The purpose of NEMA Type ratings is to provide a characterization of an enclosure’s ability to protect personnel from the contents of the enclosure and to protect the equipment in the enclosure from the environment outside, as well as to ensure overall quality of the part.
NEMA is a United States manufacturers’ organization that promotes standardized specifications for electrical products. While the organization does not test the products itself, it develops detailed construction, performance, and installation criteria as well as testing methods for electrical products. These methods are then used by manufacturers, often along with standards and independent testing from Underwriters Laboratories (UL), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), etc. to certify their products.
Consideration for NEMA Type ratings is an important step in the design and development of electrical products and equipment because it aligns the expectations of manufacturers and installers. By standardizing features such as nomenclature, construction and composition, dimensions and tolerances, operating characteristics, and testing, manufacturers and purchasers can eliminate miscommunications in selecting the proper equipment for a job.
The purpose of the Type ratings is to provide a characterization of an enclosure’s ability to protect personnel from the contents of the enclosure and to protect the equipment in the enclosure from the environment outside, as well as to ensure overall quality of the part. In the spirit of the rating, our conduit and our fittings do prevent ingress of large, solid foreign objects into the raceway and will perform, undamaged, should ice form externally on the raceway.
Among the enclosures used in non-hazardous locations, there are 14 different rating designations: