As in, starting the process of determining / choosing.

Small company, one full suit. Calculations aren't ready for the switchgear energy, the work will be performed on the primary side of this transformer. [ATTACH]190.vB[/ATTACH]
Normally, our work does not exceed 480 volts, so this will be a rare occurrence (replacing 208 volt heaters).

Aside from the rating / class of the suit, I need to figure out pros and cons of brands. Who can help?

I like Zog's list for starters:
What PPE do you need? [color="Blue"]Full suit.[/color]
Daily wear or coveralls? [color="Blue"]Full kit to deenergize this equipment, verify, and reenergize.[/color]
What climate? [color="Blue"]Ohio, 0-100 degrees, humid. I'd like cooling, I think.[/color]
Rent/lease or buy? [color="Blue"]Purchase.[/color]
Laundering? Who will do it, who will ensure it is done right? [color="Blue"]No one?[/color]
What HRC's are you exposed to? (Voltage has little to do with it) [color="Blue"]Not yet known for this job, but under 2 normally.[/color]
Any chemical exposure? That determines your material choice. [color="Blue"]Not expected.[/color]
How dirty will they get, industrial or home laundering? [color="Blue"]Suit will have little use, it'll stay clean enough. I doubt home laundering is an option. [/color]
Any clean room requirements? [color="Blue"]No.[/color]
Does Made in USA matter? [color="Blue"]Eh, quality first.[/color]
Does it need to be union made? [color="Blue"]No, quality first.[/color]
Does price matter or do you want the best regardless of price? [color="Blue"]Well, I don't want to suffer for a couple hundred bucks difference. Within reason...[/color]

Considering that this might be 40 cal or more, though I really hope not, I want to at least consider any convenience possible.
Hood staying on easily.
Able to don the suit alone.
Cooling.
Else?

I've never used one. What else should I be thinking of?

Start with all the suit vendor websites. Salisbury, Westex etc. Go to a distributor and talk with them. They are getting better and lighter but still pretty nasty when it is 100 with humitdity. Yep, Zog's list is pretty good one.

If you are mostly going to be exposed to HRC 2 and below I would get an HRC 2 kit for sure, there is a huge difference in comfort, vision, and workability compared to a 40 cal suit.

Salisbury has a 4 layer 40 cal suit, much lighter and cooler than the 2 layer versions, about $200 more, it has LT at the end of the catalog #, if you are only going to be wearing it for a short duration you won't need cooling, but the hard hat fan type cooling system works pretty well for longer periods. You will need to figure out your laundering, these suits get stanky pretty quick, if you use a service make sure they are familiar with FR laundering procedures, normal industrial laundering will damage the FR treatment of the suit.

That all being said, it sounds like you are replacing the heaters in your 15kV fused disconnect switches? Even though it appears you would need to schedule a POCO shutdown, I recommend this is done de-energized.

Thanks Zog. I guess the inside of the suit matters too.

Definitely deenergized work, but want a suit to verify, and operate it.

And yes, I want the lightest suit that will be correct, for those types of reasons. If it is too uncomfortable, I know how easy it is to forget to use it.

Zog

I was under the impression that most of the Salisbury product was made from the Indura Ultra Soft fabric and the FR properties cannot be damaged by laundering unless one is to use bleach.
Can you please elaborate on this?

All great questions! I've been selling arc flash suits for 5 years now and recently wrote an article titled "Arc Flash Suit Buying Guide". I'm also a member of several technical committees related to workplace electrical safety including CSA Z462, CAN/ULC-S801, CSC/IEC/TC78 and ULC Live Working. If you're on Linkedin feel free to download this article or any other resources from my profile; http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jim-pollard/1a/418/177. I recommend adding me as a connection to access this content. In case you need my email address; jpollard@oberoncompany.com.

Bleach is the big one but thee are several other factors, your typical commercial laundry process will not meet these criteria. http://www.westex.com/filebase/en/src/PDFs/Laundry_Guide.pdf