What Causes Power Surges?

Power surges can be caused by many different reasons. Let’s look at some common causes of power surges that can cause damage to your company.

• Changes on the grid made by the electrical company
• Shorts in wiring
• Equipment malfunction
• Appliance malfunction
• Overloaded circuits

Regardless of the cause of the energy surge, they all mean the same thing; damage to important equipment and possible safety hazards. As a business owner, it is your responsibility to cut down on these risks. A commercial surge protector can help.

How Does a Commercial Surge Protector Work?

A commercial surge protector works much like a smaller home version. This system can be installed into your business structure to absorb energy surges when they occur. This will stop the energy surge from reaching equipment and people. A commercial surge protector can be used to protect many different types of assets on your business property.

• The building structure
• Electrical circuits
• HVAC system
• Lighting systems
• Emergency systems
• Intercom
• Surveillance
• Appliances
• Electronics including computers

Where Will the Surge Protector Be Installed?

The protector can be installed directly into the structure’s main electrical panels. A professional electrician can help by strategically placing the surge protectors throughout the facilities in locations where they will do the most good.

Protectors can also be installed that will protect phone lines, cable lines, and data lines. These lines are different from the main electrical circuits in the structure. Be sure to talk with the electrician you partner with to discuss how to protect all of these aspects of your business.

Different Types of Surge Protectors

There are four main types of surge protectors that you can have installed at your business.

Level 1 – A level 1 protector is installed near the location where electricity enters the building. This is often considered a first line of defense in surge protection. These are used to protect your equipment from a surge that might result from lightning.

Level 2 – A level 2 protector is used to stop surges from affecting electronics. This can be very important for office spaces in which there are many different types of electronics in use each day.

Level 3 – A level 3 protector is the type of surge protection you often see in homes to protect individual devices. These can also be used in the workplace if you want to add an extra layer of protection for specific devices.

Level 4 – A level 4 protector is often utilized in companies as they provide a broader range of protection than other types. These are used to provide wired-in protection within a structure. This will help to protect devices like servers, motor drives, and others.

Any power outage causes worry about safety, injury, and lives. Whether a power outage lasts minutes or days, business operations must go on continuously and consistently.

Uninterruptible Power Supply System (UPS)

The technology continues to improve as the need for uninterruptible power to crucial systems and operations becomes more critical.

Energy spikes, surges, or dips cause irregularities and fluctuations that adversely affect your data and the equipment. An uninterruptible power supply system provides a consistent and uninterrupted power flow protecting against those effects.

A UPS system can be a triple-phase or a single-phase configuration powered by a flywheel component or an array of batteries.

Generally, an uninterruptible power supply system can be the little box that protects your personal computer from the mega-ton, megawatt models that can power big business.

Types of UPS systems 

The main types of UPS systems are:

• Standby UPS System: It is also referred to as an offline UPS. It has a battery, low-pass filter static switch, inverter, and surge suppressor. The system maintains standby mode unless there is a main power failure.
• Line-interactive UPS System: It has an inverter and a battery that is always connected to the output, and in case of power failure, a switch changes the flow of current. The continuous connection ensures superior filtering.
• Double Conversion UPS System: it has a backup battery charged by the input current and powers the output inverter for a seamless switch.

The Importance of an Uninterrupted Power Supply

An Uninterrupted Power Supply protects against energy surges and other variations such as voltage drops or frequency distortion.

Advantages of Uninterruptible Power Supply Systems

• Continuity: Ensures no power outages to critical equipment such as computers in hospitals and factory production lines.
• Consistency: Electronic devices within an uninterrupted power supply tell it when it requires work and supplies alternative energy as needed, eliminating surges or glitches and allowing time to safely shut down main systems when needed.
• Protection: It safeguards against the electricity oddities such as spikes, dips, surges, and failure as the UPS senses and switches the alternative power before the glitches cause damage.
• Filter: A line-interactive UPS refines the power as it comes, then adjusts its output such that internal systems get a clean, consistent supply.

Places That Require Critical Power Supplies

These are some of the industries that can benefit from UPS Systems:

• Medical centers and hospitals 
• Data and call centers
• Utility companies
• Electronics manufacturers
• Banks
• Universities
• Production-based manufacturers
• TV stations
• Telecommunications and cable companies

Are you planning to install a UPS system? For over 35 years, Ham’s Electric, Inc. has been providing critical power services in Upland, California, where we are based. We deal with hospital systems, computer facilities, telecom installations, and critical power systems. We have successfully installed various medical systems, including NICU, ICU, MRI, cath labs, switchgear, nurse callers, fire alarms, surge protectors, and telecommunications. For more information, call (909) 982-7344.

