If you’ve ever walked through an industrial facility—whether it’s a chemical processing plant, an oil refinery, a grain elevator, or a pharmaceutical manufacturing line—you’ve probably seen a small, unassuming box mounted on a wall or beside a motor: that’s a starter and driver. For nearly two decades, I’ve sold these components. Most people I talk to at industry events assume starters and drivers are just routine parts of any motor system, used to turn pumps, conveyors, and compressors on and off without much fanfare. But last quarter, a plant manager in the Gulf Coast called me in a panic. “Our current starters keep tripping unexpectedly in our hydrogen storage unit,” he said. “We had three unplanned shutdowns in two months, and our insurance is threatening to raise premiums if we don’t fix it.” That call opened my eyes to a question I get more now than ever: Can starters and drivers be safely used in hazardous environments? The short answer is yes—but not all starters and drivers are created equal, and cutting corners on specification, certification, or installation can turn a routine component into a major safety risk. Let’s break this down. Starters & Drivers
First, we need to define what a “hazardous environment” actually means, because that term covers a huge range of industrial spaces. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) classify these environments by the presence of flammable gases, vapors, dust, or fibers that could ignite if exposed to an arc, spark, or overheated surface from an electrical component. For example, a petrochemical plant’s offloading area has explosive gasoline vapors; a grain handling facility has fine wheat dust that ignites at temperatures as low as 420°F; a pharmaceutical lab might handle flammable solvents like ethanol or acetone. Each of these poses a unique risk, and a standard off-the-shelf starter or driver won’t stand up to them.
Let’s start with the biggest mistake I see suppliers and plant operators make: assuming any “enclosed” starter is hazardous-rated. A standard NEMA 1 enclosure, for example, is just a simple metal box that keeps dust out of the motor room. It’s not designed to contain an internal spark or prevent one from igniting surrounding flammables. In a hazardous area, the enclosure has to do two things: either it prevents any spark, heat, or arc from escaping into the environment (called “explosionproof”), or it keeps flammable materials from entering the enclosure at all (“hermetically sealed”). For my part, we only source and sell starters and drivers that are third-party certified to IECEx, ATEX, or NEC (National Electrical Code) standards—these aren’t just labels; they mean the component has been tested to survive an internal explosion without rupturing, and that any external surfaces won’t reach a temperature high enough to ignite nearby materials.
Take the Gulf Coast hydrogen plant I mentioned earlier. Hydrogen has the widest flammable range of any common industrial gas: between 4% and 75% concentration in air. That means even a tiny leak can create a mix that will ignite from a spark as small as static electricity. The plant’s old starters were NEMA 12-rated, which is designed for non-hazardous areas with oily mist or dust—great for a warehouse, terrible for a space where hydrogen is stored. When their old starter’s contactors turned on, the small arc inside the box wasn’t contained, and it ignited a pocket of hydrogen that had seeped past a faulty seal. By switching to our ATEX/IECEx-certified explosionproof starters for Class I, Division 1 areas (the strictest classification for locations where flammable gases are present 24/7), they cut unplanned shutdowns to zero in the three months since installation. That’s not luck—that’s design for hazardous conditions.
Next, let’s talk about drivers, which are often overlooked in hazardous environments. Starters are the basic components that turn a motor on and off, but drivers are the more advanced units that control motor speed, torque, and power. In industries like mining or chemical production, variable frequency drives (VFDs) are used to adjust pump speeds to match process needs, reducing energy use and wear on equipment. But VFDs generate more heat and electrical noise than basic starters, which makes them a higher risk in hazardous spaces. Overheating from a poorly ventilated VFD can ignite dust or gas, and electrical noise can interfere with other safety systems like gas detectors.
A coal mine operator in West Virginia reached out to me two years ago, saying their VFD drivers kept triggering mine’s dust monitoring alarms. The fine coal dust in the mine’s conveyor tunnel is a Category G hazardous dust, and the mine’s NEC Class II, Division 1 regulations require all electrical components to limit surface temperatures to 320°F, a threshold well below the ignition point of coal dust. The mine’s original VFD wasn’t rated for dust, so it was overheating at peak conveyor speeds, pushing its surface temperature to 380°F. We worked with their engineering team to swap the unrated VFD for our dust-ignition-proof driver, which has a sealed internal cooling system that prevents coal dust from entering and a thermal management module that keeps surface temperatures at 280°F even at full load. That not only resolved the temperature issue but also reduced the mine’s energy costs by 18% because the driver adjusts speed to match conveyor load. It’s a win for safety and efficiency, but only because we matched the driver’s rating to the specific hazardous environment’s requirements.
