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Ecmweb 18960 Electrical Troubleshooting Quiz 1
Ecmweb 18960 Electrical Troubleshooting Quiz 1
Ecmweb 18960 Electrical Troubleshooting Quiz 1
Ecmweb 18960 Electrical Troubleshooting Quiz 1
Ecmweb 18960 Electrical Troubleshooting Quiz 1

Electrical Troubleshooting Quiz — July 17, 2018

July 17, 2018
Hunting down an energy vampire

A couple of years ago, your plant engineer had the foresight to install a power monitor on the feeder supplying your plant air compressor motors. Shortly after its installation, the power monitor revealed some power anomalies. Those were resolved.

Recently, the plant engineer ran an energy usage report going back a year. About six months ago, the compressor motors began using much more electricity at an additional cost of nearly $4,000 per year. There aren’t any power anomalies, motor problems, or VFD problems to explain this.

A contractor performed ultrasonic leak testing; the firm found and repaired a few dozen small leaks. But these leaks don’t account for the excess usage or the suddenness with which it appeared. Where should you look?

Because of the suddenness of the energy usage jump, the likely culprit is a system maintenance or design change. Compressed air must have liquid contaminants (e.g., water and lubricants) filtered out, and these filters must be periodically drained to keep working. Excess air loss here would cause the compressor motors to work hard, thus explaining the spike in energy usage.

Are the filter pots drained manually on a PM schedule and/or by operators? Perhaps too rigorously now? Or perhaps there was a problem in manually draining the filter pots enough, so timer drains were installed and they are set to drain too long and/or too frequently. Run these ideas past the plant engineer.

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.

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