Effective Commercial Electrical Maintenance with Site Plus
Commercial Electrical Maintenance is a lot more important than most people realize to avoid major electrical problems and improve safety. The operation of a plant, at any level, is a massively complex system. The possible interactions and the possible error conditions are endless.
Electrical maintenance is one of the most effective things you can do to improve the reliability of your equipment and reduce your risk. It’s easy and relatively inexpensive, and it can save you a lot of trouble down the road.
Electrical maintenance services are the key to getting the most out of the systems you design, without having to redesign them. Electrical failure is usually caused by one of three things:
- Fatigue damage, where mechanisms stretch or break, causing insulation to crack and open;
- Corrosion, where moisture slowly removes metal from wire strands; and
- Damage due to overvoltage spikes.
These are all forms of wear. Fatigue and corrosion cause insulation to fail gradually, over time. That means that if you know why failure happens in these ways, you can design a system that doesn’t fail from these causes. Or, if you have a system that fails from these causes, then you can perform electrical maintenance on it. And that makes all the difference!
How to perform Electrical Maintenance?
An effective Electrical Maintenance checklist should include:
- Check for open neutral or ground at first item of circuit.
- Check for short to ground at first item of circuit.
- Check for short between ungrounded conductors at first item of circuit.
- Check for over-voltage conditions at first item of circuit.
- Check for poor terminal electrical connections at first item of circuit.
- Check for hazards due to uninsulated, exposed, or poorly installed wiring or equipment (including connections to other circuits).
- Check for hazards due to misapplication, overloading, or malfunctioning equipment, including overloaded or undersized wiring or equipment, improper or worn insulation on energized parts, and improper installation of equipment (including improper grounding).
- Check general condition of wiring and equipment, including ratings and identification if possible; examine insulation on energized parts; check enclosed components (motors, trans-formers, etc.) for evidence of overheating; check insulation on conductors and terminals; check service disconnects for operation; check grounding connections; check wire ampacity; check grounding electrode system; check adequacy of bonding and grounding where required by codes or standards.
- Checking the condition of equipment, components, systems, and surrounding areas
- Making any necessary adjustments
- Cleaning and/or replacing damage parts
Commercial electrical systems don’t last forever. Most electrical equipment has a limited life span and should be replaced before it fails, causing a fire or injury. This will help prevent electrical accidents.
As a business owner or facilities manager of industrial or commercial properties, it’s important that you plan for preventative maintenance on your equipment.
If you have any doubt about your ability to perform any of these tests or about your facility’s electrical system in general, please contact us and we can help.
