Arrester Testing and Standards

Arrester Testing and Standards Regulatory and approval agencies and insurers impose acceptance testing requirements, sometimes as part of certification standards. The user may also request testing to demonstrate specific performance needs, just as the manufacturer can help develop standards. These interrelationships have resulted in several new and updated performance test procedures. Listing of an arrester by a testing laboratoiy refers only to performance under a defined set of test conditions. The flame arrester user should develop specific application requirements based on the service involved and the safety and risk criteria adopted. 

In Germany, deflagration and detonation flame arresters are tested and approved by the German Federal Physical-Technical Institnte (PTB) in Brannschweig and the German Federal Institnte for Material Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin. However, once the new Enropean Committee for Standardization (CEN) standard is approved, it will supersede the PTB and BAM procedures. 

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) published a standard in 1984 for the design, testing and locating of deflagration and detonation flame arresters and high velocity vent valves for cargo tanks in tanker ships (IMO 1984). This was amended in 1988 and reissued as Revision I (IMO 1988). A new revised standard was issued in 1994 (IMO 1994). 

ASTM F-1273-91. 1991. Standard Speeifieation for Tank Vent Flame Arresters. American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, PA. 

Before performing any inspection or maintenance on a flame arrester, the associated process eqnipment and piping shonld be taken ont of service or isolated. The work area mnst be proven by test to be free of any harmfnl gases or vapors. It shonld also be verified that all piping is clean and free of obstrnctions and debris. All plant, company, local, state, and federal safety and fire codes and standards shonld be followed. 

This chapter discusses regulations, codes, and standards currently in use in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe for selecting, testing, and certification of flame arresters. 

The Canadian Standards Association Standard Z343 (CSA 1998) presents test methods for in-line and firebox flame arresters. In this standard in-line flame arresters are limited to only detonation types and firebox flame arresters are defined as flame arresters installed in an enclosnre, or system of enclosnres, where the mn-np distance is less than 1.5 meters and open to the atmosphere. Firebox flame arresters are commonly nsed on eqnip-ment designed to heat flnids in prodnction operations snch as indirect heaters, emnlsion treaters, and glycol dehydrators. The development history of this standard is presented in Section 2.3.2. 

A new CEN European standard, EN 12874, was issued in 2001. It will be used by all European nations that belong to the European Union (EU) that are members of the Comite Enropeean de Normalisation (CEN), as well as other non-EU nations that are members of the CEN. It will supersede BS 7224 in England, FEB and BAM in Germany, and standards in use in other European countries. This is a very comprehensive standard covering types of flame arresters not covered in US, Canadian, and other standards. It contains test procedures for the following types of flame arresters ... 

Thomas, G. O. 1998. Explosion Arrester Testing State of the Draft European Standard. Paper presented at the 3rd Worldwide Seminar on Explosion Phenomena and Application of Explosion Protection Techniques m Practice, February 8-12, 1998, Europex, Ghent, Belgium. 

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