Would I use anything that is not listed?
Joe, what about that old lamp with the cracked up open-face rubber plug you showed wayyyy back! (i know, I'm sure you rewired it properly)
Let me look at the outboard stepdown x-former for this electric radio sitting on my desk....oh no! It's not listed -- seriously!!
Lots of (namely offbrand) electrical appliances for sale aren't ETL approved. BE CAREFUL when you're shopping. Too bad you don't live in New York -- I could take you to a bunch of places that sell everything from electric razors, to beard trimmers, to POWER TOOLS (drills and rotary hammers) that have no ETL certifications. There's even this little 3" travel iron at one store (made mostly of transparent plastic) that can be used for ironing "nickties".
Last weekend I was using a small electric iron for setting those vinyl patches on car door panels.
The device (that looked like a tiny soldering iron with a flat copper disk attached to the tip) came with about five INCHES of "UL Listed cord". I used to have a 16" stand fan that wasn't UL listed. That burned out a while back.....
The most recent case I can remember recalls for non-listed and potentially hazardous devices was a recall for a certain heavy duty electric fan that was being sold through the GEM and S&A chains of discount stores a couple of summers ago. I believe it's gotta be in one of those "recall notice" websites.
I think there have been some instances of some extension cords with fake UL labels too...
[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 08-09-2003).]