If you’ve ever dealt with a devastating power event at your business, you know how destructive they can be. Naturally, most owners want to know what went wrong and how to prevent it from ever happening again. Monitoring the power usage of your business in Upland, CA is the key to understanding what happened during a power event and how to solve the problem.
Not every business needs a power monitoring system, but it’s often a good idea to have one. Certain types of facilities, such as hospitals, have more of a need for power monitoring than others. Here’s a brief overview of power monitoring, and why you should consider investing in a power monitoring system.
What is a power monitoring system?
A power monitoring system is a series of internet-enabled power meters within your facility. The meters “watch” your electrical usage by feeding data into a software-controlled management system. Power monitoring systems can trigger alarms and notifications, as well as extract forensic evidence after an electrical event. This helps prevent issues, alerts staff to problems and allows electricians to troubleshoot when there are problems.
Why do I need a power monitoring system?
Why monitor power usage of a business in Upland, CA? Depending on your type of business, there are several different reasons to invest in such as system. Here are a few of the most common:
- Your business depends on reliable power. Businesses that rely on electricity for security or operations (for example, critical medical equipment or alarm systems) need to have a reliable power source at all times. Power monitoring makes it easy to see if there are problems brewing and catch them before they cause downtime.
- Your breakers and circuits trip without explanation. “Nuisance tripping” is when your breakers or circuits trip without an apparent cause. This can cause downtime, bring on your emergency power supply and cause problems with your equipment. It’s often caused by undervoltage, which can be checked with a power monitoring system.
- Automate emergency power supply system reporting. If your business relies on an emergency power supply system, a power monitoring system will automatically save and submit the data to the designated electrical or system authority.
- Avoid early equipment failure. Keeping an eye on your key equipment is easy with power monitoring. Many businesses rely on elaborate and expensive equipment. Watching their power usage over time can alert you to potential failure. Alternatively, if your equipment fails without warning, you’ll be able to pull up the power monitoring data to see if there was an issue with short circuiting, harmonic problems or disproportionate heat.
Ultimately, using a power monitoring system is a good way to predict electrical events, keep your equipment from failing and provide data when there are problems. When you rely on steady, reliable power and sensitive electrical equipment for your daily operations, power monitoring keep everything running smoothly.
Thinking about installing a power monitoring system for your commercial building? Ham’s Electric, Inc. can help. Call us today to get a quote and learn more about our capabilities.