4 Main Benefits of Preventative UPS Maintenance

Our team of fully trained UPS technicians is on the move across the UK, 24/7/365, dedicated to installing and repairing Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) and their essential battery systems.

While they encounter numerous well-designed and properly installed backup systems, unfortunately, they also come across a significant number of systems that have been neglected in terms of regular maintenance and servicing.

Preventative maintenance for UPS systems is paramount in ensuring their reliability and performance. That's why we strongly advocate for all systems to be supported by a comprehensive service and maintenance plan.

In our latest blog article, our Technical Director, Tony Quince, delves into the primary benefits of conducting regular UPS servicing and maintenance. From prolonging the lifespan of your equipment to minimizing downtime and maximizing efficiency, Tony shares invaluable insights into why proactive maintenance is the cornerstone of a robust backup power strategy.

Stay ahead of the curve and safeguard your critical systems with regular servicing and maintenance. Check out our blog to learn more!

One of the most significant benefits of regular servicing and maintenance of a UPS is that it helps identify and address potential issues before they cause system failures which can be fatal for business continuity.

By being pro-active in addressing problems, the reliability of a UPS significantly increases and makes sure that the UPS is in optimal working condition - reducing the risk of unexpected downtime and any data loss.

During a routine maintenance visit, a factory trained and experienced technician will typically inspect the following UPS components to identify any signs of wear, damage, or irregularities.

• UPS batteries
• AC and DC Capacitors
• Fans
• Circuitry

By catching problems early, they can be fixed before becoming a failure that could lead to unwanted downtime.

Our technicians will look at the battery health, as the supporting battery strings are a critical component of any UPS, providing the backup power needed during any unfortunate power outages, surges, or spikes.

We always recommend that regular maintenance should always include battery testing and replacement of any wearing batteries before they reach their manufacturers end of life.

Ensuring that the batteries are in good condition is vital for any UPS to function reliably during any power interruptions.

Dust and debris often accumulates inside a UPS unit over time, potentially causing overheating and reduced performance. Any maintenance should involve cleaning the internal components, which will help maintain optimal airflow and prevent overheating.

In a recent visit, our engineers found the internal components completely covered in dust but a thorough clean and dust of the system was enough to make sure the UPS was running as it should.

Similar to any computer, a UPS uses complex software to monitor and keep systems online, so a maintenance visit should include updating all software to the latest versions, ensuring that the system can communicate effectively and respond to power events as intended.

As part of our authorised partnerships with the major UPS manufacturers we work with, our engineers have access to all the latest software updates to make sure your UPS is running on the latest firmware available.

As you can imagine with anything that has many mechanical parts, scheduled servicing and maintenance by a fully trained UPS engineer will help extend the life of the UPS by addressing issues that contribute to wear and tear over time.

Probably one of the most critical components of a UPS is its supporting battery system and fundamental for power to continue running in the event of a mains failure.

Like all batteries used to power hundreds of household items, over time UPS batteries degrade, losing their capacity and ability to hold a charge.

Our flexible and wide range of onsite services include battery testing, monitoring, and, if necessary, battery replacement (either individual battery strings or complete replacement).

By including these extra services to a maintenance plan, you can ensure that your UPS batteries are always in good condition and extend the overall lifespan of a UPS by preventing any unnecessary battery failures.

To go one step further and provide maximum reassurance that the UPS works at its most efficient, we believe load bank testing should be an essential part of any service and maintenance schedule.

Carrying out regular load bank testing allows us to safely simulate how your critical power systems will perform in the event of an unplanned mains disturbance or complete power failure.

The ability to apply full load to your complete critical power infrastructure allows you to test your UPS to the full capacity for which it was designed and test every part of the system.

Input supply breakers, switchgear, and the correct operation of your UPS performance will be scrutinised and checked. There really isn’t a more thorough way of testing your systems in a safe and risk free manner.

UPS batteries will, of course, be tested regularly as part of any standard maintenance plan. However, load bank testing provides the ultimate assurance that your systems will operate correctly in the event of a power disturbance and truly extend the lifespan of any critical power backup systems.

