How many people here own any UL directories? And which ones?

Bill

I asked my AHJ some years ago, i forget how many volumes he said there were. As i understand it , they change every few years.
This, and the fact that my AHJ has made his available,is why i have not as yet bought into them.

There are about 19 directories in all. The ones likely to be of interest to an electrician are:
Electrical Appliance & Utilization Equipment
Electrical Construction Equipment (green book)
Hazrdous Locations Equipment
General Information for Electrical Equipment (white book)

The ones I've found to be most useful are the White Book & the Green Book. The Green Book lists names & addresses of manufacturers of listed equipment.

Tom

Most directories are free for anyone who is an electrical inspector.

I have an old Green and White Book somewhere, I don't even remember where or how I got them, only that they seemed important at the time along with a copy of the National Electrical Safety Code. I soon found out that I was in the minority even having knowledge of their existence. None of the "Mechanics" (Maint.) I worked with even owned a copy of the NEC.

It gets discouraging after awhile, spouting code that no one including Management really cares about. What's the moral? I don't know, but there were some near-serious accidents and thankfully I was not close by. After the Companys' 'downsizing' to nothing several of these guys tried to get into the Trade but couldn't make it. Last I heard the "Ace" was making Pizza somewhere in Florida.

Do they have an Orange book too? Is that the Hazardous Location Equip?

Bill

Bill,

Don't know about the orange book, maybe it is IEEE, they seem to like the rainbow.

I know how you feel about others ignoring the code. My reputation as an inspector is "too fussy." I only ask people to meet what is in the NEC, not what I think they should be doing.

As far as ignoring violations, many people say "it seems to be working fine, lets leave it alone." That sounds like the guy who jumped off the World Trade Center Building and as he passed the 10th floor said "so far, so good."

If you want look at an informative publication, get ahold of UL's marking guide for panelboards.It is 26 pages of more info than most people want to know about panelboards.

Tom

I would personally love to get the entire set of these UL "Color" manuals.

This and the IEEE "Color" set of manuals would be very nice!

After that, my reference Library would be something!

How does one go about obtaining the above mentioned literature?
Can Mr. John Q. Public purchase them from the UL website, and will IEEE sell directly to John Q. Public, or does one need to have a member do the buying?

Scott SET

I have not been an inspector for over two years, but I don't think things have changed much in getting certain UL information.

Attend IAEI Chapter and Section Meetings and UL usually have plenty of "MARKING GUIDES" and lots of other info available for the asking.

If you are and AHJ, send your title on Municipal letter head to UL and you will be on the UL mailing list for several of those Colored Directories. Every year received a book with 5 or 6 of them.

Like several persons have indicated, " The UL White Book is the rest of the Code ".

Like the NEC, I think, you need to read the ' subjects ' in White Book more than once to understand the total intent.

The Marking Guides' have very useful information as noted by TOM.

Attend some IAEI Section Meetings and get many of the publications free.

AND LEARN FROM THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS PRESENTED in these three day meetings !!!!

Glenn

In my previous post , correct the "Every year I received a BOX ( not book ) with 5 or 6 different colored Directories.

Glenn

[This message has been edited by Glenn (edited 03-10-2001).]

Glenn,

BTW, you can edit your posts at any time with the little pencil and paper icon above the posts.

I was recently thinking along the same lines after discovering that information like that contained in some of the UL directories is included as part of the Canadian Electrical Code. It sure seems like a great Idea that they be closely associated. I guess it's hard though, coming from different sources. Still, the UL directories seem to be fully supported by the NEC it's a wonder why they are not in every sparkys' library? Maybe they need a good publicist. What do you think?

Bill

I have the white book I got from a Soares Seminar. Before that I haden't seen them. It is nice to read the actual listing uses for materials. A good example is the use of OTHER THAN direct bearing set screw connectors on aluminum AC cable. I don't see this in the code, but it is in the white book. The cheepo connectors supply houses ship are not listed for Alum AC but they don't know that and most wireman don't know of the white book.

Tim,

You're hitting on my main reason for starting this thread. We are bound to install Electrical equipment safely, according to rules of the NEC and associated listings that most people have never seen!
Am I missing something?

Thanks for your Comments,

Bill

That sounds like a great plan. I would like to attend some of the IAEI seminars and lectures, even without the temptation of "goodies" being available, just to be more active in my field.

Tell you guys the truth, I had never even known of the existence of any UL documents/books, prior to July 1994! I was trying to design solid IG systems for LANs at new and remodeled bank branches, which were built around the IBM 4700 systems/3270 system interconnections, plus Gateways for the WAN ability.
Contacted IBM to toss ideas at them and get their suggestions. After a bunch of red tape, they suggested to use the UL and IEEE Emerald books for design documentation. They also mentioned the UL White book would be a great suppliment, more like extention, to the NEC.
They're techs really had no more to offer to my design wants than I had already come up with, even though I actually was successful enough to get some serious and undivided attention from them [the IBM techs] for at least 3 days! Maybe they were trying to keep from looking like "dummies", or maybe it was after mentioning continuously, not only the name of the client [the banks], but several well known contacts with the client [and a few calls from them too!].
Although they mentioned these books, I still had no clue where to get them at, so I had to use other means of designs [my trusty, but way too hardcore Electrical Engineering Manual, plus some Library reference books on RFI/EMI/TVSS and such].

Imagine trying to search the internet, back in July 1994 for these documents! Using Netscape 2.0 something and a 386SX machine with a 9600 KBPS MODEM! It was still a goose chase through hyperspace in late 1996 with my new [at that time] P5 166 mhz machine, 28.8 KBPS MODEM and Netscape 3.0

I had heard of the IEEE color book series before then.
Everything related to computers has endless references to IEEE manuals - you guys know what I mean by this! IEEE 802.5 [tolken ring] was one of the first that I really wanted to get ahold of whatever that color book this is in! 802.3 [Ethernet] was another.
I would love to read the actual specs behind IEEE 1284. Have seen a few places that defies it's logic! Others that would be interesting to read are IEEE 408 [HPIB] and IEEE 1394 [firewire].

Anyhow, so much for non-related ramblings! I'll take a spin over to the IAEI forum and find out where and when there's something close to my area and all that jazz

Thanks everyone for the info!

Scott SET

UL Key Word Search Engine here. The UL Directories at your finger tips!

http://www.ul.com/database/

http://www.joetedesco.com

Joe;
Thank you for the link, i played around some, but would probably do best to introduce a UL number from the field.
Bill;
note the "hyperlink agreement" in this....might be a good thing...eh?

Sparky,

I had a page with links to UL in the Homeowners' area. I should probably fill out the form and put links in the "Lectricians' Areas" too.
https://www.electrical-contractor.net/The_UL_Marks.htm

Bill

Scott,
go to http://www.ieee.org/ for purchasing IEEE books on line. Non-members can buy and I think the Member Discount is around 30%. They are pretty pricey. They can also be ordered from AVO Institute in Dallas. I do not know if AVO has the 1999 Emerald book in stock yet. My version is the 1992.

Since you seem involved in computer rooms, do you know if they are getting away from using a Signal Reference Grid under the raised floor for rooms that have only AC equipment? If so, can you explain why?