Are UL listed materials required by NEC?

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Dr Duke

Dr Duke

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As the title says. Are products I install daily, required to be UL listed? Or just listed for the application/purpose, such as direct burial?
Say a product says, "suitable for direct burial, under bridges, manhole terminations....but then down in fine print says, "Note: Not UL listed"
 
According to Art. 100 "listed" means included in a list published by an organization that is acceptable to the AHJ. UL is not called out specifically, but I'm fairly sure is acceptacle to 100% of AHJ's. Other organizations such as CSA would probably be acceptable as well. Suitable does not mean listed. When an NEC article says something must be listed, it has to conform to the above definition.
 
Dr Duke said:
As the title says. Are products I install daily, required to be UL listed? Or just listed for the application/purpose, such as direct burial?
Say a product says, "suitable for direct burial, under bridges, manhole terminations....but then down in fine print says, "Note: Not UL listed"
Click to expand...

The NEC only requires certain things to be listed.

For instance light fixtures, or wet location enclosures.
 
The NEC cannot require UL listing for anything without getting sued, what they can require is listing by a NRTL, Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory, which UL is the most common NTRL, but not the only one.
 
Few things to keep in mind, The NEC is not a "law" in itslef. It is a document which has requirements that a governmental jurisdiction can adopt. or alter. Secondly, as Iwire points out, there are a few locations in the NEC where equipment is required to be "listed". For the most part, the NEC relies on Art 110.2 which requires conductors and equipment to be "approved" and that approval is up to the authority having jurisdiction. Most often, that authority will rely on such equipment having been evaluated by a NRTL such as UL.
(OSHA has a list of their approved NRTLs and that list is often the same as State/local jurisdictions **)
At one time the NEC Handbook showed a wireway as an example. If you need an odd sized wireway and have one fabricatd, your AHJ might accept it based on his evaluation of the construction or he might require it to be certified by a NRTL.

**Here is a list of OSHA's NRTLs: https://www.osha.gov/dts/otpca/nrtl/nrtllist.html
 
Context is important here.

For example if that wording is on cable, I'd be concerned about it not being listed by any NRTL, because the listing process also addresses things like temperature ratings, flame propagation, chemical resistance etc., so it's entirely possible that an AHJ may reject it if you cannot provide reasonable "3rd party" proof of those issues. In other countries, the concept of getting certification that a product meets specifications is done by the manufacturers themselves. Here, we tend to consider that to be like the fox certifying the security system of the henhouse.

If that wording is on something like a specialized splice kit where there may not be an applicable UL standard, then the AHJ may have no reason to reject it.

Safe bet is to check in with your AHJ prior to installing it, giving them the full context of what it is and how you plan to use it.
 
Understand fully. This product is an example:

http://tnblnx3.tnb.com/emAlbum/albums//us_cl/pcflex_cl1.pdf

It is Carlon P&C Flex. First of six pages says uses for it and that it is "suitable" for direct bury, and other things. Then under this, in fine print, says "Note: Not UL listed". I wasn't sure exactly if UL trumped other testing labs or what. I understand they are large. I have never used this product, but was in search of something I can use underground that will stay better sealed than RMC/PVC transitions at gas stations.
I am gathering if I do come up with something that I think will work better, I would gather all the info for the products to be used, and present it with my intentions of use to the AHJ and go from there.
 
Most likely there is no UL standard for that product that applies...yet, and even though UL is not the only NRTL, in reality all of the others just use UL's standards, so if UL doesn't have one yet, nobody else will. That's the kind of thing I would run up the AHJ flagpole before committing to it.
 
Dr Duke said:
Understand fully. This product is an example:

http://tnblnx3.tnb.com/emAlbum/albums//us_cl/pcflex_cl1.pdf

It is Carlon P&C Flex. First of six pages says uses for it and that it is "suitable" for direct bury, and other things. Then under this, in fine print, says "Note: Not UL listed". I wasn't sure exactly if UL trumped other testing labs or what. I understand they are large. I have never used this product, but was in search of something I can use underground that will stay better sealed than RMC/PVC transitions at gas stations.
I am gathering if I do come up with something that I think will work better, I would gather all the info for the products to be used, and present it with my intentions of use to the AHJ and go from there.
Click to expand...

Is it it even an NEC recognized conduit system?
 
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