What is the degree of IP protection?

Briefly about the cipher

First, a brief look at what IP is in an electrician. These two letters are deciphered as Ingress Protection Rating, which is a codification system that is designed to indicate how much the enclosure of the appliance is protected from solid objects and water getting into live parts. The encoding of the degree of protection is as follows:

IP X₁X₂ AM,

Where:

• X₁/ X₂- quality of protection against mechanical damage / moisture;
• A, M - additional characteristics (we will provide a description below).

Value table

So, I’m listening to your table of degrees of protection IP which is useful to home electricians when choosing electrical equipment for outdoor installations, rooms with high humidity, as well as in dusty warehouses:

To make the material understandable to you, we offer another option for decoding IP according to GOST 14254-2015.

1 digit (X₁) means:

• 0 - the appliance is not protected, it can be installed in special cabinets or shields that will prevent direct contact with live parts.
• 1 - the design is designed in such a way that a person will not be able to touch the hazardous areas of electrical equipment with his hand or an object with a thickness of more than 52.5 mm.
• 2 - it is impossible to creep into hazardous areas with an object 12.5 mm thick (or with your finger). Most often, this degree of protection is circuit breakers, RCD and some fixtures.
• 3 - the device is protected by a housing that cannot be penetrated without a special tool. An object with a thickness of more than 2.5 mm will also not be able to penetrate the protective shell.
• 4 - a higher degree, which prevents the ingress of objects with a diameter of more than 1 mm. Thick wire inside the case will not get without disassembly.
• 5 - high dust protection is provided. The equipment can operate in occasionally dusty rooms, as well as when sand enters the shell (for example, in storage areas).
• 6 - maximum indicator, complete protection of electrical equipment from dust and particulate matter.

2 digits (X₂) means:

• 0 - the device is not protected from water. In this version, there may be some switching devices installed in the panel (RCD, automatic devices with IP20 degree).
• 1 - protection against dropping from above onto the instrument shell is provided.
• 2 - in fact, the same design as with IP X1, but the housing design can protect the product from dripping at an angle of 15^about.
• 3 - the angle of inclination of the drops can reach 60^aboutwater from the bottom is not allowed.
• 4 - protection against splashes and rain.
• 5 - the housing is designed in such a way that a weak stream of water does not harm the operation of electrical equipment.
• 6 - the shell is impervious to a strong stream of water and water flows.
• 7 - short-term or incomplete immersion in water is allowed.
• 8 - implies a long stay of the product under water.
• 9 - the highest degree of protection IP from moisture, long-term immersion under pressure (including protection against hot water jets) is allowed.

We also talked about the fact that in the IP marking according to GOST 14254-2015 there can be two more additional letters after the numbers. The first (maybe A, B, C or D) gives the electricians an idea of ​​how the enclosure is protected from people entering dangerous parts of electrical installations. The decryption of the degree of protection in this case is as follows:

• A - a protective shell prevents touching the back of the hand;
• B - protection against finger penetration into the housing;
• C - access to the danger zone is prevented by the tool;
• D - excluded the possibility of penetration by wire.

The second letter carries additional information and has the following decoding:

• H - high-voltage equipment, voltage up to 72.5 kV.
• M - during testing for moisture protection, the device was in motion;
• S - during the same tests, the device was stationary;
• W - the case is protected from weather conditions.

That, in fact, is all that the IP degree of protection for electrical installations represents. As you can see, today the maximum index is IP69. Below we will also consider which product labels are best for different types of rooms, as well as streets.

Which labeling should I prefer?

If you want to choose, for example, sockets or lamps, but don’t know which IP is better for certain conditions, we will now briefly tell you where the degree of protection is applied.

1. In dry rooms, for example, rooms of a house or apartment - a kitchen, hallway, bedroom will be enough install switches and IP20 sockets.
2. For bathrooms and damp rooms, it is recommended to choose sockets and fixtures IP 44 or higher.
3. For baths, showers and saunas, it is better to take more protected products - IP 54.
4. If you want to make lights in the pool under water, the LEDs must be with IP68 degree.
5. For outdoor installation, it is recommended to use street lights and IP54 switches (a sufficiently high protection for the street, and, accordingly, against environmental influences);
6. In dusty warehouses, care must be taken that dust does not enter the electrical enclosure. In this regard, the minimum security should be IP44, better IP54.

We also recommend watching a useful video on the topic of the article:

That's all I wanted to say about decoding the degree of IP protection according to GOST 14254-2015. We hope you now know what it is and how to choose the appropriate labeling depending on your own conditions of use!

It will be interesting to read:

• Decoding of marking wires and cables
• Symbols in electrical circuits according to GOST
• First Aid Test