If you use heavy machinery in your business, it’s important you know that you can rely on it. Construction businesses or manufacturing companies are completely reliant on their equipment and if it stops working, the whole business grinds to a halt. That leads to a lot of big financial losses, so avoiding this kind of downtime in the first place is crucial.
By Team Savant
Image: Steven Erixon
There are a number of different issues you are likely to experience when using heavy machinery, but electrical faults are one of the most common. In a lot of cases, this isn’t a problem that is easily fixed, so prevention is vital. Here’s how businesses can avoid electrical faults when using heavy machinery.
Invest In Good Quality Machinery
Investing in the right equipment in the first place will save you a lot of trouble further down the line. When you are starting a construction business and buying machinery, for example, look for reliable brands and don’t always go for the cheapest option. Although you will save money now, it is far more likely to malfunction, which costs you more money in the future. Businesses may buy second-hand machines to save money, which is fine, but you need to be careful. There are plenty of reputable sellers out there and you can get second-hand machines that are in good condition and won’t cause any trouble. However, there are also a lot of run down ones with worn out electrics that are likely to break. Before buying any second-hand equipment, always have an engineer check it over to ensure that it is in good working order.
Use Protection Relays
A protection relay is a device that detects electrical faults at the source and corrects them before they do any serious damage. Installing protection relays on all of your machines will help you diagnose problems early and stop them from causing widespread damage. If you are using second-hand machinery, you may need to replace the protection relays as they come to the end of their lifecycle. However, this can be an issue because certain brands, like multilin, have decommissioned some of their relays. In this instance, you can get multilin relay retrofits that act as a perfect replacement. Making sure that your protection relays are working as they should is one of the best ways to prevent electrical faults.
Hire Experienced Technicians
Having experienced technicians working on-site helps protect electrical systems and prevent problems. Instead of waiting until a machine completely fails before you get somebody to look at the electronics, a technician can constantly monitor things and identify any small problems. They are then able to troubleshoot the electrical systems and make small fixes before machines stop working altogether. Taking this preventative approach and putting out small fires as they come up will save you a lot of time and money in the long term, so it’s worth investing the money it costs to hire a full-time technician, especially if you use a lot of heavy machinery.
Electrical faults can cost you a lot of money, but if you follow these simple steps, you can keep your heavy machinery up and running at all times.