Planning Home Backup Generator Maintenance Service: For Comparison, What Do Industrial Users Require? | Marion, SC
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Backup generator maintenance services are essential for the longevity and reliability of your alternate power source, ensuring that it serves you well over the years and runs efficiently for the hours or days that you need it without overheating or failing. At Mister Sparky Generators, we provide backup generator maintenance services and planning for our Marion, SC customers, to ensure that they can count on their systems in critical times. To put your home system’s maintenance schedule in perspective, it might help to take a look at a typical schedule for a commercial backup generator, one that serves a hospital or other essential service or business, and see what it takes to meet critical power needs. While your home might not have the critical care needs of a hospital or the essential power needs of a local radio station or emergency shelter, it’s good to know that, with proper backup generator maintenance, your family is covered for its critical and even comfort backup power needs.
Industrial Requirements Take Backup Power Very Seriously
Taken from an NFPA list of hospital power requirements, these critical items also apply, perhaps less stringently, to your home power supply. They’re steps that our backup generator maintenance service can take for you, ensuring that your backup generator serves you well and keeping your family comfortable, and protecting your home. Whether the generator is a 200 kW diesel hospital unit, or a basic home backup generator supplying as little as 5 kW, there’s a reason it’s in place and ready to serve, and our backup generator maintenance service is part of keeping it ready.
Weather-Resistant Installation
Many times, a backup generator is called into action when severe weather has disrupted the local power grid, sometimes for days. Your backup generator has to start and operate under conditions that may include high winds, heavy rain, and blowing debris. Our backup generator maintenance service checks generator enclosures and other protection to make sure that your system is properly protected by weatherproofing, and that the internal mechanisms and wiring such as spark plug wires are in good shape and not vulnerable to high levels of moisture. For units powered by diesel, ensuring that the fuel supply is not able to be contaminated by moisture is also essential.
Fast Power Switching
In a hospital, typically a ten-second switchover time is required. Your backup generator system, if installed with an automatic transfer switch to sense power disruption and initiate the transfer to emergency power, will make an intelligent decision about backup power and take care of the switchover. In areas where brief power disruptions are common, such as wind-related interruptions due to power line motion, these transfer switches can be programmed to wait a bit longer before initiating backup power generator use, to avoid wear and tear on the components involved. If you want a fast response, though, the system can start your generator and transfer power quickly, and our backup generator maintenance service will periodically test that functionality.
Fuel Availability
Without a clean, sufficient supply of the fuel your generator uses, your system won’t be a reliable source of backup power. If diesel is used, it must not be stored for more than 12-18 months and must be delivered as needed to keep your supply topped off. Propane fuel also needs proper care and delivery schedule. Natural gas supplies, where available, can provide a consistent supply of fuel with minimal checking by our backup generator maintenance service. If natural gas is only used by your generator at your location, it’s important that you verify that your supply has not been disrupted for any reason.
Battery and Engine Temperature
Though it’s not as big an issue in Marion, SC, full specifications for backup generator performance include low-temperature operation. Cold temperature kits are available for many of the generators we sell and service, and proper fluid checks and changes as part of your backup generator maintenance service as well as wiring, battery, and engine condition checks can help make sure your unit responds quickly and handles a full load right away even when temperatures approach freezing.
Battery Capacity
Your system’s battery should be fully charged and ready to provide the starting current for your backup generator when called upon. This means not only is the measured voltage of the battery correct, but the cells are in good shape and able to meet the high-Ampere draw of the starter, even when temperatures dip low. As with your automobile, the wiring between your battery and generator’s starter also needs to be clean and in good shape, to carry the starting current efficiently.
Periodic Testing Under Load
Hospital systems are required to perform a sophisticated series of tests under load, at both 30% and 100% load, to ensure the system can respond to multiple power loss events over time and provide the needed power. Our team will periodically check your system’s operation, including the transfer switch operation and generator power under load, to make sure everything is operating correctly and ready to supply the power you need.
Multipoint Inspection According to Manufacturer’s Specifications
Manufacturer checklists drive a thorough multipoint inspection of industrial generators, and the same applies to your home backup generator. Our team makes a visual, electrical, and mechanical check of your system’s components, ensuring that repairs are performed, whenever possible before power is needed.
Fuel System Maintenance with Fluid Level and Condition Checking
All the fuel and fluid system components need regular inspection for leaks, blockages, and scheduled replacement. Fuel and fluid condition checks may also be appropriate.
Professional Generator Care Is an Important Part of Reliable Backup Power
At Mister Sparky Generators, our backup generator maintenance service team takes our work seriously, because we know your family in Marion, SC is counting on the comfort and protection that comes from backup power. Let us create a maintenance schedule for your system, and please call us for all your backup generator needs.