Introduction
As an industrial facility manager, keeping my plant's electrical systems up-to-date and safe is one of my top priorities. However, many older facilities like mine still have obsolete wiring systems that are unreliable and pose safety risks. In this article, I will discuss the challenges of maintaining antique wiring and outline solutions for upgrading and improving outdated electrical infrastructure.
The Risks of Obsolete Electrical Systems
Industrial facilities often utilize electrical systems that are decades old. While regular maintenance helps preserve their function, antiquated wiring has inherent reliability and safety issues:
Frequent Failures and Costly Repairs
- Old wiring insulation tends to crack and fray over time. This leads to short circuits and power failures.
- Faulty connections caused by corrosion create intermittent power disruptions.
- Repairing point failures in obsolete wiring is labor intensive. Outages have major productivity and revenue impacts.
Fire and Electrocution Hazards
- Archaic wiring lacks modern shielding and grounding. This raises the dangers of arc flashes and electrical fires.
- Without upto date overload and fault protection devices, risks of serious injuries or fatalities also increase.
- Old wiring contains hazardous materials like lead and asbestos. Disturbing it can release toxic particles.
Inability to Meet Modern Power Demands
- Antiquated wiring often utilizes smaller insufficient gauge conductors. This leads to frequent tripping and voltage drops.
- Outdated electrical panels lack adequate circuit capacity for running modern high powered equipment.
These reliability and safety issues make evident the need to upgrade obsolete electrical infrastructure in industrial facilities. But cost and business disruption concerns often deter such projects. Next, I will explore solutions that improve old wiring systems efficiently and economically.
Prioritizing and Replacing Obsolete Wiring
Targeted replacements of the oldest and most critical electrical infrastructure can vastly improve reliability and safety:
Focus on High Risk and High Failure Areas
- Use arc flash and thermographic analyses to identify hot spots with the greatest failure risks.
- Inspect historically problematic areas like compressor and production equipment circuits.
- Replace feeds with the highest downtime and repair costs first.
Upgrade Main and Distribution Wiring First
- Start with dangerous old wiring feeding the main switchgear and panelboards.
- Then move to large distribution feeds to critical equipment like large motors.
- This method systematically isolates and replaces the most hazardous obsolete wiring.
Install New Dedicated Circuits for Vital Equipment
- Running key equipment like refrigeration compressors on individual dedicated circuits adds reliability.
- These critical feeds can bypass aging infrastructure.
- Dedicated wiring also allows installing advanced monitoring and protection.
By methodically replacing the highest risk wiring, I can optimize my limited capital budgets while steadily improving safety and reliability.
Implementing Short Term Mitigation Measures
While planning major upgrades, I can also implement some inexpensive improvements to enhance obsolete wiring safety:
Increase Inspections and Preventive Maintenance
- Thoroughly inspecting old wiring annually catches faults before they escalate into failures.
- Infrared scans identify hot spots and deteriorated connections needing repair.
- Testing insulation resistance uncovers areas where coverings have weakened.
- Cleaning bus bars in switchgear reduces contact resistance and overheating risks.
Install Arc Flash Mitigation Systems
- Arc flash relays and current limiters reduce hazards and damage from short circuits.
- Optical arc detection activates instant arc quenching and system shutdown.
- These systems avert catastrophic arc blast injuries and fires.
Deploy Wireless Condition Monitoring
- Installing wireless current monitors on large old wiring feeds provides real-time monitoring.
- Continuous data quickly identifies overload conditions needing urgent intervention.
- Advanced analytics algorithms even predict failures before they occur.
These kinds of inexpensive monitoring and protection improvements buy time while planning major infrastructure upgrades.
Key Takeaways on Improving Obsolete Electrical Wiring
Upgrading aging electrical infrastructure in industrial plants is essential but often delayed due to cost and business disruption concerns. However, I can still enhance my old wiring reliability and safety by:
- Strategically replacing the highest risk wiring first based on failure data.
- Focusing on main feeds and critical equipment circuits first.
- Implementing dedicated circuits for vital assets.
- Increasing maintenance and installing mitigation systems in the interim.
Prioritizing my capital spending combined with deploying short term solutions will allow me to steadily modernize my obsolete wiring. This will drastically bolster electrical safety and reliability, while aligning with budget constraints and minimizing down time. With some creativity and diligence, I can transform my facility's hazardous antiquated wiring into a modern safe and resilient electrical infrastructure.