Date: 30 May 2000
IEC 60730 series: Safety standards on automatic controls for household
use
Three new international standards
have recently been published by the International Electrotechnical
Commission as parts of the IEC 60730 series on automatic electrical
controls for household and similar use. The new publications deal
with particular requirements for: automatic electrical burner control
systems (IEC 60730-2-5); electrically operated water valves, including
mechanical requirements (IEC 60730-2-8); and temperature sensing
controls (60730-2-9).
IEC 60730-2-5 applies to automatic electrical burner
control systems for the automatic control of burners for oil, gas,
coal or other combustibles for household and similar use including
heating, air conditioning and similar use. This international standard
should be used in conjunction with the second edition of IEC 60730-1
Referring to IEC 60730-2-8, Ed Gray, from
NEMA (US National
Electrical Manufacturers Association), and Secretary of IEC
Technical Committee 72 (Automatic controls for household use),
says: "The main purpose of this standard is to establish electrical
and mechanical safety standards and to set some minimum level of
performance for electrically operated water valves. The most significant
change in this second edition relates to ‘water hammer’
testing. By definition, water hammer is an excessive transient pressure,
which can occur in some water supply systems as a result of closing
a valve as intended. It is generally believed that the final version
of the tests now incorporated into the standard is better suited
to address overall industry concerns."
"The main purpose of IEC 60730-2-9," according
to Gray, "is to establish requirements and testing for evaluation
of the safety of electrical temperature sensing controls used in,
on, or in association with equipment for household and similar use.
The incorporation of software requirements represents the most significant
feature of this second edition."
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