IP rated luminaires for jet wash with high temp. water?

IP 69 is, as far as I understand, protected against steam cleaning. You are just using the hot water supply so I would not expect IP 69 to be a requirement.

Alasdair

temp is not the only factor, but also the strength of the jet.


IP66 is 'jets of water' but only at approx 1 atmosphere pressure, and IP65 is 1/3 of that pressure.

IP 69 is indeed hot but also at 100 atmosphere water pressure.

It all rather depends on the strength of the jetwash, many are well above 1 atmosphere  IP 65/66 may not be quite enough if yours is one of these.


IP69 ( or 69K in the German version of the standards  ) is common in places like aspects of food production that need more than just a light wash down.


(Or ask the maker of the lights)

Mike,

Thanks for the additional information. Very good point about the jet wash pressure. Not having a copy of the standard to hand (and not having had to deal with IP69 before) I had not picked that up. The OP doesn't mention pressure, but only mentions 'fed from the domestic hot water' (which would not be at high pressure) and 'jet washing' which implies that the supplied water is fed through a pressure wash arrangement of indeterminate pressure.

It probably also depends on where the jet wash system operates and where the lights are located, so whether the lights can be directly sprayed by the jet wash or just affected by the resultant spray/mist.

Alasdair

P,

I am at home and don't have easy access to the standard right now, and it is a while since I performed any IP testing, so I don't want to give any definitive advice that might turn out to be based on incorrect recollection.

But you asked for some thoughts, so here are some thoughts...

1) what is the operating temperature of the luminaires? As you wrote, the water temp should be +/- 5C of the equipment under test. They *might* have been tested at a representative operating temperature - hence with water similar to the range you quoted?

2) How big are the luminaires? Probably over 250mm, but just for interest be aware that for equipment <250mm the IP69 test is only carried out at 0degree angle (ie straight down), 30deg, 60deg and 90deg (ie horizontal). So in principle equipment could pass IP69 by simply having an enclosure like a bucket over it and open at the bottom...

3)… which leads on to... equipment meeting IP69 does not automatically meet IP66. Equipment rated IP69 from a reputable manufacturer should meet both ie be IP66 / IP69 - but it is worth checking. *If* I had to choose between something rated IP66 OR IP69, I would probably go for IP66. Of course, IP66 AND IP69 would be a different matter.  


There is a bit of info here.. https://f2labs.com/technotes/2018/01/05/ip69-vs-ip69k/


Hope that was of some use/interest.

My local wholesaler had lots of PIR operated LED floodlights returned that had been installed in areas where pressure washers were in use.


The actual LED lamp fittings were fine, the issue was the PIRs, they had a lower IP rating than the fittings they controlled.


If you need PIR controllers then using separate controllers is considered the best thing to do if you cannot get a combined unit that has a floodlight and PIR controller with the same IP rating that is appropriate for the intended location.


Andy Betteridge

PIR's are usually incredibly badly sealed. IP44 if new and not from a bad batch!

2400, that was really interesting. I suppose it demonstrates just how unaware we can be of the actual tests behind products. There is a similar but perhaps more critical issue in the fire safety side of things used in general construction and indeed in electrical installations where the testing regime is sometimes far less robust than one might imagine.

Thanks all.

For the situation I am looking at, I suspect I'll go with the IP69 fittings.


I'm still none the wiser however regarding the use of higher than ambient temperature water at IP65/66 flow rates. Does the testing of the product using specimen/ambient temperature water mean that the certification of the product as IP65/66 is temperature dependent? If someone then washed down the product with 40ºC water and it failed, does that void any warranty claim?


P