While Preventative Maintenance (PM) in mechanical systems is often commonplace, the same cannot always be said for electrical systems. If you depend on the proper running of electrical equipment, it’s time to consider scheduled electrical maintenance to prevent interruptions, downtime, and failures.
Electrical distribution systems have developed to become highly reliable over the years, with many systems spending dozens of years in service. However, distribution systems fail and can result in catastrophic failure of a facilities’ services. Additionally, one of the potential downfalls of an electrical system’s long service life is that many of the components may not have readily available replacement parts in a time of failure. A few questions that a facility owner may want to ask themselves when assessing whether PM of electrical equipment is a good idea:
- Does my electrical system support mission-critical activities?
- Does my facility already budget PM to other systems?
- How can a good PM program for my electrical equipment extend its life?
Depending on the type and age of your electrical systems, multiple PM actions should be considered, including:
- Infrared Thermal Imaging of all distribution components
- Annual PM shutdown services
- Breaker load testing
- Assessments of bonding and grounding systems
If your electrical distribution system serves critical loads, is more than ten years old, or has been prone to intermittent failure, now may be the time to start looking into a comprehensive preventative maintenance program.
