Electrical supply equipment for diesel storage tank pumpset

brett2012 · Jul 6, 2015

Looking for help on the following. On a site we have 3 10000 litre diesel storage tanks all built to the relevant standards however the pumpset is fitted with a standard 13 amp plug top plugged into a metalclad twin switched socket. I am sure this is not right but cannot find the relevant regs to back up my fears. Any help would be really appreciated.

Pete999 · Jul 6, 2015

brett2012 said:
Looking for help on the following. On a site we have 3 10000 litre diesel storage tanks all built to the relevant standards however the pumpset is fitted with a standard 13 amp plug top plugged into a metalclad twin switched socket. I am sure this is not right but cannot find the relevant regs to back up my fears. Any help would be really appreciated.

Non ferrous tools to be used and proper flameproof switchgear must be employed, don't think the regs cover that side of things.

Farmelectrics · Jul 7, 2015

i would of thought this would come under the comp ex banner ie hazardous areas ex equipmnent required

Brightspark2 · Jul 7, 2015

Is the plug and socket in a EX zoned area?..

LankyWill · Jul 7, 2015

swap it to a gorilla plug and a rotary isolator plug then!

brett2012 · Jul 7, 2015

I was hoping for a specific reg reference as diesel is classed as combustible not flameable

Brightspark2 · Jul 7, 2015

brett2012 said:
I was hoping for a specific reg reference as diesel is classed as combustible not flameable

It's the vapour given off when it reaches its flash point that can be flammable.

If it's in an Ex rated zone then it's an issue if it isn't then it's not an issue. So that's what you need to know, it isn't down to you decide the zone areas either.

Darkwood · Jul 7, 2015

diesel is actually very hard to ignite ....you can drop a match in a bucket of it and it would just extinguish ..... it has to be turned into a very fine mist to use the oxygen mix of the air to become explosive.... the massive train disaster that happened where a diesel train ended up in flames after a crash was investigated more on how the fire could have occured than the actual cause of the crash.