Hello,

Just a quick question. Are VDE tools better than "insulated" tools?
Are they tested to a higher spec or is it that insulated tools are not
tested to any defined spec at all?

Thanks.

In article ,
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Just a quick question. Are VDE tools better than "insulated" tools?
Are they tested to a higher spec or is it that insulated tools are not
tested to any defined spec at all?

The answer is how long is a piece of string. VDE is a standards
organisation - but this doesn't mean something not marked as such
wouldn't pass.

--
*There's no place like www.home.com *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Stephen wrote:

Just a quick question. Are VDE tools better than "insulated" tools?
Are they tested to a higher spec or is it that insulated tools are not
tested to any defined spec at all?

I think you have hit the nail on the head... Insulated _may_ perform as
well, but there is no way of knowing for sure. It probably will perform
well enough for 240V use, but I would not trust something untested
beyond that.

--
Cheers,

John.

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On 8 Dec, 10:18, Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Just a quick question. Are VDE tools better than "insulated" tools?
Are they tested to a higher spec or is it that insulated tools are not
tested to any defined spec at all?

Thanks.

I'll quote the relevant Wikipedia article in it's entirety:

"The VDE is the German Association for Electrical, Electronic and
Information Technologies, a professional body based in Frankfurt am
Main. It was founded as Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker
(Association of German Electrical Engineers) in Berlin in 1893 and
renamed itself to Verband der Elektrotechnik, Elektronik und
Informationstechnik in 1998. The VDE has as of 2005[update] some
33,000 members.

The role of the VDE in Germany is comparable to that of the IET in the
United Kingdom and the IEEE in the United States."

One of its activities is as a standards organization. For example, the
VDE maintains the German electrical wiring regulations (DIN/VDE
0100)."

So a VDE stamp probably means (forgeries excepted) that the tool has
been tested to the relevant standard by a VDE accredited testing
house. The raises the questions (a) what are the relevant standards?
and (b) how are they created, maintained, and enforced? and (c) is VDE
the only organisation that can accredit testing? (there are in fact
others).

You don't know what performance characteristics an unmarked tool will
turn out to have, even if labelled 'insulated' by the selling
organisations.

Of course, even marked tools may not have been tested. It could be
that a representative sample of tools is taken from the production run
and the one you buy happens to be an unrepresentative outlier. It
depends upon the testing regime, of which I have no knowledge.

If you are going routinely to trust your life to this set of tools, I
suggest you might want to think out how reputable your source of
supply is and whether you think the testing regimes are fit for
purpose. The motor industry (to name one) has a huge problem with
fake, substandard parts getting into the supply chain. The forgery of
the packaging is so good, it easily passes routine inspection, and
similar problems have hit the aircraft maintenance industry as well.
Buying from reputable suppliers helps to decrease the risk.

Cheers,

Sid

On Mon, 8 Dec 2008 04:41:29 -0800 (PST), wrote:

You don't know what performance characteristics an unmarked tool will
turn out to have, even if labelled 'insulated' by the selling
organisations.


Sorry for the late reply but what I have quoted above is more or less
what I had thought. Thanks for confirming that.