According to IEEE, the risk of failure of electrical distribution components is 3x higher without preventive maintenance.
Do you have a tripping breaker?
Learn how to listen for a potential hazard.
When a breaker is tripping it is telling you that something is failing and needs attention by a certified electrical contractor, ASAP.
THE BACKGROUND
The facility maintenance team at a large hotel in Myrtle Beach had a breaker that was continuously tripping. This was one of their main breakers that was feeding a transformer.
THE APPROACH
Instead of investigating further into why the breaker was continuing to trip, they simply reset the breaker every time to restore power.
THE RESULT
Eventually, the breaker that was feeding the transformer blew. The hotel was without power and had to expedite the shipping for the new breaker and new transformer. The breaker was tripping because it was getting overheated by the transformer that it was supplying power to.
THE BENEFIT OF PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE
The hotel’s facility maintenance team should have performed a root cause analysis to determine what was causing the breaker to trip. They would have noticed that the tripping breaker was due to the transformer overheating. This would have saved the hotel the $10,472.00 of replacing the transformer and breaker. This cost does not include the effect that the power outage had on the guests staying at the hotel and the inconvenience it caused or the hotel’s overall reputation.
