UL vs ETL?
- Thread starter ritelec
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I found this
so I'm "guessing" I can use a ETL listed piece of equipment?
NEC Subsection 110.3(C)
Per 110.3(C) Does all equipment have to be Listed? (in particular Power Circuit Breakers) Please provide supporting reason by code reference. Thanks in advance.
forums.mikeholt.com
As long as it is a NRTL, Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory, should be good to go.
ETL is on the list.
ETL is on the list.
You have to watch the foreign companies. For CSA, you need to be sure it has the US mark below it. Same for TUV Rheinland and others. US based companies like UL, ETL test to US specifications if there is no other mark. If they have a C Mark below it, it may only be tested for Canada rules. If it meets both, it will have a C on one side and a US on the other.
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
Here is a list of the NTRL's
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
The code has no reference to the NRTLs as that is an OSHA list. There have been a number of PIs to include such a reference in the NEC, but they have all been rejected.As long as it is a NRTL, Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory, should be good to go.
ETL is on the list.
However, any testing lab on that list would be a "recognized qualified electrical testing laboratory" as required by 110.3(C).
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
One thing that you have to be careful of is what standard is the product actually listed to? That can be difficult to find, where the listing agency is other that UL.
There have been cases where a product says it is listed, but the listing only applies to part of the product. One example would be pop-up kitchen counter receptacles. There is only one brand that has a listing for that application, but a number of others that imply they have such a listing, but when you dig deep into the listing you find that only the receptacle itself is listed, or you find that it is listed as a pop-up receptacle assembly for work surfaces and not for countertops. This last one is very difficult to determine as the requirements are in the same product standard, but in different sections of the standard.
There have been cases where a product says it is listed, but the listing only applies to part of the product. One example would be pop-up kitchen counter receptacles. There is only one brand that has a listing for that application, but a number of others that imply they have such a listing, but when you dig deep into the listing you find that only the receptacle itself is listed, or you find that it is listed as a pop-up receptacle assembly for work surfaces and not for countertops. This last one is very difficult to determine as the requirements are in the same product standard, but in different sections of the standard.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
Yeah, there is more of that going around now, China Inc. has caught on to the fact that once we see the listing bug, we tend to stop there (if we look for a listing at all). I’ve seen it with VFDs lately. To be properly listed for use on a motor, the listing is for “motor controller”, which includes listing the Overload and Short Circuit Protection. Some cheap Chinese VFDs that say they are listed, turn out to be listed as “power converters”, like a solar inverter, which doesn’t require the testing and listing of the motor OL and SC protection. So technically to use them, you have to install an external OL relay, but nobody does.
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