For most facilities, switchgear maintenance primarily focuses on maintaining power transfer switches and circuit breakers, both of which function using a method of arc interruption to cancel the flow of electricity within an electrical system. Unless a company employs in house technicians with training in gear maintenance, it usually outsources its servicing needs to an industrial power solutions provider, a move thats become increasingly common for two reasons: outsourcing is cheaper than hiring technicians in house, and industrial power solutions providers offer a broader range of servicing options than could even the most skilled group of in house technicians. Below, we list four of the most popular options for switchgear servicing offered by top providers of industrial power solutions.
1. Standard Switch Maintenance
Concerning back up generators, one of the worst mistakes a company can make is assuming that, because a generator receives infrequent use, it doesn’t require frequent servicing. Standard gear maintenance for generators involves inspecting critical apparatuses for corrosion, taking note of fuel age, conducting tests to see if power transfer switches switch under the right conditions, and other measures that help to ensure a generators reliability in the event of a power outage or equipment failure.
2. Load Bank Testing
A load bank is a device that delivers power to a power source to test it, troubleshoot it, and/or resolve wet stacking, a condition in which unburned fuel escapes from engine cylinders during the combustion process and resides in the exhaust pipe, creating a fire hazard. A load bank can resolve wet stacking by raising a generators combustion temperature and pressure, sealing off cylinders that leak at lower temperatures. There are four classifications for load banks: resistive, capacitive, inductive, and electronic.
3. Retrofitting Older Equipment
For most companies, the prospect of replacing major elements in their electrical system is a significant budgetary concern, one that can often be alleviated through retrofitting equipment instead of replacing it. A primary example cost effective retrofitting is retrofitting on older back up generator with newer apparatuses. Due to their rigid design and infrequent use, most back up generators age extremely well, making it possible to restore them to as-new operating condition with strategic retrofits.
4. Repairs
While repairs are an obvious part of maintenance, whether problems are determined to be repair worthy or indicative of the need for new equipment depends in part on the training of the technician, making trusting your repairs to a technician from an industrial power solutions provider is a wise choice. With the high cost of generators and other major electrical equipment, emphasis should be placed on repair, except when repair cost would soon exceed replacement cost, or would perpetuate a safety hazard.
