Preparing for Hurricane Season

Hurricane season is upon us, and it’s important to make sure your facility is prepared in case of an outage or other emergencies. Having an emergency generator is a good first step, but maintaining it is vital to success.

The first thing you will want to check is whether your generator will be sufficient for the duration of a possible outage. Your local generator distributor can size one for your data center, school or emergency service center. While hurricanes in the northeast tend to not wipe out infrastructure, having backups of all of your data is critical, especially if the power goes out for a significant amount of time. If you are in a vital environment that cannot function without electricity, a generator with proper voltage is necessary to provide emergency services.

If you already have a generator, you should have it serviced prior to a storm, as often as manufacturers and distributors recommend. A trained professional will inspect every aspect of your generator. Your belts will be checked for wear, fluids will be checked for level and consistency in your cooling system, engine oil, and fuel, and batteries will be checked. Your gauges will be checked for warning lights and broken signals. You should have all of your systems, automatic transfer switch and control panel checked at least twice per year as standard preventative maintenance. Annual services are more detailed and involve changing filters, sampling fluids and ensuring everything is in proper working order. Your generator’s load bank will be tested, especially if you do not run your generator at least once a month. Load bank testing will burn off unburnt fluids in the cylinders and exhaust systems, and evaporate excess moisture from the engine.

If you are in need of an emergency generator or want your generator serviced before a hurricane hits, contact Weld Power immediately. A trained inspector will go to your site and run all necessary tests on your machine, giving you the results within 24 hours. Weld Power can be reached at 800.288.6016 at all times, or you may fill out our online contact form.