IP65 vs IP67 vs IP69K: Choosing a Washdown Scale That Survives Your Plant

How to read an IP rating

The first digit of an IP code rates protection against solids: 5 means dust-protected, 6 means fully dust-tight. The second digit rates water: 5 means low-pressure jets from any direction, 7 means immersion to 1 metre for 30 minutes, and 8 means continuous immersion beyond 1 metre under conditions the manufacturer specifies. IP69K sits outside this scale — it comes from ISO 20653 (originally DIN 40050-9, written for vehicles that are steam-cleaned) and tests the enclosure against 80 °C water at roughly 80–100 bar sprayed from 10–15 cm away. That is exactly what a sanitation crew with a hot pressure washer does to equipment at the end of a shift.

Two practical notes that catch buyers out. First, an IP rating applies to the scale as tested — on some compact scales the rating is only valid on battery power; the A&D HL-WP, for example, loses its IP65 protection while its AC adapter is connected. Second, IP68 and IP69K describe different threats: IP68 is about slow, sustained water pressure (a scale left submerged), IP69K is about violent, hot, close-range jets. A scale can hold both ratings — A&D's SW Series does — but one does not imply the other.

The washdown ladder: matching rating to cleaning regime

IP65 — wipe-down and splash zones. If the scale gets splashed during work and wiped or lightly rinsed after, IP65 is sufficient and saves money. In this class A&D Gulf stocks the HL-WP compact scale (300 g × 0.1 g, full SUS304 stainless body, about 200 hours on AA batteries), the SK-WP bench scale (1–30 kg, roughly 1,200 hours of battery life), and — unusually — the FZ-iWP/FX-iWP precision balance, the world's first balance to combine IP65 protection with 1 mg readability, for accurate portioning and QC inside wet rooms.

IP67 — hose-down and brief submersion. When equipment is hosed down daily or might end up in a sink, step up to IP67. The A&D SJ-WP checkweighing scale (3–30 kg) is dust-tight, submersible to 1 m for 30 minutes, stabilises in half a second thanks to an externally mounted load cell, and its BT version adds Bluetooth for wireless data capture. For platform capacity, the FG-CWP (30–150 kg) is IP67 with an all-stainless build and 1-second measurement.

IP68 — sustained submersion conditions. A&D's SC Series (all-SUS304 frame, column, and pan) and the more economical SE Series (painted steel frame, SUS430 pan) are rated IP68, tested at 1 metre for 24 hours — suited to floors that stay wet all shift and equipment that gets dunked rather than sprayed.

IP69K — high-pressure, high-temperature sanitation. Meat, poultry, and seafood plants that sanitise with hot pressure washers need the SW Series 'Super Washdown' bench scale (6–150 kg). It carries both IP69K and IP68, uses a SUS630 stainless load cell and capacitive touch keys with no crevices, and is built to take 80 °C water at high pressure day after day. It is the scale for the hardest cleaning regime in the food industry.

Hygiene credentials beyond the IP number

An IP rating says water will not kill the scale; it says nothing about whether the scale is hygienic to use around food. For that, look for NSF certification: A&D's SJ-WP, SK-WP, and SW Series carry NSF listings against food-equipment sanitation standards (NSF 169 / NSF-ANSI 14159-1), and the SJ-HS hygienic scale line was designed to meet HACCP requirements. Stainless grade matters too — SUS304 bodies and pans resist the salt, brine, and cleaning chemicals that corrode lower grades, which is why the fully-stainless SC costs more than the visually similar SE.

The SW and SC Series are also NTEP Certified and Measurement Canada approved in their North American legal-for-trade versions, per A&D's own published model data — useful third-party evidence of weighing accuracy in an audit file, though these are North American trade approvals that carry no legal status in the UAE and are not in themselves HACCP evidence. The units supplied to this region carry EC Type Approval instead, so ask us which version you are being quoted. A&D Gulf supplies all of these series from stock in Jebel Ali (JAFZA), Dubai, with internationally traceable calibration certificates.

What the second IP digit actually protects against

The second digit is where washdown scales are won and lost, so it is worth seeing the whole scale rather than only the ratings sold as 'waterproof'. Anything below 4 has no place in a wet food area.

Quick selection — match the scale to your cleaning regime

The most common and most expensive mistake in food-industry weighing is buying a scale one IP class below what the sanitation crew's hose actually delivers. Find your cleaning regime in the left column rather than choosing by capacity first.

Still not sure?

Describe your cleaning regime — what chemical, at what pressure, at what temperature, how often — and we will match the scale to it. That single conversation is cheaper than replacing a scale that was one class short.