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DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING AN EFFECTIVE ELECTRICAL MAINTENANCE PROGRAM Part I: Selection Of A Testing Firm Part II: Developing Specifications Part III: Anatomy Of a Shutdown; Implementing The Program
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Engineers can spend weeks developing exacting specifications for large industrial facilities, hospitals or office buildings. We hope to provide some of the highlights of these specifications to give you a general idea of the various types of tests that can be performed and some reasons why. Left to their own, manufacturers, testing firms and electrical contractors develop their own "specs" for a job. While all these companies want to do a good job, it is the facility personnel who are intimately familiar with normal operation, operating conditions, failure history and equipment criticality. It takes time for an outside contractor to determine your priorities. It is essential for each facility to develop their own specifications tailored to their particular needs keeping in mind industry standards and good safety practices. Once you have decided to establish a preventative maintenance program for your electrical equipment, decisions have to be made regarding test and inspections that are necessary. We will outline the various types of equipment and tests. It is generally not cost effective for a testing firm to get involved with checking connections and cleaning of low voltage (600 volts or less) panelboards and transformers. An example of low voltage transformers would be a 480 volt primary with 120/208 volt secondary. The facility maintenance personnel or local electrician can easily do this type of work. Typically this equipment requires inspection, checking of connections and cleaning. If a particular problem has developed, testing can be done, like after a failure of a piece of equipment. The time of an electrical shutdown is opportune for the facility personnel and electrical contractor do this type of work while the testing firm is working on the main equipment. In developing your own specifications, the manufacturer's literature for each product is a must. Generally, this literature has maintenance procedures and intervals. This information is important to both the facility personnel and outside contracting firms. So, what equipment should be considered for maintenance? Click on either Medium Voltage or Low Voltage to go to a page with a Checklist of equipment and general maintenance and testing requirements. Medium Voltage (38kV and below)
What are some of the electrical tests that will be performed on the equipment? Click here to go to a detailed explanation of each test.
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