Maintenance for Industrial Circuit Breakers: Vital Prevention to Keep a School or University Operating

The concept and value of a power distribution at a school or university is vital; it must always function. Students and faculty expect all essential electrical systems to be working appropriately. If it isn’t, the educational machine ceases and critical activities such as lectures and research come to a screeching halt. Industrial circuit breakers are the cornerstone of an institution’s power-distribution system, and then are several warning signs of an aging system related to industrial circuit breakers. An example of such a progressively growing industrial circuit breaker problem is tripping or failure of a main breaker after it has been unused all summer. When these warning signs happen, it is should definitely be a loud-and-clear message to the facilities managers and administrators that the industrial circuit breakers may need to be upgraded to help the power distribution system meet existing and future needs.

Observing the Signs of an Aging Industrial Circuit Breaker

Facility managers facing the warning signs of an aging industrial circuit breaker and thus a deteriorating power-distribution system might want to consider commissioning a facilities audit. This type of study includes evaluating the entire electrical infrastructure and can indicate if replacements of retrofill options are appropriate, or even if a more extensive upgrade is recommended. The audit can even suggest measures to enhance a system, such as a power-monitoring system, which can generate data that can be analyzed to increase energy efficiency and plan future energy usage.

Replacing and Retrofilling Industrial circuit breakers

When an electrical system is new, it generally doesn’t require a great deal of maintenance. But electrical loads increase over time, secondary to expansion and other miscellaneous factors, and therefore equipment and industrial circuit breakers breakdown due to age. As a result, tripping and minor power outages become more common resulting in increased maintenance costs that ultimately strain budgets. But even more detrimental would be a campus-wide power outage.

Therefore, replacing or retrofilling aged industrial Circuit Breakers, taking advantage of today’s advancements can go along way in modernizing the power-distribution system. In addition, it can help to avoid the problems with removing old switchgear and replacing it with new equipment. For example, fused switches and industrial circuit breakers have provided arc flash protection in the past, but now breakers that provide high interrupting ratings without fuses – up to 200,00A at 508Vac – have been introduced into the marketplace. These new types of breakers eliminate the problems common to fused switches and industrial circuit breakers, including hazards associated with changing fuses and the need to stock and replace fuses, along with the dependence on related mechanical hardware that requires maintenance or replacement.

The bottom line, however, is to act if warning signs are present. Facility managers and administrators that ignore warnings are risking higher costs, extended downtime, most of all – extremely unhappy students and teachers.