How forethought prevented a definite fire and untold damages!
Why experiential knowledge of over 1000 projects helps in RWA Audits
Would your apartment complex have been safe?
Would your commercial building have been safe?
Heavy rains that lashed Bangalore last night caused a tree branch to fall on the Electricity Board [EB] lines, resulting in the overhead neutral wire getting cut. Because of this instead of normal 220 volts there was 440 volts in phase wire to neutral wire coming to the panel board. Obviously the meters in the panel were completely burnt.
Even after all this brouhaha nothing happened to our UPS instances!!!
Why did nothing happen?
This was because a lot of planning and fore thought had gone into planning our electrical installation within the building — we used an Isolation Transformer for all our UPS instances.
What would have happened if we didn’t have an isolation transformer?
In the instance that we didn’t have an isolation transformer we would have incurred heavy damage to
- the UPS instances
- the servers that are running 24/7
- the electrical appliances and lights would have got burnt
- probably we would have had an electrical fire
all this was avoided because we had forethought and installed an Isolation Transformer
Why it happens?
The case of Neutral failure occurs when the the neutral wire gets cut, like it happened here or due to any loose connection at the neutral wire joints. Then due to loss of return path through the neutral wire, complex return path gets established through other installations and the voltage increases to double value, burning out all the appliances like TV, Fridge, Bulbs and computers.
How to avoid such damage?
Earlier practice was to use Voltage stabilisers, which adjust the output voltage in a small range by either bucking or boosting and shut down in case of excess voltage beyond the range. These stabilisers are required for individual appliances and cost is high.
Current practice for commercial establishments is to use online UPS which not only backs up power in case of failure but also ensures Quality of power (Sine wave) which is must for operation of computers/servers/sophisticated electrical equipment. In such cases installing an Isolation Transformer acts a protective layer insulating the equipment from external high voltages. Isolation Transformer also prevents back flow of Electricity from UPS on to the line, endangering the workmen attending to the break down of line.
All this comes from knowledge gathered over years of experience handling various types of construction projects like Hospitals,Shopping Malls, Star Hotels, Institutional buildings, Residential Apartment complexes and many more.
Similarly, we apply our experiential knowledge to your Apartment Complex whilst we conduct an Audit on behalf of the RWA
Don’t pay for other’s mistakes — getNemmadi
