Electrical Receptacle for Oily Environment 1

[KenRad]

On a recent visit of an OSHA inspector to one of our machine shops, a comment was made that our standard 120V receptacles are not suitable for an oily environment. The shop has a central mist collector system that does a decent job of keeping mist from escaping the machines, but for a variety of reasons, the surfaces in the room quickly build up a layer of oil.

My background is Mechanical (HVAC, process piping, etc.), and this is a little beyond my experience. Is there something in the NEC or other code that specifies a certain type of receptacle be used in an environment that contains oil? If so, what is the designation that I should look for?

---KenRad

 

[itsmoked]

I don't know of an oil specific class of receptacles.

I tell you I'd solve the problem, not band-aid it with a special receptacle. If you have oil piling up on all your surfaces think about your lungs! They represent seven hundred square feet of surface. Lungs are singularly incapable of dealing with any oil mists. We didn't evolve in a hydrocarbon oil mist.

Work thru your process and contain all the oil.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[stevenal]

Class I location due to flammable oil vapors? See article 500.

 

[SceneryDriver]

Perhaps something as simple as a wet-location in-use cover over each receptacle to keep the oily goo out of the connections? That's what we do very successfully in our machine shop.


SceneryDriver