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www.eaton.comSwitchgear for North America 22/15
Summary
This chapter of themain catalog briefly
introduced the topic of approvals for
North America as well as the various
switchgear and protective devices
and their normal usage in confor-
mance with the North American codes
and standards. Further information
about equipping machines and
installations to UL 508A and NFPA 79 is
available from Eaton in a range of
technical essays. Eaton also holds
workshops on this subject.
Some users still think that they can
avoid compliance with the North
American standards and codes. There
may be a few exceptions, in which an
installation is not inspected for
compliance, and in even fewer cases
adherence to the North American
codes and standards is not required. If
you have experienced such a case,
you should not assume it to be the
normal situation. The electrical codes
have the same status as to North
American law.
We regularly receive calls from
machine and panel builders whose
products are not accepted in North
America and who are desperately
looking for solutions for their some-
times serious mistakes. Rectifying
these can be very expensive, cost a
considerable amount of time and
results in lost image. What is more, in
North America some modifications
must be performed by North American
companies and can not, therefore be
carried out by the manufacturer.
For companies that supply the North
American market only occasionally
and who do not wish to expand this
market region, it may be more efficient
to commission an experienced
subcontractor with supplying and
installing the electrical equipment.
These vendors can re-engineer
IEC/EN installations to North American
codes and standards and build instal-
lations that are already accepted and
approved at the place of manufacture.
Eaton Electric GmbH itself does not
provide engineering services because
we do not want to compete with our
customers.
This information does not replace the
detailed study and implementation of
the North American codes and
standards. It has been compiled by
Wolfgang Esser and other Eaton
specialists to our best knowledge and
belief based on the product situation
and state of the standards at the
beginning of 2010.
The binding documents are always the
original North American codes and
standards and, for the described
products, the applicable Eaton main
catalog and Eaton’s approval
documents for its products.