"We have complete confidence in the reliability of our critical power system.”

These are the words that organization leaders, facility managers, and maintenance personnel strive to hear. The importance of critical power system reliability has never been greater than it is today. Examples where reliable critical power systems are essential include hospitals, data centers, manufacturing facilities, and casinos. The loss of power in such facilities can be devastating and cost millions of dollars, or worse, someone’s life.

The expectation of critical power systems is that “nothing should ever go wrong.” This, unfortunately, is not always the case. When something does go wrong, the organization leaders first turn to the facility manager and the maintenance personnel. They in turn are often faced with difficult questions: “What happened? How long will it take to recover? Do you realize how much this cost us? Whose fault was this? Could it have been avoided?” Nearly all problems that occur with critical power systems can be avoided. The most effective way is the implementation of a well developed and executed preventative maintenance program. This is instrumental in the identification and correction of deficiencies in critical power systems before they become serious problems.

There are numerous components that can be involved in a preventative maintenance program. Some of these components include infrared and ultrasonic scanning, circuit breaker and transformer testing, and power quality metering. Developing a preventative maintenance program to include all of these components is a daunting task. Often, this task is the responsibility of the facility manager.

For a facility manager to develop a preventative maintenance program they must become educated in the area, usually through classes and seminars. They can then create an initial preventative maintenance program and determine the budget it will require.

The required budget is often significantly higher than their organization is willing to spend. This is because there are large costs involved in the hiring and/or training of qualified personnel, and the purchase of test equipment.

An alternative to an organization developing and executing their own preventative maintenance program is to work with an experienced outside firm. The outside firm will work with the facility manager on developing a program customized to meet the facility’s specific needs.

When it comes to the execution of the program, the firm will provide both the qualified personnel and the testing equipment. The facility manager and his/her maintenance staff can gain valuable knowledge witnessing and in some cases participating in vendor maintenance services as part of their training plan.

By working with an outside firm to develop and execute a preventative maintenance program an organization can save both time and money, and more importantly gain complete confidence in the reliability of their critical power systems.

For more information about Preventative Maintenance Programs please contact Parsons Technical Services at (763) 571-8000.