Customer supplied sauna parts

J

JoeNorm

Senior Member
Location
WA
I have a guy who wants me to install a sauna kit. It appears to have come from China. The Heater looks nice enough(Finnish brand) but the controls look sketchy and I cannot find a listing on them(or any instructions for that matter).

I am posting this in the business section because I'm looking for advice on what to tell him. How do others handle these situations where customer is excited to install some cheap thing they bought but I want nothing to do with it? It's easy in theory but sometimes feels a little harsh to tell them they need to buy something completely different.
 
I would explain that you won't hook up non-listed equipment because if his house burns down you do not want any liability. I see more and more equipment and lighting fixtures that come from China lacking any listing but people love them because they're cheap.
 
If you don't want to install it, just tell them you don't want to do it and they should find someone else.

I don't recall what the rules around saunas are but I think only the sauna itself requires listing and not the control panel.
 
What do you mean the controller wouldn't need a listing? This is where 240v comes in and out. I'm not necessarily challenging you here, I just don't know and would like to know if that is the case
 
If it seems sketchy, don't do it. It is your reputation. There is the business side of this questions. How much are you going to make on parts. How much on labor. How much on reputation. How much time to prep and educate yourself on an unknown material install. Be respectful yet firm and polite and say you are too busy and unqualified to figure out and engineer a sauna. The customer will respect you for that, if not you dodged a bullet someone else got hit with. The customer will respect you and call you back in the future.
 
If you are in WA, the WAC requires anything electrical to be NRTL listed. You can hire a Field Evaluation Body to provide that listing if the factory parts aren't listed or you are assembling them into something more. The WAC lists the approved Field Evaluation Bodies you can use in WA state.

The rule technically applies to residential, but there isn't really an enforcement means, especially for cord and plug connected items as the item may not be there when the inspector is there (he'll look at the receptacle and circuit, but that's all). Even if the item is there, the inspector may not bring up the issue. My last year with my employer I was doing "self certification" of items that had no NRTL listing and were too small for a Field Evaluation Body to mess with. WISHA and OSHA kept pointing out all the tools and equipment we had that wasn't listed (many old things like drill presses and milling machines from the 40's, but even some new things like plasma cutters and more). Why we didn't just replace all the old tools and buy new ones I don't know. Paying me an hour or two's wage to track down the item, pull out a bonding meter, do some visuals, and write a report was cheaper than a Field Eval Body but you could have bought half or all of a new machine for what they paid me. The FEBs typically wouldn't do something simple like a drill press, but I'm not sure WISHA is going to be satisfied with the self cert approach. OSHA seemed to be more conducive, but the whole effort may have been a waste in WA.

So you can use this whole process as a reason not to mess with it or price it out of their reach.
 
JoeNorm said:
I have a guy who wants me to install a sauna kit. It appears to have come from China. The Heater looks nice enough(Finnish brand) but the controls look sketchy and I cannot find a listing on them(or any instructions for that matter).
Click to expand...
Can you post a pic of the controls or a link to the product?
Whenever I do a sauna install I either use a GFCI or if it says 'no GFCI' in the instructions I use a GFPE breaker, not a code requirement but provides an extra layer of protection.
 
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