Maintenance, Repair & Operations

How Conductor Maintenance Has Changed

Jan. 19, 2021

Improvements lead to less conductor failures and unscheduled downtime

When electricians who are now approaching retirement started in the trade, almost nobody performed conductor maintenance other than by visual inspection. Those firms that performed any kind of testing usually used a particular brand of insulation resistance tester. In most situations, the test was “pass or fail” based on some desired value of resistance for a given type of conductor. This meant a lot of false negatives and some false positives.

Then a smart practice began to catch on. By trending the insulation resistance readings of a specific conductor over time, you could detect a condition change. Those who implemented this experienced a sharp drop in conductor failures and unscheduled shutdowns to deal with them.

Because insulation resistance testing requires taking a conductor out of service, it is typically used only for service and feeder conductors. That is also true of other valuable tests for conductors that require connecting an instrument to the conductor(s) under test. Examples of such instruments include insulation leakage testers, conductivity testers, and high ohm testers.

About the Author

Mark Lamendola

Mark is an expert in maintenance management, having racked up an impressive track record during his time working in the field. He also has extensive knowledge of, and practical expertise with, the National Electrical Code (NEC). Through his consulting business, he provides articles and training materials on electrical topics, specializing in making difficult subjects easy to understand and focusing on the practical aspects of electrical work.

Prior to starting his own business, Mark served as the Technical Editor on EC&M for six years, worked three years in nuclear maintenance, six years as a contract project engineer/project manager, three years as a systems engineer, and three years in plant maintenance management.

Mark earned an AAS degree from Rock Valley College, a BSEET from Columbia Pacific University, and an MBA from Lake Erie College. He’s also completed several related certifications over the years and even was formerly licensed as a Master Electrician. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and past Chairman of the Kansas City Chapters of both the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society. Mark also served as the program director for, a board member of, and webmaster of, the Midwest Chapter of the 7x24 Exchange. He has also held memberships with the following organizations: NETA, NFPA, International Association of Webmasters, and Institute of Certified Professional Managers.