C ontractors /S ubcontractors
Real Estate Journal — Owners, Developers & Managers — October 25 - November 7, 2019 — 5B
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M id A tlantic
By Bob Kilroy, Jewel Electric Supply The Power of Authenticity
T
he Power of Authentic- ity is Eaton’s “I didn’t know” anti-counterfeit-
and unauthorized dealers may initially appear to be a great value, but the unknown origin and condition of these products could be costly. Many of these products are advertised as “new” but this cannot always be confirmed. Often the so called “new” product is actually sur- plus, used, altered, tampered with and even counterfeit lead- ing to dangerous life threating installations. Understand your risk; in today’s business environment many contractors feel the need to find lower cost alternatives to that of genuine products. Their pursuit of alternatives can cost you big time in prop- erty damage, loss of life and legal expenses. “I didn’t know” doesn’t absolve you of the risk. Some things you should know about counterfeits:
• They are difficult to spot • Counterfeiting is an in- dustry wide problem, no one is immune. • You can help stop this epidemic Rely on your distributor to spot the signs of a suspect breaker. Do the date codes on the breaker match the date code on the box? Is the UL label authentic? Does the breaker show the correct country of origin? Does the breaker infor- mation match the breaker? Eaton is not the only manu- facturer subject to counterfeit- ing however, they are one of the few who is taking a proactive approach to addressing the issue. You can help stop the epidem- ic by educating yourself and not blindly accepting gray market material at your location.
ity. The AIC rating indicates the maximum fault current (in amps) that an overcur- rent protection device ( circuit breaker , fuse, etc.) will safely clear when a fault is applied at the load side of the overcurrent protection device Eaton has set up exclusive distribution partners, Jewel Electric Supply being one of those partners, who have com- mitted to never selling counter- feit or suspect breakers. These partners have agreed to main- tain a good stock of Molded Case Breakers, eliminating the need for its customers to have to search the gray markets and offer those breakers to the in- dustry at a fair and competitive price point. Authentic molded case circuit breakers are critical to safe- continued on page 8B
Consider the following; unable to wait for an Eaton original product, an OEM turned to the graymarket to obtain a specialized break- er, what they received was • A Breaker wrapped in plas- tic for shipment, Eaton ships breakers in cardboard boxes. • Critical date codes were missing from the label on the front of the breaker. •When scanning the breaker in the Eaton Molded Case breaker authentication tool, it came up as “suspect” Further investigation con- firmed that the breaker was a 65kAIC breaker, dangerously re-labeled by an unscrupulous broker as a 100kAIC, which, when needed most, could have had catastrophic results. A breakers AIC rating stands for Ampere Interrupting Capac-
ing campaign designed to raise aware- ness about the dangers of using coun- terfeit parts throughout the electrical industry. The
Bob Kilroy
key points of the campaign in- clude a better understanding of the problem and teaching its distributors and the end user how to recognize suspect products and how they can help protect the public by selling only genuine products. Low cost breaker alterna- tives are fraught with danger. Products purchased from un- authorized on-line resellers
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Electrical Contractors State, Municipal & Government Hospital & Institutions Property Management & Hospitality Products we offer: Wire, Pipe, Fittings & Wiring Devices Switchgear, Panelboards, Motor Controls & Motors Lighting & replacement Lamps LED Retrofits, Fixtures and other Energy Efficient Products Sub-Metering Equipment Meters, Tools & Ladders Safety Devices & Equipment Fire Alarms, Smoke Detectors & Burglar Alarms Generators Services we offer: On time Deliveries to meet customer requirements 24/7 Emergency Response Inventory Management Project quotes Lighting & Energy Audits Customer Training
455 Third Street Jersey City, NJ 07302 Ph: 201-653-1613 Fx: 201-653-5470 Bob Kilroy bkilroy@Jewelelectric.com
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