Stnadard paint shade of electrical equipments 1

[sanjivk4]

Please tell me any international standard (IEC/BS/European standard/ANSI/API) for electrical equipment viz. transformers, motors, switchgears,distribution boards etc. specifying/providing a guideline for standard paint shade to followed. I have been asked to consider all electrical equipment colours as British Airways Blue i.e. RAL 5011. To counter this requirement I need some supporting international standard providing guideline for choosing paint shade of electrical equipment.

 

[DTR2011]

I believe ANSI 70 & ANSI 71 are standard colors in the US.

 

[sanjivk4]

Actually, paint shade I need to decide for electrical equipment to be installed in a refinery project for Nigeria.Some top management guy decided that all electrical equipment shall be of paint British Airways blue colour. To counter that I require some international standard which gives definite guide for paint shade for electrical equipment. Any standard either IEC no or ISO or BS or EU standard shall work for me. Thanks

 

[waross]

I ran into that situation for a very small project.
I bit the bullet.
I took a main control and relay panel and two control stations to an auto body shop.
I had them painted "Ford Grabber Blue".
The owner was happy.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[GroovyGuy]

You can have the equipment painted whatever colour you want, as long as you are willing to pay for it.
I once had a Client who wanted their 600V MCCs painted a gold colour. We finally settled on 'Breath of Spring' as the paint name form one supplier. This was a real dumb idea, as every piece of new equipment that was later ordered for the MCCs had to be painted that special colour ($$).
GG

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

 

[ScottyUK]

RAL 5011 is 'Steel Blue' - a fairly dark blue.

In my opinion light colours work better for switchgear: the substation appears brighter and dirt accumulations are readily apparent. It is easier to keep the equipment clean when you can see the dirt.

 

[FreddyNurk]

There's nothing inherently wrong with specifying different colours for switchgear, most projects I've been involved in over the years have a particular paint colour.

Where the problems start is whether the equipment manufacturer supports the relevant paint code, or you have to do things like waross did. One such former employer asked for 'Storm Grey' to an Australian paint code. None of the major enclosure or switchgear manufacturers would offer it, and a lot of effort was made in attempting to get the equipment painted in the 'correct' colour. In my experience, the factory paint was always of a better finish than anything that had to be done as a custom job for the client, which just added to the cost.

If it were me I'd pick one of the RAL colours that comes standard for most of the enclosure offerings and present that, but I well understand client preference for particular colours. Scotty's suggestion on the shade is a good one though.

EDMS Australia

 

[prc]

In India we were using light admiralty grey(RAL7035) and rarely dark admiralty grey (RAL-7032)following UK practices. But nowadays there are customers who want 5012 Blue(major power generation company in India) I remember Venezuela going for red blood color. In India there is a utility with aluminum paint for transformers.(never use it disadvantage both at test bed and at site) If you are looking for standard- IEEE C57.148-2011 Control cabinets for Power Transformers – Clause 5.14-Unless otherwise specified, exterior color of control cabinets ANSI 70 Grey as per ANSI Z55.1 and interior white or grey.

 

[controlsdude]

usa standard panel color is a light gray for enclosures, junction boxes, and power distribution panels, and nost indoor enclosures for transformers is also same color. I have seen where some customers want osha blue color for electrical enclosures.

It even went so far as saying any brackets that had field mounted devices the color was yellow for some reason.

All paint spec colors that are customer driven are usually an option, so hopefully that option was explain during your contract turnover. Otherwise its a change order like all requests.

Here is something that might shed some light on what your asking. Its what others have pointed out as ansi or iec or osha plant standard colors.

http://protective.sherwin-williams.com/pdf/colors/safety-colors-guide.pdf

http://protective.sherwin-williams.com/color/safety-colors/

http://protective.sherwin-williams.com/color/

 

[jraef]

I will have equipment painted any color someone wants, so long as they are willing to pay for it. In my experience when someone wants to pay for it, they likely have a reason and it's not really my job to question their reasoning. Often times I've been privy to information on color schemes that make sense in the bigger picture, i.e. Safety aspects or technician responsibilities. I'll admit however that sometimes when I hear the reason, I personally think it is ridiculous, but again, not what I get paid for. I just completed a project wherein the end user had to submit the color scheme of the "E-House" holding my gear to the local county "Board of Esthetics" because it is a tourist area and they don't want anything "ugly". So my little 20x40' building was painted "Sea Foam Blue", then plopped next to a gigantic dirty grey concrete power plant with 200' tall concrete smokestacks, power distribution yards and a vast wasteland of decommissioned equipment lying around. But they paid dearly for that Sea Foam Blue paint...
You can't even see my equipment here, it's behind the trees in front of the plant...

On occasion I have argued against painting to a customer spec, but that is generally when I see that a spec was a "cut and paste" from a manufacturer that used a specific odd color and I wanted to provide a standard color. In those cases I was usually successful because the consultant involved didn't really care about color, they were just too lazy to modify the cut-and-paste specification. All I would do is let them know this special color was going to delay the delivery and they would acquiesce.


"You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals" -- Booker T. Washington

 

[btrueblood]

Hmm. "Let's paint the tops of our smokestacks sky blue so they blend in with the horizon, that will look pretty". I'm sure local pilots have some opinions on that.

 

[ScottyUK]

Blue would stand out around here. Concrete grey would blend in perfectly...

 

[jraef]

That's basically the same color our building was painted. I guess they want the socks to match the tie...


"You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals" -- Booker T. Washington