When there’s an electrical issue at your business, it’s highly likely the warning signs were there for months beforehand.
You’re not a trained electrician, so you didn’t see them. That’s fair. To experienced eyes, they would be hard to miss, which is why it’s always wise to have a team of commercial electricians you trust keeping your commercial electrics operational and safe.
They will help you with two major aspects of your operations:
Productivity: When you lose power, everything grinds to a halt. Staff can’t do anything, processes reset, stock spoils and the hours slowly tick away with productivity at net zero. Downtime can cost you as much as $5,600 per minute.
Compliance: On one hand, you have productivity, on the other you have your business’s compliance with the electrical safety standards. As a business owner, Queensland law places the responsibility on you to ensure a safe working environment. A licensed electrician will help you meet the electrical side of these obligations.
Thankfully, electrical issues at your workplace can be prevented and problems can be dealt with quickly. Voltora Industries is here to keep your workplace electrics in top condition, so don’t hesitate to get in touch if we can help.
Four Common Electrical Problems at Businesses
Let’s take a look at four common electrical issues our Brisbane electricians regularly see at commercial properties.
Tripping circuits during peak load
Circuit breakers tripping during peak hours is the fault our electricians are called out to most often. It usually points to infrastructure that hasn’t kept pace with demand – the business has outgrown its current electrical system.
As businesses grow, new machinery, additional HVAC units and increased production push existing circuits toward their limits. Reassessing the electrical infrastructure rarely happens at the same time. The system runs at capacity for some time, and then breakers start tripping.
It’s more than a minor inconvenience when this happens. There’s interrupted production, equipment shutdowns, data loss and mechanical stress on machinery – it gets expensive fast. Repeated tripping also degrades protective devices over time, raising the risk of a more serious failure down the line.
A band-aid solution in this instance would be to replace the breakers with higher-rated ones. That’s fine, but you’re bypassing the problem without solving it. A proper load assessment is required, with a review of distribution design, testing under peak conditions and a rebalancing of circuits. A three-phase power upgrade may be required. At the end of the day, what your business wants is a well-engineered system that can handle peak demand.
Ageing switchboards
The switchboard is the heart of an electrical system. It has a big job to do, and needs to be maintained to a high standard for seamless electrical operations. At older business premises, we often find the switchboard is from a bygone era and simply can’t keep up with modern electrical needs.
Circuits get added over the years by different contractors, dust and heat take their toll, and labelling is outdated and incorrect. You get the picture – a switchboard can quickly turn into a mess. When it comes to electrics, a mess equals risk.
With a dodgy switchboard, fault-finding takes longer and isolation during emergencies is harder. There can be heat buildup, too – we recently inspected a workshop switchboard that had operational temperatures way higher than the safe limits. The business had no idea, and luckily, our commercial electricians could rectify the situation before there was an incident.
Don’t wait for your switchboard to fail. Get Voltora Industries to assess and maintain it before electrical failures kick in.
Poor power distribution for modern equipment
The physical growth of a business doesn’t always take a smooth trajectory. Equipment of different sizes comes and goes, and different spaces get used for different things. Sometimes temporary changes become permanent. The electrical system isn’t always upgraded to match.
The inconsistencies creep in – maybe welders are sharing the same circuits as lighting. IT with charging stations. Long cable runs that haven’t been installed for long-term use. Over time, this all results in negative impact – voltage drops, heat buildups, machines drawing too much current and lifespan shortening.
A professional electrician will establish a solid electrical foundation that caters to all your equipment. Machines drawing heavy loads will be put on dedicated circuits. Sensitive electronics will have clean supply away from the heavy equipment. Cable sizing will be matched to distance and load.
Your power distribution needs to reflect your current operations, not the business you were a few years ago!
HVAC electrical issues
The Queensland climate needs solid cooling and heating in a Brisbane workplace. When it fails, the source can often be an electrical supply failure. Issues such as undersized circuits, worn isolators and failing contactors cause intermittent shutdowns.
These are frustrating faults because they can come and go, making it harder to isolate what’s causing the problem. In a workshop or warehouse, productivity declines due to the uncomfortable temperatures. It’s also a compliance risk – you could fall on the wrong side of Queensland Workplace Health and Safety Standards.
Electrical inspections are an important part of HVAC maintenance. Protective devices get tested, isolators checked for damage and supply draw verified. It makes for consistent heating and cooling all year round.
Stability on the electrical side makes it easier to find mechanical faults and get them sorted.
Reactive Maintenance Costs More
So many businesses across Brisbane rely on emergency call-outs every year. The emergency electrician will often apply a band-aid solution to patch the problem fast, but the underlying issue remains.
That’s setting the platform for the same problem to rear its head again down the track. You get repeat issues that get worse over time.
Preventative electrical maintenance mitigates that risk. An initial electrical assessment followed by regular checkups can help cause a massive drop in downtime.
Working with Voltora Industries
If you want to avoid downtime, maintain high productivity, and remain compliant with Queensland electrical safety rules, Voltora Industries is here for you.
We work with commercial and industrial businesses where downtime costs money. We want you to help prevent it at all costs, and to get back on your feet ASAP when it happens.
Talk with a team member today and let us know how we can help you.
Lets get started
