ATEX Heaters – Mobile & Portable Hazardous Area Zone 1 & Zone 2 Heating
T&D International are Specialist Distributors of Hazardous Area Electrical Heating Equipment – we distribute Flameproof, Explosion Proof and Intrinsically Safe equipment for Zone 1, 2, 21 and 22 hazardous area heating.
T&D are UK Approved Distributors for leading manufacturers of electric heating equipment for hazardous areas, including EXHEAT, Chromalox and Thermon.
T&D service the global oil, gas and petrochemical industries with heat tracing and electrical process heating equipment – the demand for portable hazardous area heaters includes offshore vessels such as drill ships, jack-up vessels, semi-submersible vessels, offshore barges and floating platforms.
The application of reliable heat is often the only way to repair, remove or install equipment essential to offshore operations. Unfortunately, conventional heating methods (such as gas-fired open flames)Â and offshore atmospheres are potentially explosive bed-fellows. Sounds exciting in theory but is extremely dangerous in practice.
Hazardous area heaters must foremost be safe to use – certified according to the location, gas group, temperature rating and prevailing potentially explosive atmosphere. Know the Zone and match the certification of portable ATEX heaters for safe provision of heat without any hidden dangers.
For expert technical support in Hazardous Area Heating, Process & Instrumentation equipment selection, please contact T&D.
Additionally, offshore environments present hard-to-reach work sites. The equipment used to generate, apply and control heating must be rugged enough to withstand severe conditions, yet lightweight enough to be easily and cost-effectively transported.
Hazardous area heaters should be compact, powerful, user-friendly and portable.
SA Equip Flexiheat – Portable ATEX Heater (Zone 1 & Zone 2 Hazardous Areas) from Thorne & Derrick on Vimeo.
ATEX Certification :Â Â Â Â Â Â II 2 G c IIB T3 Â 
                      Ex d e IIB T3  Gb
Portable ATEX Heaters are tough, compact, powerful, user friendly and easily moveable around jobsite.
Versatile : ATEX Heaters are suitable for multiple site configurations
ATEX heaters can be configured to provide rapid heat-up with less ducting in the working area and dramatically reduced downtime.
Multiple heaters reduce downtime considerably with fabric maintenance, paint curing, and composite repair work. A recent client used two ATEX certified heaters coupled side-by-side when carrying out some blasting and painting work on a huge area on the underside of an offshore helideck completing the work task within than an hour rather than the usual full day shift.
Portable ATEX heaters alleviate condensation build-up and dampness during painting works, counteract curing temperature challenges for composite repairs and combat frozen machinery and freezing process pipework.
âž¡ See also: Electrical Heating In Hazardous Areas – Solutions & Recommendations
Hazardous area heating equipment is classified according to an EU directive introduced to protect people and plant in potentially explosive atmospheres, this hazardous area directive is known as ATEX.
In sweeping terms, there are 3 pre-conditions for the ATEX directive to apply: the equipment a) must have its own effective source of ignition; b) be intended for use in a potentially explosive atmosphere and c) be under normal atmospheric conditions.
The ATEX directive consists of two EU directives describing the type of equipment (electrical and mechanical) and work environments allowed in an area with an explosive atmosphere.
ATEX derives its name from the French title of the 94/9/EC directive: Appareils destinés à être utilisés en ATmosphères EXplosibles.
Naturally, the presence of invisible, inflammable gas or vapour mixtures could pose a serious threat to life where the Explosion Triangle could be triggered. Effective ignition sources in offshore working environments include sparks, open flames and flame arcs – consequently “hot-working” is prohibited offshore without safety working permits (WP’s).
Safety is not taken lightly anywhere in the offshore oil and gas sector and multiple tiers of responsibility prevail to prevent injury, accident or incident.
Take BP as an example.
The Work Permit (WP) must be firstly registered as a Work Order (WO) request and attributed a risk-level by the offshore safety officer reflecting the work task, such as process pipework painting in Zone 1 hazardous areas.
Hot Working – this includes all temporary operations involving open flames or producing heat and/or sparks.
Several levels of authority exist to check and check again that the risk element of any proposed work task in a zoned hazardous area is scrutinised and minimised.
At BP, the Area Authority has responisibility for a given area and the Area Technician has operational responsibility for all activities in a given hazardous area.
Area technicians must measure the content of hydrocarbon gas in potential leakage points – pipework, flanges, seals, outlets etc – in the area around the hazardous area work site, immediately prior to work commencing.
Ultimately, the Offshore Installation Manager (OIM) has the overall responsibility for all activities on the field.
BP carry out a Safe Job Analysis (SJA) – a systematic and step-by-step review of all risk elements implemented prior to a specific task or operation so that all measures can be taken to remove or control any risk elements during the preparation for or performance of the WO request.
For instance, BP stipulate a Work Permit Level 1 is required for all high-risk work – this includes hot work in classified areas, where the classified area is defined as hazardous area Zone 0, Zone 1 and Zone 2 i.e. potentially explosive atmospheres dependent upon the concentration level and time period presence.
The application, planning, designation, administration, preparation and then implementation of “hot-working” permits is clearly complex, time-consuming and costly.
Portable ATEX electric heaters are certified under ATEX directive for safe use in potentially explosive atmospheres without resort to naked flames or hot work permit applications.
ICYMI 🎥 watch part of the new production and hotel platform being fitted as part of Valhall redevelopment #Norway pic.twitter.com/3VUqrPjwrS
— BP (@BP_plc) September 3, 2016
The drying and curing time of paint is affected by ambient temperature and relative humidity.
Low temperatures and excess humidity delays projects, maintenance and repair work – where shutdown periods need to be absolutely minimised to prevent downtime and associated lost revenue. Often painting and coating is subject to rescheduling and rescheduling. Curing takes longer. Costs overrun and deadlines are missed.
Not anymore – portable ATEX heaters with high ingress protection levels are tough, compact, powerful and easy to use whatever the weather. Fully ATEX certified for safe electrical heating in Zone 1 and Zone 2 hazardous area locations. Manufactured from marine grade 316 stainless steel with excellent corrosion resistance to offshore, sea-water atmospheres.
T&D’s portable ATEX heaters with a 15Kw output and powerful airflow (2130m cubed/hour) provides efficient hazardous area heating – ideal for warming enclosed workspaces which are “sheeted-off” for offshore shot blasting and industrial painting of gas compressor stations, tanks, pipework and structures.
Offshore Shotblasting & Painting. Designing-out risk through careful specification of electrical heating that eliminates or minimises danger is a key consideration for offshore multi-disciplined contractors. All thought and effort is geared towards preventing sparks in explosive atmospheres. Portable hazardous area heaters are designed to provide primary or supplementary heating for comfort or freeze protection in hazardous area (Gas or Dust) atmospheres.
Pictured : Zone 1 Paint Shop Containers – this paint shop and storage container manufactured by Trans Construction AS is typically used for storing and mixing paint. The hazardous area paintshop container is insulated to A60 and fully equipped with a mixer bench, storage lockers, ventilation supply and extract system.
Portable ATEX Heaters From Stock – call T&D.
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ABOUT US
Thorne & Derrick International are your single-source supplier of Electrical, Mechanical, Process & Instrumentation Equipment. T&D provide an outstanding service to UK and international customers – we are highly customer responsive and absolutely committed to providing a world-class service.
T&D supply utilities, power, renewable energy, construction, rail, manufacturing, food/beverage, mining, oil, gas and petrochemical industries – distributing 100,000+ products from 100+ manufacturers from multi-million pound stocks. Since 1985 we have established a solid reputation based on service, integrity and trust.
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