UL Listings: Damp vs. Wet-Location Rated

The safety rating of your lights and fixtures is the most important factor when choosing your new lighting plan. Ensuring that each of your lighting products has been tested and approved to keep you and your family safe is our number one priority. All Parmida LED lighting products are either UL-Listed or ETL-Listed, which means they meet the highest safety standards required of lighting in the United States. While you want to be certain that all of the lights in your home are safe and reliable, this is especially important for lights that may come into contact with moisture. In these cases, the lights must be either Damp or Wet-Location Rated.

What is UL-Listing?

UL Listed stands for Underwriters Laboratories. Underwriters Laboratories approves the ratings of lighting products. They are a third-party organization that tests lighting products to ensure they are both physically and environmentally safe. They focus solely on maintaining the correct safety standards for products, and will continue to re-test over time to ensure the same standards are upheld.

It’s important to note that if a product is not UL-Listed but instead has an ETL-Listing, this will suffice for safety requirements as well. Similar to a UL-Listing, an ETL Certification (Electrical Testing Labs) focuses on electrical safety and works to test products in the same way that Underwriters Laboratories does.

A product can either be ETL-Listed or UL-Listed. In both cases, their respective stamps will signify and verify a safe product that meets all necessary safety requirements

Damp-Location Rated

For spaces like bathrooms or kitchens where moisture or condensation can be near your lights, it is important to look for bulbs and fixtures marked as suitable for either wet or damp locations; you will need to an LED light that is labelled as safe for damp locations at the very least. If you are looking to install your lighting outdoors, an outdoor damp-rated fixture cannot come in direct contact with water and therefore must be fully covered.

Wet-Location Rated

For indoor and/or outdoor use, any light that can be in direct contact with any water (not just moisture or steam) like, showers, uncovered patios, decks, or other uncovered areas, must be Wet-Location Rated. The most important thing to consider when deciding to purchase a Damp or Wet-Location Rated LED light is how much exposure to moisture the light will have.