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With winter comes the risk of power loss to the facility due
to heavy snows, ice storms, or excessive cold. Facilities with
emergency
systems and critical processes typically install a battery backup. Just
having a battery backup isn't exactly the same as protecting against
power loss, but good execution of battery monitoring can make them
effectively the same thing.
Bart Cotton, a battery monitoring consultant, is fond of saying that
you
need someone to monitor your battery monitor. That someone needs to
understand what the monitor is saying and what to do in response.
Otherwise, Cotton wryly notes, “It's just a wall ornament.”
To read more on this story, visit EC&M's website.
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The good news is your UPS came online as soon as the power
went out. The bad news is it dropped the load almost as quickly. The
plant manager, furious, announced that he'll be holding the UPS
manufacturer responsible, saying “Their product obviously doesn't
work
as advertised.”
However, you know the fault probably isn't with the UPS itself, and you
want to solve the actual problem so the load doesn't drop in the
future.
So you ask your boss to wait until you've been able to conduct battery
testing. He replies, “We sent a tech out there with a hydrometer, and
the batteries are good.” What troubleshooting should you do?
Visit EC&M's website
to see the answer.
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Suppose a lighting ballast fails. Replacing it is usually a
complete repair, but such a failure should rarely occur. How do you
know
if this is a “one-off” or a symptom of a root cause that needs
attention? One key is to track all failures in your CMMS and
periodically analyze accumulated data for repair frequency by type of
failure.
The likely root cause of chronic ballast failure is poor power quality.
Don't confuse power quality with harmonics (harmonics is a subset of
power quality). Your harmonics analyzer may show no problems while
ballasts are blowing due to periodic or sustained voltage sags,
overvoltage, or alternating sags and surges.
In our next issue, we'll discuss what to do at the service panel to
eliminate a recurring repair cost.
If there are industrial chemicals in your facility, then the
electrical department must account for them even if you aren't in a
multi-craft environment and even if no electricians will actually be
using those chemicals. The NEC addresses this issue in Articles 501
through 517, and it provides Art. 500 as the basis for correct
interpretation and application of those Articles.
Article 500 contains the definitions and general requirements that
apply
to all hazardous locations. Articles 501, 502, and 503 each apply to a
specific hazard classification defined by the types of materials
involved. Articles 504, 505, and 506 provide requirements for
specific hazards. Article 510 is a very short introduction to
specific hazardous locations. Specific hazardous locations are
named and described in Articles 511 through 517, which also provide
their requirements.
To read more on this story, visit EC&M's website.
Maintenance and repair on manufacturing equipment may
involve
working with chemicals, especially solvents. Electricians might go a
long time between training and working with these chemicals.
In many facilities, today's environment is an odd combination of a
skilled worker shortage and staff cutbacks. The result is a multi-craft
environment. An electrician may be taking on many non-electrical tasks,
without the craft training required for safely performing those tasks.
To read more on this story, visit EC&M's website.
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