
Frequently Asked Questions
When selecting a supplier to fulfill your inspection needs, you need to be confident that the Inspection Body can supply you with a technically competent service and with consistently reliable results.
ENEFEN was the FIRST Inspection Body in Canada accredited to ISO/IEC 17020-2012. For more information see our About Us web page.
Many companies provide inspection services, sometimes at a low cost or high cost. Before commissioning an organisation to undertake such work, it is important to know the risks. Ask yourself:
- Are you confident that the organisation has the technical competence to undertake the work in question?
- Are you satisfied that the organisation has the resources to do the work?
- Are your needs for impartiality and integrity met by the application of suitable procedures in the organisation?
- Are you confident that the organisation has an adequate quality management system in place to provide a service that consistently meets your needs and expectations?
The technical competence of an inspection body depends on a number of factors including:
- staff with sound knowledge, skills, experience and professional judgement
- the right equipment – properly maintained and, where necessary, calibrated
- appropriate sampling practices
- sound inspection procedures
- accurate recording and reporting of evidence and inspection results
- adequate quality assurance and quality control
- Knowledge of national and local compliance regulations
Yes, we are accredited to do both design and inspection.
As a Type C accredited Inspection Body (IB), ENEFEN has been accredited to provide first party inspections, second party inspections, or both, which form an identifiable but not necessarily a separate part of an organization involved in the design, manufacture, supply, installation, use or maintenance of the items it inspects and which supplies inspection services to its parent organization or to other parties, or to both.
The appliance should be commissioned and in normal operation to complete the Field Approval.
- not support the burner or its pilot properly
- let the burner or pilot be misaligned in the fire tube or furnace
- allow flame to impinge on any surfaces which are not meant to be hit by flame including heat transfer area or any other appliance parts (such as outside part of the firetube)
- allow burner to overheat and eventually crack supporting welds
- burn paint off any part of the appliance
- allow burner to lose flame stability at any part of its firing range, and especially its minimum or maximum fire
- not be able to control the combustion air flow either in forced draft or natural draft designs
- operate outside of its design pressure range between minimum and maximum fire
- produce high CO, deposit carbon on heat exchanger or in the stack
- result in excessive condensation and water collection inside the appliance without proper drainage
- produce excessive noise, vibration, puffs (explosions), smoke, visible flame, excessive surface temperatures , etc, which may be unsafe or detrimental to the appliance itself, or to the process, personnel, public, or environment
The instrument venting requirements are described in the CSA B 149.1, CSA B149.2, and B149.3 Codes. Since the wording of these standards is somewhat convoluted we recommend for industrial installations a simpler practical guideline:
1. Vent connection size from any device shall not be reduced below the connection size of that device, but in no case shall be less than equivalent to 1/4" Sch 40 pipe ID = 0.364". (Note: We do accept 3/8" OD 0.035" wall instrument tubing although its ID is slightly smaller than that).
2. Vent lines longer than 50 ft shall be increased by one pipe or tube diameter for each additional 50 ft length, with the increase starting at the connection to the device (this means that the vent line has to be bigger from the start and not that it has to be gradually increased)
3. Vent lines shall be made of seamless steel, aluminum, or stainless steel tubing, or seamless carbon steel pipe (SCE 40 pipe is sufficient).
4. When possible each device shall be vented separately (on small skid packages this is usually simpler and less costly than building vent headers)
5. When multiple devices other than pressure relief devices (separate PSV or PSV internal to a PRV) are connected to a single vent line, this vent line shall have an area of not less than twice the total area of the connected vents. [Use formula => sqr((D1^2 + D2^2 + ....... + Dn^2)*2) ]
6. Multiple pressure relief devices (separate PSV or PSV internal to a PRV) may be connected to a single vent line if the inlet pressures do not vary be more than 10% and this vent line has an area equal to the largest device opening plus 50% of the total area of other device openings.
7. The outdoor vent termination shall be equipped with a means to prevent the entry of water, insects and other foreign objects. (typically this means a "candy-cane" or 90EL termination pointing downwards and a screen at the outlet)
8. There shall be no valves, reductions, or other devices installed in the vent lines which could impede their operation, or in any way made them ineffective, isolated or bypassed.
9. All vents shall be terminated at a "safe location" including:
a) not directed at operators face or any part of operator's body
b) not located near walkways, driveways, stairs, access ladders, manual valves or other devices where operator's or public presence may be foreseen.
c) not terminated under the buildings, soffits or any areas where vented gas may be trapped or accumulate
d) not terminated in locations which may be covered by snow, ice, leaves, plants, or any other objects which may impede venting
e) at least 1 meter away from building openings (windows, doors, vent louvers or cut-outs, etc), appliance vent outlets, or moisture exhaust ducts
f) at least 3 meters away from mechanical air intakes (equipped with a fan), appliance air intake, or source of ignition.
g) not located so that prevailing winds, downdrafts or gas buoyancy (negative or positive) could blow the gas back towards the above "unsafe locations"
h) preferably directed "up and away" to allow any vented gas to be safely dispersed to the outside air.
i) when vented gas contains poisonous compounds (such as H2S) additional precautions shall be taken to ensure its "safe" venting, including extending the above minimum distances and/or disposing of the vent gas to appropriately sized flare headers.