Electrical Standards for Industrial Facility

[spikes2020]

I know people are going to reply with NEC and what not, but i am not looking for that type of standard... I am referencing those in my standard...

I am referring to a standard for a facility that all new equipment and projects will be built to. So for example, we don't allow PVC anywhere above ground as we are a steel mill and it would melt in seconds... It doesn't need to be a steel mill, anyplace would work as i am starting from scratch and just tossing ideas into my outline. I have a basic outline but i was wondering if anyone else would have one they wouldn't mind sharing.

This standard will be provided to the vender so that we may get quotes that have our facility rules and regulations in mind. I am also doing controls, PLCs, mechanical and equipment... but Electrical is really bare right now...

If i get help i would gladly share my document once it get further along~

 

[jtinge]

I have seen some pretty thorough electrical standards from Los Alamos National Lab (google LANL Standards) and the NIH. Also many universities have electrical standards that are available on line. I like the LANL since they often provide the basis for their requirements in footnotes.

 

[kingpb]

I know people are going to reply with NEC and what not, but i am not looking for that type of standard... I am referencing those in my standard...

I am referring to a standard for a facility that all new equipment and projects will be built to. So for example, we don't allow PVC anywhere above ground as we are a steel mill and it would melt in seconds... It doesn't need to be a steel mill, anyplace would work as i am starting from scratch and just tossing ideas into my outline. I have a basic outline but i was wondering if anyone else would have one they wouldn't mind sharing.

This standard will be provided to the vender so that we may get quotes that have our facility rules and regulations in mind. I am also doing controls, PLCs, mechanical and equipment... but Electrical is really bare right now...

If i get help i would gladly share my document once it get further along~

Sounds like what you are referring to is a "Specification".

Searching around on the internet, you can find many to choose from. Just depends on the level of detail you want. You can also go to specific equipment manufacturer's, say switchgear or transformers and they have a guide specification, usually in Word that you can start with. This works well if you like certain equipment manufacturers and want to keep bidder list short.

Word of caution; if you simply want something that meets minimum safety and is covered verbatim in the NEC, don't restate it, and only specify those things which matter to you and you have a choice on how it's done. Second, don't tell a manufacturer how to build it, unless you want to pay for custom designs.

 

[petersonra]

My suggestion would be to try and stick with nationally recognized standards as much as possible rather than trying to do it yourself. There may be some minor wrinkles you want to add that are specific to you plant, but otherwise write a spec that says here are the things the work has to comply with.

e.g. - NEC, NFPA79, UL508a, etc.

You can buy specifications that cover all kinds of things. Much better than trying to roll your own.

 

[Tony S]

I retired from a foundry. We used PVC cable but it was routed away from any real source of heat or had some form of heat shielding.

One of the worse ?mishaps? was caused by hydraulic oil getting in to a covered trench then down in to the cable tunnels. Fortunately the tunnels had CO₂ fire protection but it still caused a lot of damage and down time.
The fire started in a section of the plant that no one entered at night, it must have been smouldering for hours before igniting. The cause was a metal splash finding its way in between the steel trench cover plates.

Many of our cables were high up near the ventilation grills, they never suffered any harm. It makes the cable runs longer and more expensive but what does down time cost?

 

[zog]

I know people are going to reply with NEC and what not, but i am not looking for that type of standard... I am referencing those in my standard...

I am referring to a standard for a facility that all new equipment and projects will be built to. So for example, we don't allow PVC anywhere above ground as we are a steel mill and it would melt in seconds... It doesn't need to be a steel mill, anyplace would work as i am starting from scratch and just tossing ideas into my outline. I have a basic outline but i was wondering if anyone else would have one they wouldn't mind sharing.

This standard will be provided to the vender so that we may get quotes that have our facility rules and regulations in mind. I am also doing controls, PLCs, mechanical and equipment... but Electrical is really bare right now...

If i get help i would gladly share my document once it get further along~

ANSI and IEEE are going to have standards to cover all your larger equipment.

 

[spikes2020]

Sounds like what you are referring to is a "Specification".

Searching around on the internet, you can find many to choose from. Just depends on the level of detail you want. You can also go to specific equipment manufacturer's, say switchgear or transformers and they have a guide specification, usually in Word that you can start with. This works well if you like certain equipment manufacturers and want to keep bidder list short.

Word of caution; if you simply want something that meets minimum safety and is covered verbatim in the NEC, don't restate it, and only specify those things which matter to you and you have a choice on how it's done. Second, don't tell a manufacturer how to build it, unless you want to pay for custom designs.

Ah yes this is what i was looking for~