When installing your Towel Rails and Radiators, it is important to keep an eye on the element’s IP rating to ensure it is suitable to install in your Bathroom or Wetroom.
How To Read An IP Rating
When looking at an IP rating, they are usually shown as the letters ‘IP’, followed by two digits. These two digits simply specify the ‘Ingress protection’ (sometimes known as internal protection) a product has against both solid items and water. The first letter will denote the protection against solid items, whereas the second letter denotes the protection against water.
You may see sometimes there is the letter ‘X’ within a rating. This letter ‘X’ simply signifies that a product has not been tested for the respective category (solids or liquids).
Protection Against Solid Objects
When looking at an IP rating regarding protection against solid objects, we can read the protection level by looking at the first number. The scale runs from 0 to 6, with 0 meaning no protection and 6 meaning fully dust tight and complete protection against solid objects. If a product has rating of 1-4, it means it is protected against objects over 1mm such as hands and fingers. For protection against dust particles, a rating of at least IP5 is recommended to ensure it is adequately protected.
0 – No Protection assured
1 – Protection assured against solid objects that are over 50mm.
2 – Protection assured against solid objects that are over 12.5mm.
3 – Protection assured against solid objects that are over 2.5mm.
4 – Protection assured against solid objects that are over 1mm.
5 – Protected against quantity of dust that could interfere with the normal operation of the product but not fully dust tight. Complete protection against solid objects.
6 – Fully dust tight and complete protection against solid objects.
Protection Against Liquid
When looking at an IP rating regarding protection against liquid, you can discern its protection level by the second number. This scale runs from 0 to 8. If the level states ‘0’, then there is no protection offered against liquids. If the level denotes ‘8’, this means protection is assured against long periods of water immersion at a depth of over 1 meter. It is important to ensure you choose the right protection for the room that you are going to be installing in. This becomes more true when installing in Bathrooms or Wetrooms.
0 – No Protection assured
1 – Protection assured against vertical drops of water.
2 – Protection assured against vertical drops of water when the product is tilted up to 15° from its normal position.
3 – Protection assured against direct sprays of water at any angle up to 60°.
4 – Protection assured against water splashing from any angle.
5 – Protection assured against water jets projected by a nozzle (6.3mm) from any angle.
6 – Protection assured against powerful water jets projected by a nozzle (12.5mm) from any angle.
7 – Protection assured against water immersion at a depth between 15 cm and 1 meter for maximum 30 minutes.
8 – Protection assured against long periods of water immersion at a depth of over 1 meter
9K – Protection assured against the effects of high-pressure water jets and steam cleaning.
Where To Install In My Bathroom?
An electrical appliance fitted in a bathroom must have an appropriate IP rating (Ingress Protection) which is a measure of the protection against water infiltration.
There are certain areas in the bathroom where an electric towel rail should not be installed. The diagram below, splits the bathroom into 4 different Zones and explains which zones you can and cannot install into.
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