EMT in poultry house

[Fulthrotl]

We have sure taken a familiar journey from the OP of EMT being allowed to installing Rob-Roy

and we haven't even factored in the depth of the chickenfeces, and around here, that can be pretty deep.

all of the food packing plants i've worked in, and it's been a few, used OCAL 10' up off the floor,
and emt with compression fittings everywhere else above that.... it's a washdown area.
except nutrilite, in buena park, calif. everything within 10' of the floor is stainless.
pipe, straps, condulets, etc.

is emt allowed in a washdown food handling area? i never even considered looking to see.... :ashamed1:

 

[peter d]

I bet same hen house had NM cable and surface mounted plastic body switches, receptacles, lampholders as well.

Judging by what I saw on my aforementioned trip to Ohio, every farm is wired with NM cable, USE laid on the ground, open air THHN, and whatever else "farm engineering" can create.

 

[kwired]

Judging by what I saw on my aforementioned trip to Ohio, every farm is wired with NM cable, USE laid on the ground, open air THHN, and whatever else "farm engineering" can create.

That was fairly true several years ago on the ma and pa farms with limited production.

Today if you want to make reasonable profit you have 10,000 plus birds in a poultry operation, at least 500 or more cows in a dairy operation, and large numbers of pigs in those operations. This makes the facilities much more of an industrial like operation then they ever used to be. Many owners have no clue how to connect all that stuff when it is new. They however sometimes do know how to jury rig things when they beak down or when adding a minor item here and there. But because they are essentially an industrial like operation they likely do have employees and now need to be more aware of OSHA and even if OSHA doesn't check up on them they have insurance companies checking up on them and asking for some compliance with same rules. The owners aren't farmers anymore, they were farmers that are now plant managers.

 

[Cow]

You guys aren't far from the mark. All the dairies where I'm from, it's all exposed Romex, missing panel covers, etc. Farmer rigged, absolutely.

The ones we wire now are 2000-10000+ cow with multiple services up to 2000 amp, some utilizing ATS's, MCC's, PLC's with remote access, equipotential grounding, etc. These farms are just plants that happen to have cows on site.

 

[peter d]

That was fairly true several years ago on the ma and pa farms with limited production.

Today if you want to make reasonable profit you have 10,000 plus birds in a poultry operation, at least 500 or more cows in a dairy operation, and large numbers of pigs in those operations. This makes the facilities much more of an industrial like operation then they ever used to be. Many owners have no clue how to connect all that stuff when it is new. They however sometimes do know how to jury rig things when they beak down or when adding a minor item here and there. But because they are essentially an industrial like operation they likely do have employees and now need to be more aware of OSHA and even if OSHA doesn't check up on them they have insurance companies checking up on them and asking for some compliance with same rules. The owners aren't farmers anymore, they were farmers that are now plant managers.

True, the farms I saw were small to medium family farms. The hog barn I saw was one several that this particular farmer who added them onto his field crop land. He grew the hogs under contract for Hatfield. It was far from a huge CAFO that you have in Iowa or North Carolina.

These large industrial farms that you speak of - are they actually owned and/or financed by the large agri-business companies?

 

[Smart $]

I bet same hen house had NM cable and surface mounted plastic body switches, receptacles, lampholders as well.

The cable was an early version of UF. No receptacles. The lamp fixture was ceramic. Yes, just one incandescent, over water basin. On 24/7, 20W I believe; heat lamp in the dead of winter. The only switch was the fusebox. Built and wired in the 50's.

 

[kwired]

True, the farms I saw were small to medium family farms. The hog barn I saw was one several that this particular farmer who added them onto his field crop land. He grew the hogs under contract for Hatfield. It was far from a huge CAFO that you have in Iowa or North Carolina.

These large industrial farms that you speak of - are they actually owned and/or financed by the large agri-business companies?

Some probably do have financing from large agri-business companies.

The turkey grower I work for at times also has commercial grain elevator and feed mills - which helps him on the feed cost, but last year when there was a bird flu outbreak he did get some incentive from the processors and/or other poultry association/groups to do some work on one of his facilities to put it into operation - it had been empty for a couple years. Wasn't that the building was in bad shape, he needed a brooder house on that site to make it worthwhile to operate the site, so they helped him some with funding to convert some of it into brooder house.

 

[Peter the Inspector]

very corrosive environment, use NM conduit ....

 

[brantmacga]

The problem with pvc in barns, especially roofs, is expansion. We're getting ready to do some 2200' long dairy barns that I'm going to wire in EMT just because pvc is so labor intensive with expansion fittings, straps every 3', two screws per pvc strap instead of one for regular emt 1 hole straps.

PVC is okay for stubups and small stuff, but with any length to the runs, it becomes a real pain.

Did you compare the labor of set-screw or compression couplings/connectors are vs. joining PVC?

And the cost of PVC expansion couplings vs EMT? Pretty big difference.

 

[Cow]

Did you compare the labor of set-screw or compression couplings/connectors are vs. joining PVC?

And the cost of PVC expansion couplings vs EMT? Pretty big difference.

No.