Commercial Electrical Inspection & Preventative Maintenance
If you’re managing any type of property, ensuring that all systems are working safely and efficiently is part of the job. Commercial electrical inspections help property managers by diagnosing any electrical issues, identifying improvements, and preventing future failures before they occur.
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Why Commercial Electrical Inspections Are Important
Electrical systems are extremely dangerous, so keeping them in great condition is important to both the functionality and the safety of your property. Commercial electrical inspection professionals use a series of tests and inspections in order to evaluate the condition of your system and rectify any issues.
Older buildings and properties may have out-dated wiring or electrical systems. A commercial electrical inspection can also help identify what components can be upgraded in order to keep systems running, improve property value, and ensure that occupants remain safe.
Some examples of what occurs during a typical inspection includes:
- Testing if any electrical circuits or equipment are overloaded
- Finding any potential electric shock risks and fire hazards
- Identifying any defective electrical work
- Evaluating the safety of fixed electrical equipment
- Highlighting any lack of grounding or bonding
Preventative Maintenance
Preventive maintenance is a systematic inspection of equipment, in order to detect where potential problems may occur and correct them in order to prevent equipment failure before it happens. Depending on the operation and type of electrical system, the exact preventive maintenance required will vary.
Preventative
Maintenance
Preventive maintenance includes much more than simply performing routine inspections on equipment. It also involves creating accurate records, following appropriate procedures, and making informed decisions about issues. Only personnel that are properly trained for the specific equipment can perform appropriate maintenance and testing.
Concise and Complete Record-Keeping
A clear record-keeping system will help keep the program on track, and ensure that all the work is being done when it is supposed to be. Tracking of test results is beneficial to communication and effectiveness between inspections, and the technicians administering them.
Cost-Effective
Services
Electrical preventive maintenance is cost-effective in several different ways. First, it is cheaper to make repairs to equipment before it fails, rather than waiting for breakdowns that can cause damage to other components in the system.
Second, an effective electrical preventative maintenance program will improve equipment efficiency and reduce utility bills.
Investigating your electrical systems can often uncover aging equipment that is less efficient than newer equipment.
Avoid Costly Downtime
Although electricians can’t predict the future, regular commercial electrical inspections can prevent negative incidents from occurring. By proactively seeking out system flaws before they develop into major problems, your property and equipment can avoid any unnecessary downtime associated with a complete failure.
With daily checks to conduct, weekly inspections, monthly tests or yearly examinations, planned electrical maintenance programs reveal defects and track them as they develop. To avoid future downtime, commercial electrical inspection plans involve searching for the smallest defect so that it can be addressed then and there, not when the damage has grown and spread.
Some common examples of equipment evaluations include:
- Identifying neglected or aging electrical devices
- Avoiding equipment downtime that hurts operational profit margins
- Fixing equipment breakdowns before significant damage is beyond repair
- Removing hazards that could cause overheating and the potential for an arc flash explosion
- Evaluating the effects of weather, corrosion and wear
Downtime Hurt Your Bottom Line?
Downtime is expensive, with lost opportunity plaguing entire organizations. It causes disruption to other jobs by pulling resources to fix a problem that may have been avoided by preventative maintenance schedules.
By contrast, planned proactive work is provisioned, unrushed and executed during normal hours. In order to target the appropriate electrical systems, a number of commercial electrical inspections are used.
1. Commercial Ground Testing Services
Grounding of electrical equipment protects personnel and equipment from over-voltages, faults, and lightning. It ensures system voltage stability by providing a solid reference to earth.
Grounding also establishes a reference to control electrical noise that can interfere with the proper operation of electrical equipment. Periodic testing to verify grounding system integrity is essential for safeguarding properties, operations and overall business.
2. Thermal
Imaging
Infrared electrical inspections find hot spots caused by defects in connections and components. Infrared thermography is used to find areas of excess heat so that problems can be corrected before a component fails, causing damage, creating safety hazards and productivity loss.
Since an increase in heat is a sign of failure, infrared is the best diagnostic tool available for finding hot connections in the early stages of degeneration. Thermal imaging helps to find and prevent problems before they cause damage to personnel, equipment and facility systems.
3. Maintenance Contracts and Programs
Many property managers and commercial companies enter into preventive maintenance and service contracts on equipment and electrical systems that they can't service internally. The equipment may be costly for a firm to repair, especially in an emergency, so preventing large repairs can be highly cost-effective.