ANSI Color Codes

    

ANSI Color Codes

Why are the ANSI color codes important? What does the yellow
background mean?

The yellow background signifies that the piping may handle hazardous material.
Unfortunately, much has changed in the typical plant over the last 70 years since this
standard was originally conceived. The basic standard can be traced to the 1920's and use
in the US military. Obviously, our definitions for what is "hazardous" has changed. Water,
air or carbon dioxide, under certain situations (pressure, heat, mixture with other chemicals)
are not always benign. How do we interpret, for example, materials that should be used for
"fire quenching" that are also "hazardous"? Should we use the red or the yellow ANSI
  scheme? Or, how do we label a pipe that carries both the liquid (which should be green)
and gas form of a chemical (which should be blue)?

Hazards, in other words, are not so easily defined. "Hazardous" may mean that the
material is hazardous to a person nearby, or to the operation of the overall plant itself.
Could "hazardous" mean that the materials flowing through the process piping, if not
handled carefully, could contaminate the product. Or, if leaked into the atmosphere, could
the chemical infect the environment or cause damage to employees after cumulative
exposure over a period of years? Clearly, the ANSI standard was written for far simpler
times.

Color Std Meaning Example

Electric Power Lines, Cables,
Red APWA Buried High Voltage Line
Conduit and Lighting Cables
Gas, Oil, Steam, Petroleum or Natural Gas Distribution
Yellow APWA
Gaseous Materials Line
Communication, Alarm or Signal
Orange APWA Buried Fiber Optic Cable
Lines, Cables or Conduit
Blue APWA Water, Irrigation and Slurry Lines Buried Water Line
Green APWA Sewers, Drain Line Buried Storm Sewer Line
Red Traffic Prohibition STOP, Yield
Construction Zone
Orange Traffic Temporary Work Zone
Ahead
Yellow Traffic Caution Merge Ahead, Slow
Blue Traffic Information Signs Hospital
Brown Traffic Historical or Park Picnic Area Ahead
Green Traffic Directional Signs Exit 1 Mile, Go
ANSI Hazardous Voltage Will
Red Danger Signs, Highest Hazard
Sign Cause Death
ANSI Hazardous Voltage May
Orange Warning Signs, Medium Hazard
Sign Cause Death
ANSI Turn Machine Off When
Yellow Caution Signs, Lowest Hazard
Sign Not In Use
ANSI
Blue Notice Signs Employees Only

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ANSI Color Codes

Sign
ANSI
Green Safety First Signs Wear Ear Plugs
Sign
ANSI
Red Fire Quenching Materials Fire Protection Water
Pipe
ANSI
Yellow Materials Inherently Hazardous Chlorine
Pipe
ANSI Materials of Inherently Low Hazard,
Blue Compressed Air
Pipe Gas
ANSI Materials of Inherently Low Hazard,
Green Storm Drain
Pipe Liquid
NFPA Blue is used for Health Hazards, Red for Flammability and
Blue/Red/Yellow
701 Yellow for reactivity

Variations in color-coding standards are inevitable in our complex plant and pluralistic
society. While laudable, harmonization of color-codes, then, will be very difficult to achieve.
Many plants use other color-coding; for example, color-code each system (i.e. Lube Oil is
brown, Condensate is green, etc.>) or color code by Unit (i.e. Unit 1 is yellow, Unit 2 is
blue, etc.). For most plants, we recommend either the ANSI pipe marker color codes or
simply black on yellow markers. For more complex plants, we recommend a color-coding
by system. For all environments, we recommend the inclusion of RTK information on the
valve or on the pipe.

ANSI Color Code for Thermocouple and Thermocouple Extension Wire

Thermocouple T/C Extension Wire
ANSI Wire Color Color
Symbol Wire Alloys Polarity Individual Jacket Individual Jacket
Iron +JP White White
J Brown Black
Constantan (TM) -JN Red Red
CHROMEL ®* +KP Yellow Yellow
K Brown Yellow
ALUMEL ®* -KN Red Red
Copper +TP Blue Blue
T Brown Blue
Constantan (TM) -TN Red Red
CHROMEL ®* +EP Purple Purple
E Brown Purple
Constantan (TM) -EN Red Red
Nicrosil (TM) +NP Orange Orange
N Brown Orange
Nisil (TM) -NN Red Red
Copper +RSP Black
RSX
Copper Alloy -RSN
- - Red
Green

PCLW630/Copper +BP Grey

BX
Copper -BN
- - Red
Grey

Alloy 203; Alloy

W3X 405 +WP White/Red
W5X Alloy 225; Alloy -WN
- - Red
White/Red
426

* CHROMEL® and ALUMEL® are registered rademarks of Hoskins Manufacturing Company. PMC Corporation reserves the
right to substitute equivalent product to CHROMEL® and ALUMEL® at any time.
For additional information see Bare Wire Data Sheet

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