A friend of mine has retired. He was a master electrician. He wants to
make some widgets used in electrical work like kerneys, and some smaller
connectors and widgets.

In order to get UL approval, is that a process of submission and approval,
or is it a procedure where one would have to pay to have it tested, etc?

TIA

Steve

On Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:03:07 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

A friend of mine has retired. He was a master electrician. He wants to
make some widgets used in electrical work like kerneys, and some smaller
connectors and widgets.

In order to get UL approval, is that a process of submission and approval,
or is it a procedure where one would have to pay to have it tested, etc?

TIA

Steve

The approvals I've been involved with- you had to submit it to a
testing laboratory (UL is one, ETL and CSA are others) and have it
tested. If it fails, you modify the design and pay for more tests.
Total cost depends on the hours it takes, but figure on $ thousands if
not more. Testing a whole series of related doodads may not be much
more expensive than testing one device. There are also some
maintenance costs (miss a payment and they'll pull the certification).

Consider talking to them at an early stage:
http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/o...le/evaluation/

http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/o...mittalprocess/

I've dealt with CSA and they're quite decent guys (at least on an
engineer-to-engineer basis).

"Spehro Pefhany" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:03:07 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

A friend of mine has retired. He was a master electrician. He wants to
make some widgets used in electrical work like kerneys, and some smaller
connectors and widgets.

In order to get UL approval, is that a process of submission and approval,
or is it a procedure where one would have to pay to have it tested, etc?

TIA

Steve

The approvals I've been involved with- you had to submit it to a
testing laboratory (UL is one, ETL and CSA are others) and have it
tested. If it fails, you modify the design and pay for more tests.
Total cost depends on the hours it takes, but figure on $ thousands if
not more. Testing a whole series of related doodads may not be much
more expensive than testing one device. There are also some
maintenance costs (miss a payment and they'll pull the certification).

Consider talking to them at an early stage:
http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/o...le/evaluation/

http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/o...mittalprocess/

I've dealt with CSA and they're quite decent guys (at least on an
engineer-to-engineer basis).

I was going to comment, but the reply above is pretty much on the nose. I
deal with UL issues in my field all the time. UL is a self serving
organization that has managed to give themselves the glossed over look of
government authority. Remember they are a private company, not a government
organization.

On 8/29/2011 11:38 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:
"Spehro Pefhany" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:03:07 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

A friend of mine has retired. He was a master electrician. He wants to
make some widgets used in electrical work like kerneys, and some smaller
connectors and widgets.

In order to get UL approval, is that a process of submission and
approval,
or is it a procedure where one would have to pay to have it tested, etc?

TIA

Steve

The approvals I've been involved with- you had to submit it to a
testing laboratory (UL is one, ETL and CSA are others) and have it
tested. If it fails, you modify the design and pay for more tests.
Total cost depends on the hours it takes, but figure on $ thousands if
not more. Testing a whole series of related doodads may not be much
more expensive than testing one device. There are also some
maintenance costs (miss a payment and they'll pull the certification).

Consider talking to them at an early stage:
http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/o...le/evaluation/


http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/o...mittalprocess/


I've dealt with CSA and they're quite decent guys (at least on an
engineer-to-engineer basis).

I was going to comment, but the reply above is pretty much on the nose.
I deal with UL issues in my field all the time. UL is a self serving
organization that has managed to give themselves the glossed over look
of government authority. Remember they are a private company, not a
government organization.



Yes, a private company, but the insurance industry relies on their
label, and in Oregon, if not some other states, an item that plugs into
commercial AC power must have the UL label before it can be sold here.

Paul

On Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:48:51 -0700, Paul Drahn
wrote:

Yes, a private company, but the insurance industry relies on their
label, and in Oregon, if not some other states, an item that plugs into
commercial AC power must have the UL label before it can be sold here.

Paul

CSA and ETL (and others) also have NRTL (Nationally Recognized Testing
Laboratory) status, so their marks should be equivalent. All will test
to the same safety standards.

http://www.osha.gov/dts/otpca/nrtl/

On 8/29/2011 1:48 PM, Paul Drahn wrote:
Yes, a private company, but the insurance industry relies on their
label, and in Oregon, if not some other states, an item that plugs into
commercial AC power must have the UL label before it can be sold here.

In many states, an item has to have a certification (UL or ETL) before
it can be used in a public building or workplace.

BobH

Yep - need to deliver 3 as I recall to them.

Since out machines were over $1m stripped down - we decided not to
get a UL rating, but rather have a started using another source to
do it at various customers as test beds.
It costs one way or another. If you are a paid customer - or not...
Martin

On 8/29/2011 1:03 PM, Steve B wrote:
A friend of mine has retired. He was a master electrician. He wants to
make some widgets used in electrical work like kerneys, and some smaller
connectors and widgets.

In order to get UL approval, is that a process of submission and approval,
or is it a procedure where one would have to pay to have it tested, etc?

TIA

Steve