Electrical transmission and distribution lines are long, high voltage power lines that bring electricity from power plants to customers. They are typically made of metal alloy wires that carry electric current at high voltage between substations and transformers.
There is a wide variety of electrical cables available for different purposes, but when it comes to safety, the most important distinction is UL (Underwriters Laboratories) listed or ETL (Electrical Testing Laboratories) listed.
UL listed products have been tested for safety by an independent laboratory recognized by Underwriters Laboratory International Inc., while ETL listing is a certification mark awarded exclusively to manufacturers who pass inspections verifying their compliance with international standards set by IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission). The difference?
What is the UL Standard?
The Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Standard is a measure that tests for fire resistance and safety. It’s meant to be applied in a variety of buildings, such as homes, offices, hospitals and hotels. The UL Standard is often used as the benchmark for other standards because it has been tested since 1894 by more than 50 million hours of testing. If you are looking for an effective way to protect your home or office from fire damage, then you should consider the UL Standard.
The UL standard is one of many methods used to test building materials and other features in order to ensure they’re safe enough for use in various settings.
What is the ETL Standard?
ETL is a process of moving data from one system to another. It stands for extract, transform, and load. In the ETL process, we extract raw data from various sources like databases or files, transform it into a format that is easier to use in downstream processes like reports or analysis tools and finally load it into another system for storage or further processing.
The ETL standard was developed by IBM Corporation as a way of defining the sequence of steps necessary to complete this kind of work. The specification defines how the data should be structured at each stage so that other systems can understand what has been done with them on their journey through an organization’s software stack.
Why are products UL and ETL certified?
The US has a strict set of safety standards for electrical products. These are the UL and ETL certification labels that you see on any product you buy. You may wonder why these certifications exist or what they mean. This blog post will answer those questions and more!
The US has a strict set of safety standards for electrical products, which is where UL (Underwriters Laboratories) and ETL (Electrical Testing Laboratory) come in to play. Both of these organizations have specific guidelines that manufacturers must follow in order to receive their seal of approval.
Getting approved for UL or ETL labels
“We are a manufacturer of the best product in the world and we want to get UL or ETL labels for our products. How do we get that done?” Ask yourself this question and you will find out how much confusion there is about getting these certifications because they have different requirements. It’s time consuming, but not impossible to meet those requirements. Our blog post will give you some tips on what it takes to be approved by either agency.
UL is the safest certifier for testing products and has a prestigious name, but it does not have as much consumer recognition. This means that if you are looking primarily to increase your brand’s visibility with consumers instead of just increasing safety standards in production then ETL would be better suited for you.
UL’s long waiting list and it pricey certification process could be discouraging for manufacturers, but UL is the final word on safety. Manufacturers who place a greater emphasis on their products being UL Listed as opposed to ETL listed should not fret about those drawbacks because they will likely receive more lenient customer reviews from customers looking for assurance that their purchase doesn’t pose any threat of harm in regards to fire or other factors.
UL has had its fair share of disadvantages: with such an extensive backlog, many companies have been left wondering when they can get certified so product development continues at full scale; having your new creation take months before you can release it onto shelves would definitely put anyone out-of-sorts! Fortunately though.
Manufacturers may also specify a product is “ETL Listed to UL Specifications”. This means the item was certified and approved in Intertek’s Laboratory, but it met equivalent specifications that would have been if tested at UL.
In those cases, manufacturers probably didn’t want to spend time or money on seeking out a UL Listing so they opted for an NRTL approval from one of their competitors like ETLA or TUV Rheinland instead. But all these approvals are held up by mostly-similar standards which mean you’re getting safe products across the board regardless because safety comes first!
UL listings carry a bit more “prestige” than approvals from other NRTLs. Even though the difference between these could almost be considered cosmetic, manufacturers are still attracted to UL approval rather than that of an alternative organization due to various reasons.
One possible reason is because there might not be enough sub-assembly parts available for manufacturing companies and so they opt for something with a higher level of prestige in order to stand out among their competition.
In the manufacturing industry, there is always an added risk of safety hazards. In both cases where a product would need to wait for UL Certification or ETL certification before being sold; either way it means that your company has gone through rigorous testing and been found safe by any potential hazard involved in production.
One example can be found in the Honeywell Home PROA7PLUS Security System. This panel was ETL certified and carries certification from UL, but Resideo wants to make it clear that both are considered equal by all standards.
As a result, on this product you’ll find certifications listed as “ETL Listed to UL Standards for Residential Burglary Protection; Residential Fire Protection; Commercial Burglary Protection.”
The PROA7PLUS panel received ETL approval and UL certification. The company is currently seeking out the Canadian equivalents to these approvals, so it can list them as well on their website in an effort to be more comprehensive for all customers looking at this product of theirs.
