Chinese Electrical Equipment

[LewisB08]

Evening Everyone.

A company I am working for I going though a phase of buying a lot of motors, and limit switches from China, Just want o know if these can be installed in the UK, and if they need to meet certain requirements etc.


Thank you

 

[Richard Burns]

So long as the equipment is manufactured to European specifications ( for the UK ideally to British standards) then it is OK to install in the UK.
There are obviously a lot of different manufacturers in China and some are very good (and are making most of the stuff sold in the UK by the major brands) and some are very poor and will defraud you.

The key point is knowing which is which.:shocked3:

 

[LewisB08]

How would I know? The items have no BS numbers or anything of the kind on them

 

[Richard Burns]

The general method of declaring conformity with the European economic area standards is to CE mark your equipment.
If this is done then the manufacturer is confirming that the product meets the European requirements.

 

[LewisB08]

Definitely does not have that, all I can do then would be to advise them that it is not safe to install in this country?

 

[Marvo]

When it comes to manufactured items there is large areas of crossover between the British Standards and the ISO standards.

For example a motor or even a machine might be manufactured to the acoustic standards laid out in ISO/TR 11688-2:2001. The equivalent British Standard is BS 11688-2:2001 which is exactly the same standards document but it makes external references to other British Standards rather than the ISO version which refers to other ISO standards but the core standard is the same. The Ameracan Standards ANSI also have exactly the same core standards document as do the South African National Standards Anthority with SANS11688-2, also the Botswana Standards and many many more.

My point would be that just because a product doesn't state compliance with a British Standard doesn't necessarily mean it's not compliant and can't be sold there..

 

[Simonslimline]

When it comes to manufactured items there is large areas of crossover between the British Standards and the ISO standards.

For example a motor or even a machine might be manufactured to the acoustic standards laid out in ISO/TR 11688-2:2001. The equivalent British Standard is BS 11688-2:2001 which is exactly the same standards document but it makes external references to other British Standards rather than the ISO version which refers to other ISO standards but the core standard is the same. The Ameracan Standards ANSI also have exactly the same core standards document as do the South African National Standards Anthority with SANS11688-2, also the Botswana Standards and many many more.

My point would be that just because a product doesn't state compliance with a British Standard doesn't necessarily mean it's not compliant and can't be sold there..

Very informative post Marvo. Thanks for that.

 

[Marvo]

Your welcome. If you give me a list of the standards the motors comply with I have a database that can cross reference them and I'll tell you which are the equivalent British Standards they'd comply with.