Certification isn’t the only piece, though. Installation and maintenance are just as critical, and that’s where I’ve seen even certified components fail. A food processing plant that handles flour dust called me last year, saying their explosionproof starter had caught fire after six months of use. When we did an on-site audit, we found the plant’s electrician had mounted the starter directly above a flour spillage point and hadn’t tightened the enclosure’s seal bolts to the manufacturer’s specification. Flour dust had seeped into the enclosure, and when the starter’s contacts arced, the dust inside ignited. The starter was certified, but improper installation and maintenance created a hazard that should have been avoidable.
That’s why our company doesn’t just sell components—we provide free site assessments for any hazardous environment project. We send our certified engineers to map the area, identify the specific flammable materials present, and confirm the IECEx or NEC classification of the space (it’s divided into Zones, Divisions, and Classes, which many plant operators don’t fully understand). For example, a Zone 1 area (where flammable gases are present occasionally during normal operation) requires a different rating than a Zone 0 area (where gases are present continuously). A driver certified for Zone 1 will work in Zone 2, but using a Zone 0 driver in a Zone 1 area is overkill and more expensive, while using a Zone 1 driver in a Zone 0 area is a safety risk. We also provide training for plant maintenance teams on how to inspect seal bolts, test thermal sensors, and replace worn components—because even the best certified starter won’t stay safe if it’s not maintained correctly.
Another common misconception is that hazardous-rated starters and drivers are significantly more expensive than standard units. While they do cost 20-30% more upfront, the long-term savings far outweigh that. Unplanned shutdowns in hazardous areas can cost a plant tens of thousands of dollars per hour, plus insurance premium increases and potential fines for safety violations. The hydrogen plant I worked with saved over $120,000 in lost production in the first three months after switching to our certified starters, and their insurance premium dropped by 15% because of the reduced safety risk. For the coal mine, the avoided shutdowns were even more critical—mining operations can lose upwards of $50,000 per day when a conveyor system is down, and a fire or explosion would have been catastrophic.
There are also emerging technologies making hazardous environments even safer. I’ve been following the development of intrinsic safety (IS) for starters and drivers, a certification that means the component generates no more electrical energy than is safe to prevent ignition, even if there’s a fault. Unlike explosionproof units, IS components don’t need heavy, bulky enclosures, which makes them ideal for small, portable equipment used in hazardous areas like utility inspection or refinery maintenance. Last year, we rolled out a line of IS-rated portable starters for gas leak detection vehicles, and a number of energy companies have adopted them because they’re lightweight and meet the strictest IECEx Zone 0 requirements. That’s a game-changer for mobile equipment, which has long been a weak point in hazardous area safety.
Of course, no solution is one-size-fits-all. Every hazardous environment has unique risks, and that’s why our approach is tailored to each client. I once worked with a pharmaceutical manufacturer that handled both flammable solvents and explosive medical powder. They needed a starter that could handle two different hazardous zones in the same facility, so we worked with our manufacturing partner to customize a unit that was IS-rated for the solvent storage area and explosionproof for the powder processing line. That kind of customization is only possible when you partner with a supplier that has deep knowledge of hazardous environment standards, not just a catalog of pre-certified parts.
I’ll be the first to admit that there’s still work to be done. Many plant operators still don’t understand the difference between a standard enclosure and a hazardous-rated component, and some suppliers cut corners to offer lower-priced “hazardous” parts that don’t meet certification requirements. That’s why transparency is so important to our business—we never sell a component without providing full certification documentation, and we’ll never push a client to buy a part that isn’t right for their specific environment.
At the end of the day, the question “Can starters and drivers be used in hazardous environments?” has a clear answer: yes, but only if they’re properly certified, specified to the exact risks of the environment, installed correctly, and maintained regularly. For over 15 years, our company has specialized in partnering with industrial operators to provide the right starters and drivers for their hazardous spaces, balancing safety, performance, and cost. If you’re working on a project in a hazardous environment and you’re not sure if your current starters or drivers are up to code, or if you’re looking to upgrade your system to reduce safety risks and unplanned downtime, we encourage you to reach out to our team for a consultation. We can walk through your site’s needs, answer any questions, and help you find a solution that fits.
Explosion Proof Motor References:
- International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 60079: Explosive atmospheres, Part 0: Equipment – General requirements.
- National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) Standard 250: Enclosures for Electrical Equipment.
- National Electrical Code (NEC) Article 500: Hazardous (Classified) Locations.
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Standard 1910.307: Hazardous (Classified) Locations.
- IEC 61800-5-1: Adjustable speed electrical power drive systems – Part 5-1: Safety requirements – Electrical, thermal and energy.
Xian Putai Electric Motor Equipment Co., Ltd.
Xian Putai Electric Motor Equipment Co., Ltd. is one of the most professional starters & drivers manufacturers and suppliers in China, also supports customized service with low price. Welcome to buy advanced starters & drivers in stock here from our factory. If you have any enquiry about quotation, please feel free to email us.
Address: Haibo Guangchang Fengcheng Nine Road Economical & Technological Development District Xi’an City Shaanxi Province – China
E-mail: sales@putaimotor.com
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