How many of you guys are aware of UL-1776 pressure washer safety standard?

Flipper

Flipper

Moderator
Out of curiosity I did a search on this forum for 1776 and there doesn't appear to be a single reference to the industry safety standard for pressure washers.

Not one.

I would assume most of you guys know about this standard, but perhaps not.

For those of you who don't know about this, here is a link to the table of contents for the standard. http://ulstandardsinfonet.ul.com/tocs/tocs.asp?fn=1776.toc

That doesn't go into much detail so I am attaching a basic description of some of the requirements for certification. Its got Landa info on it, I couldn't find a generic one. To be fair, most of the big manufacturers have at least there electric powered units certified, but not all build their engine driven units to this standard. The standard covers all pressure washers.

In order to be certified, a manufacturer must build their unit with the required features and then have the machine evaluated by an "Nationally Recognized Testing Lab" like UL, ETL, or a hand full of others. Self certification to the standard means nothing. It has to be third party certified.

It cost an enormous amount of money for a company to build to and then certify to UL-1776. That cost is then factored into the price of the machine which makes certified units generally more expensive than non certified machines. I would have thought with all the time and money manufacturers put into certification, I would have seen at least a few discussions of UL-1776 here.

For those of you that do know about the standard, is it an important feature for you? Would you be willing to spend a couple hundred dollars more for a machine that has been built to, tested and certified to the industry safety standard? Do you get a discount on your insurance with a certified machine?

Thoughts?
 

Attachments

  • Safety_Brochure.pdf
    336.4 KB · Views: 30
Sounds like more big brother rules and regulations in order to drive out the little guys in manufacturing. Most here have been using the same type's of equipment for 20 yrs or more with no problems other than the usual wear & tear?

We were just talking about this, when men built buildings in the 30's with no OSHA and no safety equipment. There were less incidents back then as there are now, go figure. Also there werent commercials every 2 seconds on TV or Radio about putting a law suit against someone because the coffee was to hot !!

I said it before and I will say it again we have become a country of winers & pu$$ies !! Pull your dam pants up, and stop telling me you have to ask your wife if you can hire me after I give you an estimate !!!
 
Last edited:
The Cleaner said:
Sounds like more big brother rules and regulations in order to drive out the little guys in manufacturing. Most here have been using the same type's of equipment for 20 yrs or more with no problems other than the usual wear & tear?

We were just talking about this, when men built buildings in the 30's with no OSHA and no safety equipment. There were less incidents back then then there are now, go figure. Also there werent commercials every 2 seconds on TV or Radio about putting a law suit against someone because the coffee was to hot !!

I said it before and I will say it again we have become a country of winers & pu$$ies !! Pull your dam pants up, and stop telling me you have to ask your wife if you can hire me after I give you an estimate !!!
Click to expand...

Tell it like it is Nick!
 
The Cleaner said:
Sounds like more big brother rules and regulations in order to drive out the little guys in manufacturing. Most here have been using the same type's of equipment for 20 yrs or more with no problems other than the usual wear & tear?

We were just talking about this, when men built buildings in the 30's with no OSHA and no safety equipment. There were less incidents back then then there are now, go figure. Also there werent commercials every 2 seconds on TV or Radio about putting a law suit against someone because the coffee was to hot !!

I said it before and I will say it again we have become a country of winers & pu$$ies !! Pull your dam pants up, and stop telling me you have to ask your wife if you can hire me after I give you an estimate !!!
Click to expand...

Standards are often thought of as regulations or laws. In reality, they are neither.

UL-1776 was developed at the request of the cleaning equipment industry. Believe me, there was good reason to do so.

I am attaching an article out of Cleaner Times from ten years ago that goes into the history and meaning of the standard. Its a very good read.
 

Attachments

  • Approval& Standards.pdf
    347.9 KB · Views: 16
Why is it not good enought that Landa makes good solid equipment? Why not just stand on good solid economics instead of heavy handed sales techniques?

We've got three Landa units. I couldn't give a flying crap about what the government (AKA paid salesmen for CETA) say about our equipment, but I do care about quality.

Now you've made me think twice about buying any more Landa equipment. I might not buy anymore CETA equipment either.

Grow a pair and make sales based on economics, not scare tactics and spend your "enormous amount of money" that you spend now on testing on teaching your dealers about the equipment so they aren't pushing 2.8 gpm machines to clean parking garages with!

If your equipment is safer, SELL IT BASED ON THAT FACT not based on fear of fines!

Here is an interesting quote from your material:

"The UL-1776 standard was created by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) at the request of the Cleaning Equipment Trade Organization (CETA)"

Now, why does an organization petition the goverment to put restrictions on itself? It's the same reason these guys who proclaim that licensing is going to "increase professionalism" in the industry. The underlying motive is to keep all the money in the hands of the ones who already have the money - and eliminate the chances for any other innovative upstart who might come up with a better idea later but lacks the funds to do anything with that idea without going through the guys with the money!

Good grief!

What has happened to this country?
<TABLE style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; FONT-FAMILY: Myriad, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border=0 width=430><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR vAlign=center><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" align=left>ADDED LATER - Phillip, I know you don't own the company and this post wasn't a personal attack on you. You seem like a great guy. This post is about using underhanded techniques that keep the government in our pockets (we have to pay those "enormous" costs you talked about when your equipment is "certified".) and keeping the little guy down.
If the intent wasn't to use a "scare" tactic to make sales the $7000 fine wouldn't have been mentioned in the ad though.
</TD><TD" target="_blank"></TD><TD< a></TD></TR></TABLE" target="_blank">

</TBODY>
 
Last edited:
Flipper said:
Standards are often thought of as regulations or laws. In reality, they are neither.

UL-1776 was developed at the request of the cleaning equipment industry. Believe me, there was good reason to do so.

I am attaching an article out of Cleaner Times from ten years ago that goes into the history and meaning of the standard. Its a very good read.
Click to expand...

This article, again, was written by a manufacturer.

The reference is made again to the large amounts of money that certification costs the manufacturer.

Why present this smokescreen? Cerfication costs the manufacturer zero. It costs US MONEY.

Manufacturers love it because now they can spend <$1k more on a machine then double the price from $4k to $8k (which is exactly what Landa does) and everybody goes home happy. -- - Everybody but the contractor who has to pay double for his machines now.

There is nothing wrong with producing a safe product. As a matter of fact I wouldn't buy anything that wasn't safe. But there is something wrong with trying to use scare tactics and the heavy hand of the government to funnel customers to you.
 
I must admit I am thoroughly perplexed at the responses and hostility in this thread.

This is a safety standard that was written to protect you with the equipment you use every day. I posted about it because its a subject that's never been discussed on this forum.

Its not a mandatory requirement and government has nothing to do with the standard. No one forces any of you to buy equipment that is certified to this standard.

Manufacturers build to this standard because one, its the right thing to do and two, the liability one would incur if someone got hurt using a machine that wasn't certified or may not have all of the safety features it should.

I wanted to bring up this point because in all the equipment threads, I don't see any reference to safety. This is a top priority with most manufacturers, so there seems to be a disconnect here.

Since the issue has never been discussed here before, I just thought you guys might appreciate knowing about it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top