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Atex Fans

Atex

Greenmount Fans manufacture fans that are fully compliant with the ATEX directive 2014/34/EU for use in hazardous areas to ensure that our customers are able to provide a safe working environment for their employees.

European Directive 94/9/EC laterly 2014/34/EU commonly referred to as the ATEX (taken from the French “ATmosphères EXplosibles”) Products Directive concerns equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.  The purpose of this directive is to create a set of harmonised legal safety standards for electrical and non-electrical equipment for use in potentially explosive atmospheres to facilitate free movement of such goods across the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA).  There is also a second ATEX directive covering the safety of working operations, which must also be taken into account by the end user, Directive 1999/92/EC (ATEX 137 or ATEX Workplace Directive).

Applicable since 1st July 2003, the directive applies to the whole of the EU and EEA and all new installations must conform to this regulation.  In addition, all existing installations have to be analysed and risk assessed using this new code by the end of June 2006.

If products come within the scope of the ATEX directive, companies that wish to sell them or have them put into service have to comply with the Essential Health & Safety Requirements (EHSR) specified in the directive. The manufacturer must identify machinery conforming to the ATEX regulations by attaching a nameplate displaying the manufacturer’s details, ATEX classification, CE mark, European Commission mark for Ex products.

Under ATEX, hazardous areas are classified into zones on the basis of frequency and duration of an explosive atmosphere.

Zone

Zone Criteria

Equipment Protection
Gases Dust

(Presence of Hazardous Atmosphere)

Category*

Level

0 20 Permanent or Present most of the time 1 Very High
1 21 Present occasionally in normal operation 1,2 High
2 22 Rarely in normal operation, i.e. accidental occurance. 1,2,3 Normal

* Subject to suitability with gas or dust type present.

It is the responsibility of the end user to specify to the fan manufacturer the zone and category required and it is their duty to ensure that they supply sufficient information to obtain the appropriate fan for the job.  The zone can be different for inside and outside the fan and the category of the machinery has to correspond to the more dangerous zone.  Greenmount Fans provide an ATEX Customer Form to assist our customers in supplying all necessary information to ensure the correct category and zone are selected for each fan.

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