Chinese Restaurant

[Bill Annett]

HI, I will be inspecting a new Chinese Restaurant. The equipment that the electrical contractor is wiring for came from China. The equipment is marked 220V 50 Hz. .My question is, what does the contractor have to do in order to make the Chinese made equipment work over here. The equipment comes with a cord and plug but is made to plug into a Chinese receptacle.

I will be grateful for any information.


Thanks, Bill

 

[nizak]

Before going too far does the equipment carry a UL listing? May want to verify that it's even code compliant to install.

 

[Bill Annett]

nizak, Thanks for answering so quickly. The equipment does not have a UL listing. Every thing is written in Chinese. To be honest with you I do not think that I can control what they plug in to the receptacles. My inspection stops at the outlets. I just want to make sure the everything is safe.

Bill

 

[north star]

: - : - :

The AHJ shall have the authority to accept or refuse
any electrical [ or other ] installations, ...RE: Article
90.4, `08 NEC.

: - : - :

 

[Jraef]

From a technical standpoint, if the equipment just has resistive heater elements in it and/or electronic power supplies, there probably won't be any issues. But if there are AC motors, there may be BIG issues that could result in fire danger.

My experience with Chinese designed equipment (as opposed to designed in and for the US but made in China) is that they can be VERY lax about protective devices inside of the controls, they sometimes expect the user to deal with that, even on plug-in stuff. If you can't read Chinese, how are you going to know?

 

[augie47]

Wow! What a sticky situation.
I would have the same concern but can just imagine the hurdles.
Our basic rules somewhat mirror yours. E/C installs a receptacle with adequate wiring and protection based on the receptacle rating and our jurisdiction stops.
I would imagine the the level of cooperation you will get from the end user will be less than satisfactory.
It would not do a thing to reduce my level of concern, but from an inspection (personal) standpoint, I would obtain legal advice and draft a letter advising the customer to seek input from the manufacturer or an engineer before using the equipment.