Daily maintenance

It might seem like overkill, but daily maintenance is essential for your transformer. The first step is to check the magnetic oil gauge (MOG) levels in the main tank and conservator tank. Make sure the oil levels are correct and top them off if not.

A transformer uses silica gel to control the moisture level and prevent moisture from entering the equipment. The gel changes to a pinkish color as it ages. Call an electrician to replace the gel if it seems discolored.

Finally, check for any exterior leaks. Even if the leak seems small, call an electrical repair company to patch it up. The leak will only get worse as time goes on, inevitably leading to transformer failure.

Monthly maintenance

Daily maintenance can prevent a ton of transformer problems, but it’s also important to mark your calendar to perform a monthly inspection or hire an electrical troubleshooting company to perform it for you.

Again, monthly maintenance includes checking oil levels and topping them off if necessary. You’ll also want to check the breathing holes in your silica gel breather and clean them out to reduce the chance of moisture damage.

These steps seem simple, but hiring an electrician to perform monthly maintenance is in your best interest. A professional can often spot a malfunctioning transformer and make repairs before their customers notice something’s amiss.

Yearly maintenance

Your yearly transformer maintenance should only be left to a trained professional. This yearly check-up includes an in-depth inspection of the entire transformer—including all of the circuits—as well as a thorough cleaning of all necessary components. Adjustments and repairs are also often made at this time to ensure your transformer lasts for as long as possible.

It’s vital to hire an electrician to perform this work for a few reasons. Transformers are high-voltage units, and any slip-ups could result in severe injuries or even death. Additionally, the average person doesn’t know what they’re looking at when they’re trying to work on their transformer. Even if you watch YouTube videos for maintenance, you could end up doing more harm than good.

Choose us for your transformer maintenance needs

For your monthly and yearly transformer maintenance, be sure to hire our pros at Ham’s Electric, Inc. We’re a family owned and operated business with over 35 years of experience. Our services range from general maintenance to electrical repairs and new installation. Simply put, we’re your one-stop shop for all of your company’s electrical needs!

Give us a call today to schedule your monthly or yearly maintenance or to learn more about why we’re the premier electrical troubleshooting company in the area.

Electrical engineers and electrical troubleshooting companies must spend a significant amount of time designing their systems before they are put into use. But what’s involved with electrical design, and why is this process so important? Here’s a quick overview of what you should know.

The finer points of electrical system design

Electrical systems feature numerous electrical components that are interconnected to perform some specific purpose. These systems can range from simple to extremely complex. The design of such a system involves engineers and electrical troubleshooting companies overcoming challenges to create safe, efficient and reliable systems.

The more complicated the electrical system, the more important the design phase becomes. Engineers will carefully map out how the electricity will be produced, transported and distributed. If an electrical system is poorly designed, it will be dangerous both to people and to property. At the very least, it will be unreliable and inefficient. It is crucial that engineers be detailed with their designs so they can ensure their safety.

Electrical engineers will use different electrical system designs for different building and construction projects, with the designs depending on the electrical loads, how close the nearest substation is located and the size of the project in general. They will also consider some of the physical conditions of the area, such as the specific location of the project and the climate in which it sits.

Why electrical engineers are so vital

You’ll generally find electrical engineers used in construction and manufacturing. These engineers will have graduated from four-year universities with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, and many go on after their initial undergraduate degree to obtain a Master’s Degree in engineering, as well as professional licenses to become certified and registered in various states.

Engineers can serve as both inventors and designers, coming up with brand-new products or designs, or simply improving or maintaining existing ones, particularly in the world of manufacturing.

In construction, engineers design circuits and other power delivery devices to maintain power for all end users. Electrical engineers will come in at various points in a construction process to perform routine wiring and electrical setup, and to inspect the system and make sure the build is progressing in such a way that allows them to achieve the electrical capabilities they have been instructed to implement.

Want to learn more about the work performed by electrical troubleshooting companies and engineers in manufacturing, construction and more? We encourage you to contact the team at Ham’s Electric, Inc., and we will be happy to further discuss the importance of electrical design and engineers in Upland, CA. Reach out to us today with any questions you have and our team will provide you with additional information about our capabilities.