As spring storms roll in and summer ushers in hurricane season, it’s critical for facilities to assess whether their power systems are ready for severe weather. Unexpected outages can halt operations, damage equipment and put safety at risk, which is why preparation is essential.
For more than 60 years, AMETEK Solidstate Controls has helped organizations maintain power continuity during unpredictable weather. Here are a few ways we can help you prepare for storm season.
1. Invest in Reliable Power Protection Equipment
AMETEK Solidstate Controls provides highly reliable Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS), inverters, power conditioners, battery chargers and other customized solutions engineered to guard critical loads against voltage transients and instability, blackouts and brownouts.
2. Keep Existing Equipment in Peak Condition
Preventive maintenance offers more than just a spring cleaning, our lifetime preventive maintenance schedule also includes testing, calibration and parts inspection or replacement. Performing recommended annual maintenance provides peace of mind that systems and batteries are functioning to their full capability and ready to perform in an emergent situation.
3. Key Steps to Prepare Before a Storm Hits
Besides making sure you’re up to date on preventive maintenance, here are a few tips for preparing for an impending storm and a potential situation where you may need to evacuate the facility and shut your systems down.
- Conduct a study prior to hurricane season to determine whether you will need the load circuits to remain powered during the storm:
- If the UPS system is required during the storm, leave it in normal operation.
- If the UPS system is not required during the storm, put the system into bypass operation and disconnect the battery. The most common issue after a storm occurs is the batteries have been over discharged while left connected. There may be circuits within the UPS that can drain the battery, even while on bypass. If a battery is drained too low, the manufacturer recommends replacing them.
- Be mindful of where your critical UPS systems are located. If your system is in a low spot or in an area prone to flooding, try to move the system to higher ground or an area that hasn’t previously flooded, if possible.
- Keeping critical spare parts and components for your systems can help limit your downtime if you’re faced with an emergency. Our team is happy to assess your spare parts inventory and make recommendations on whether you should keep stock of spares such as printed circuit boards, semiconductors, fuses, fans, pilot lights and more.
4. Know How to Handle Storm Aftermath
We understand that even with a preparedness plan in place and appropriate actions taken, emergent situations can still arise. We offer a variety of solutions to help get your systems back up and running as quickly as possible.
- Our factory trained technical support team is available 24/7. They can help with the operation or service of your system over the phone, 1-800-222-9079.
- Some situations may need immediate attention, with our emergency repairs we will dispatch a technician to your site to inspect and repair your system as quickly as possible.
- If the location of your system does flood, contact our experienced field service engineer team. Depending on the flooding circumstances, our team has had past success in restoring systems at our facility by performing extensive cleaning and replacing parts if needed. Please note, we can only attempt to restore a unit that was not connected to a power source at the time of the flooding.
Stay Prepared, Stay Powered
Storm and hurricane season bring uncertainty, but with the right equipment, maintenance strategy and storm plan, you can protect operations and minimize downtime. Contact our team to discuss your emergency plan and needs.