My company is currently building a new wood truss plant facility. It was brought to our attention that the cutting of wood inside our partially enclosed building would require us to classify our saw area. Currently the saw area is classified as Class II Division I as per our engineer and building officials. This seems pretty stringent to me and our electrician. Does anyone have any input that may be helpful in this situation?
Wood truss plant
- Thread starter carlinb
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petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- Semi-retired engineer
Re: Wood truss plant
Your engineer and building officials are the ones responsible for making this determination. presumably they have the knowledge and experience to make it.
You might do well to sit down with them and see just how they came to their determination of how to classify the area. You might later agree with them, or they may on reflection change their minds.
Its also possible minor layout changes could be made that would substantially reduce the area that does need to be classified. You might want to include your architect in these discussions.
Your engineer and building officials are the ones responsible for making this determination. presumably they have the knowledge and experience to make it.
You might do well to sit down with them and see just how they came to their determination of how to classify the area. You might later agree with them, or they may on reflection change their minds.
Its also possible minor layout changes could be made that would substantially reduce the area that does need to be classified. You might want to include your architect in these discussions.
Re: Wood truss plant
Actually it seems as if our engineer originally classified the area as Class III Div. I and then the building department "guided" our engineer to Class II Div. I. In doing the little research I have done Class II Div. I should only be for a wood working facility that does alot of fine sanding or creating the wood flour. We however do not create the wood flour. We even have a conveyor under our saws that carry the saw dust that falls to a dumpster that gets emptied every couple of hours. So I am hopeing to get the area re-classified to Class III Div. I
Actually it seems as if our engineer originally classified the area as Class III Div. I and then the building department "guided" our engineer to Class II Div. I. In doing the little research I have done Class II Div. I should only be for a wood working facility that does alot of fine sanding or creating the wood flour. We however do not create the wood flour. We even have a conveyor under our saws that carry the saw dust that falls to a dumpster that gets emptied every couple of hours. So I am hopeing to get the area re-classified to Class III Div. I
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- Semi-retired engineer
Re: Wood truss plant
I wonder if you might be able to convince yourselves it does not need to be classified at all.
Although having a conveyor to remove the saw dust is likely to leave a lot of it to build up on equipment. A vacuum removal system would keep the area a lot cleaner.
I wonder if you might be able to convince yourselves it does not need to be classified at all.
Although having a conveyor to remove the saw dust is likely to leave a lot of it to build up on equipment. A vacuum removal system would keep the area a lot cleaner.
- Location
- Mission Viejo, CA
- Occupation
- Professional Electrical Engineer
Re: Wood truss plant
I think we discussed this with one of your potential suppliers in this thread.
Simple saw dust does not create a Class II (or III) location. There may be other fire hazards involved but it is not an Article 500 to 504 issue. See Section 500.1.
I said in the other thread:
You as an owner must comply with 500.3(B) - Proper Documentation. Since I believe you are in Florida this is also a FedOSHA Process Safety Management requirement. The NEC is not sufficient alone to classify any location except those covered by Articles 511 to 516. The engineer should be able to cite the specific Standard used to classify the location. In this case the appropriate Standard is NFPA 499.
[ March 16, 2005, 12:25 PM: Message edited by: rbalex ]
I think we discussed this with one of your potential suppliers in this thread.
Simple saw dust does not create a Class II (or III) location. There may be other fire hazards involved but it is not an Article 500 to 504 issue. See Section 500.1.
I said in the other thread:
It appears to apply to the engineer as well. This is not a slight to him/her; I went through the process (often with the same results) in my earlier years.
You as an owner must comply with 500.3(B) - Proper Documentation. Since I believe you are in Florida this is also a FedOSHA Process Safety Management requirement. The NEC is not sufficient alone to classify any location except those covered by Articles 511 to 516. The engineer should be able to cite the specific Standard used to classify the location. In this case the appropriate Standard is NFPA 499.
[ March 16, 2005, 12:25 PM: Message edited by: rbalex ]
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