directed at the lip of the enclosure; i.e. the enclosure door cannot lift off of the gaskets enough to allow water to enter. The specification is designed primarily around food processing plants and what can be expected to be used in cleaning.
 
As mentioned, before stainless steel or aluminum in production areas, and stainless in chemical storage areas or if caustics will be used(probably will be).

Put some thought into the type, placement and method of supporting of things like lighting and conduit drain points, nema 4 boxes work both ways(hold water in). Production workers are famous for things like shattering lenses and getting water into conduit by any means nessessary.

Duct seal is your friend.
 
Good luck! We wash down everynight and while everything is nema 4X water still finds its way in. A little advice when planning the job and routing conduits etc... do it in a way that prevents water from laying in pipes, condulets or boxes this will save you some time and headaches in the future. At our plant we have a booster pump skid that heats the water to 135degrees and provides 200psi so this is tough to defend against especially when the people operating the hoses are not electricians and are alos not responsible for troubleshooting and repairing of the equipment. When you think you have everything sealed up guess again!:)
 
We used to have a small bottling plant in this area. They washed down every day. I just could not keep water from collecting in one motor and its sealtite even though they were sheltered from direct spray. I gave up and made the final connection to the motor with flex. No more problems. Didn't know a drain even existed then, and maybe they didn't.
 
4X Fiber glass enclosure

4X Fiber glass enclosure

On a lot of the waste water treatment solutions I work on we use NEMA 4X fiberglass Hoffman enclosures, take a look to see if the spec's allow these. They have a cost advantage over Stainless steel, and are impervious to most chemicals.
 
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