Nov 26, 20222 min read

When was your last UPS Refresh?

Over 60% of outages today result in a financial loss of $100,000 or more, with a significant proportion over $1,000,000. Heading into 2023, rate of data center outages has not changed significantly despite significant improvement and intelligence in systems and software put in place to help manage and support our facilities globally. In fact, 80% of data center operators have experienced some type of outage in the last 3 years.

The #1 cause of outage accounting for 43% of all outages today is due to Power failure. The single biggest cause of power incidents due to Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) failure.

If UPS maintenance is not a part of your standard operation and you typically purchase, install, and let it run, then here is a quick list of some helpful tips to kick-off your UPS maintenance:

Make an annual schedule
Create set of Annual and Semi-Annual checks that are on your calendar and assigned to a staff member if you yourself are not performing the checks.

There are a number of methods to implementing various checks, but here are some quick guides provided by Unified Power:

Semi-Annual UPS Maintenance

Twice a year, a trained technician should:

Inspect and repair battery connections as needed since loose or dirty connections can cause heat buildup in battery terminals — reducing the system’s capacity, altering the battery’s life span and creating a chance for a fire hazard
Clean and vacuum UPS equipment enclosures
Test the UPS’s overall operation

Annual UPS Maintenance

During this important yearly checkup, depending on your equipment type and requirements, expect a technician to:

Power down the system and inspect each of its parts for indications of corrosion or heat damage
Use thermal scan technology on electrical connections using a diagnostic tool that identifies hot spots the human eye can’t detect
Conduct a load-test to determine the capacity of the battery bank, which may require separating the UPS from its power supply and connecting the UPS batteries to a load to determine its power capabilities
Clear dirt, dust and other particles from the system components
Measure and check the torque of all connections, re-torquing any power connections as needed
Run a complete operational test, including a monitored battery-rundown to calculate if the battery is near the end of its life, an AC ripple current and interconnecting cable resistance testing