Nearly 200,000 Sq ft with the most modern of electronics being used to get products in and out.
They hired a large Florida based Design Build Contractor to design the facility with its massive refrigerated dock and warehouse section a new large dry storage section and rebuild of offices and a new training center where store owners can see the latest in products for the convenience industry.
The Design Build Contractor hired the local Electrical Union Contractor to install power and lighting so they should have the best available talent to get this job done. WRONG.
The new facility was open only 3 days when tragedy struck. There was a a Phase loss of power from
Power Company to the plant which happened on a very hot day a common problem with the power grid when it gets stressed which when the phase came back on caused a massive surge in the plant. thru the 480/277 power distribution system which knocked refrigeration AC cooling off line and destroyed fire and security components despite surge protection myself and older electrician installed on our systems we installed.
The problems uncovered during what happened where something which never should have happened and where 100% avoidable.
There have been constant problems with electrical gremlins in the facility which causes electronics systems to not work properly or erratically. The design Build firm was a complete failure they never figured into its electrical designs for Harmonics a very well known problem which should have been considered and designed for.
To make matters worse not one surge suppressor was installed anywhere in the electrical system had they been installed the surge damage would have been nothing to minimal instead of over $10,000 in damage and business disruption it caused. The Surge suppressors myself and the older electrician installed where overwhelmed because there where no other suppressors in the electrical system.
Only one of the electronics contractors in the building bedsides us installed suppressors.
Too many times I see very expensive electronics being installed with no suppressors on them or battery back up system a very bad decision.
especially when it comes to surveillance camera systems which use a recorder with a hard drive just like a computer.
To make matters worse as Myself and in house electrician started looking over the electrical system to determine where the surge came in and path it took we found that the electrical contractor had not bonded the various buildings steel together and had various transformers bonded to the steel in three different section's and without the unifying bonding between the structures this allowed for step voltage to occur
which is what caused most of the damage when there is a difference in potential between the ground paths and voltage can actually spike up in strength. This is why it is critical to properly unify and electrical system and in this case the complex is feed from 2 different power services which makes it even more critical that everything on the grounding and the bonding of the system is properly unified.
The following link shows many ways structures must be bonded and grounded to prevent issues
Since going thru and correcting the bonding and grounding issues we have greatly reduced the electrical gremlins but they are still there. the only way to do this would be to replace transformers at a very big expense.
But hopefully what we have done will help for now and the management is bring advised to install additional surge suppression to ward off future issues.
I'm so sorry to hear about your accident. My husband manages a hotel and our contractor also had transformers bonded to the steel, which, as you learned, allows step voltage. Thankfully our insurance covered part of the cost of getting someone else in there to fix it, and we had no problems after that. When it comes to something as hazardous as electricity, you can't overstate the importance of a job well done.
ReplyDeleteHelen Lund | http://www.ejgrayelectric.com