wjm@whuxl.UUCP (MITCHELL) (07/26/84)
<munch> Underwriters Laboratories (UL), located in Illinois is a not-for-profit laboratory that tests equipment for fire and electrical safety. A UL listing means that UL has tested samples of a piece of equipment and found that this equipment complies with the appropriate UL standard. UL also conducts periodic retesting of listed equipment to verify that newly produced units meet the same standard as the original sample that was submitted for testing. UL is one of several recognized testing laboratories and is the principal one for electrical testing in the US. Others include the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and the German VDE, and equipment marketed world-wide will often be listed by all three agencies. The decision about whether to submit an item to UL for testing is the product manufacturer's. However, the National Electrical Code requires that equipment be approved by a testing laboratory approved by the authority (the local Building Department) enforcing the code. In most cases, that means UL. Personally, I would not buy any surge protection equipment not approved by UL. There is a reasonable amount of UL-approved equipment on the market (Radio Shack has some) and this way you have UL's assurance that the stuff meets UL standard (which is available from UL at a nominal cost). Otherwise, you're on your own. How do you know it works?? Regards, Bill Mitchell (whuxl!wjm)