427.22 in Industrial facility...

[chevy1969pu]

We are installing a new piece of equipment and it has heat trace (electric) on it in a couple of places. There are also band heaters, cartridge heaters, tube heaters, etc.

Does 427.22 require GFPD (30ma) protection for all of these types of heaters??

The exception for industrial facilities would not apply, there is no need of continuous operation to assure safe operation of the equipment or process...

The equipment is not a "pipeline" as such, but these heaters are there to elevate the operating temp of various parts of the process...
Whether or not the applications meet the definition of a "vessel" would be an judgement call...

 

[tom baker]

Re: 427.22 in Industrial facility...

The NEC would require GFPE, however if the machinery is under the scope of NFPA 79 then the NEC would not apply.
Heat trace cable can and has started fires. We have an overwater board walk with 277V heat tracing, no GFPE. It caught on fire, smoke coming out from under the boardwalk (well its actually concrete) and the fire dept rolled, got everyone all excited. Only way to work on the heat trace is on a boat at high tide.
Hear trace cable is now required to have a metal sheath, for what I install I use a standard GFCI.

 

[chevy1969pu]

Re: 427.22 in Industrial facility...

Thanks for the Reply,

We are installing 30ma GFPD protection on the Heat Trace circuits. Looking at the wording of 427.22, I believe it should be used on all of the items I mentioned... However, this would be quite costly and most of the existing equipment does not have the GFPD protection.

This topic (as well as other NEC topics) has become a source of debate within our shop. Some folks believe it is required, some not...

There is room for argument on both sides of this issue, but I was just wondering how others in the trade view this...

Thanks for any feedback you can provide...

Mike

 

[chevy1969pu]

Re: 427.22 in Industrial facility...

Tom,

Reviewing your response and NFPA 79, the machinery (extrusion) would fall under the definition of Industrial Machinery (sec 3.3.55), so I can see where your statement that it would not fall under the provisions of the NEC may be true...

So, if NFPA 79 doesn't specifically require GFPD for Heat Trace, band or cartridge heaters, etc., what about the "as listed" requirements of the individual pieces?? Does NFPA 79 allow you to forgo the "as listed" requirements?? They usually require compliance to NEC in the listing...