The location and the conditions that a UPS is operating in will eventually affect how long the UPS will last. Monitoring and maintaining the environment where the UPS is located, such as temperature and humidity, can also contribute to extending its lifespan.

UPS units tend to perform optimally within specified temperature and humidity ranges. Avoiding extreme conditions can prevent premature wear and tear on components especially batteries.

Our engineers were called out to a job last year where an aircon failure led to a sudden drop in temperature in the plant room and caused a number of batteries to catch fire.

By addressing the above through regular preventative maintenance, you can ensure that your UPS operates at its best for as long as possible. This not only saves you money on premature replacement but also provides continued protection for critical systems and data.

Probably one of the most obvious benefits of regular maintenance is that it can help avoid costly emergency repairs or complete replacements. We truly believe it is more cost-effective to invest in a preventative maintenance plan than to deal with any unexpected failures.

As our sales director Adam Baverstock discusses in our Why do you need a UPS blog article, demand for ‘clean’ power continues to increase across all businesses and with mission critical activity so heavily reliant on ‘always on’ systems, Uninterruptible Power Supplies now play an even more important and significant role in keeping businesses running.

With the primary purpose of a UPS to provide backup power during electrical outages, regular maintenance helps ensure that the system is in optimal condition works as intended.

By preventing unexpected failures which result in unnecessary downtime, maintenance plays a key role in reducing any associated costs, which can be substantial in terms of lost productivity due to phone lines down, revenue from lost business, and potential data loss.

Without regular servicing and regular health checks, UPS systems are more likely to experience sudden failures or breakdowns. Preventative maintenance helps avoid emergency breakdown repairs which can be costly, especially when they involve out of hours engineer visits and emergency call outs.

Most service and maintenance packages can be tailored to deliver the perfect contract to protect your business. At Specialist Power we offer guaranteed 4 hour (or better) response contracts for an engineer to be on-site in the event of an emergency, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Our dedicated service team will provide regular maintenance schedules to suit your requirement and visits can be planned during normal office hours, at weekends or overnight to ensure minimal disruption and risk to your critical power infrastructure.

UPS systems can consume a significant amount of energy, even when they are not actively providing backup power. Regular maintenance includes efficiency checks, ensuring that the UPS operates within its specified efficiency range. Optimizing energy efficiency reduces electricity bills, saving money in the long run.

UPS maintenance offers multiple cost-saving benefits by preventing downtime and protecting critical systems and data. Whilst maintenance does have added costs to a business, the long-term savings and risk mitigation it provides we believe outweighs any costs from a UPS failure and replacement.

Knowing that your UPS is well-maintained and regularly serviced will give you the peace of mind that when your UPS is needed, it will perform as it should – to protect your critical power systems and provide uninterrupted power.

This is becoming more important as businesses across all sectors are now so reliant on a consistent and stable electricity supply to keep technology operational 24/7/365.

Computers, telephones, hospital operating machinery and many other pieces of electrical equipment require continuous power to maintain productivity and efficiency.

Any unexpected shutdown or disturbance in the electricity supply can lead to potentially damaging disruptions, and the resulting downtime and data loss can cost businesses thousands of pounds a minute in sales or hours of lost productivity.

Having the correct preventative maintenance plan to support a UPS will help avoid any financial losses associated with downtime.

By identifying and addressing any potential issues before they become serious, regular maintenance allows an organisation to be proactive and not reactive to minimise any risk. This gives you the reassurance that the UPS is less likely to fail should it need to kick in during any power issues.

In fact, all the main UPS manufacturers that we work with require a service and maintenance plan to be in place to validate the manufacturer warranty that covers the UPS.

Ensuring that your UPS is properly maintained not only ensures compliance with warranty terms but also gives you confidence that the manufacturer stands behind the reliability of the UPS.

We hope from reading this you will have a better understanding of what is involved with a UPS maintenance plan and appreciate the importance of making sure you have suitable cover to keep your UPS running at its most efficient and understand that help is at hand if things do go wrong.

Our services are used in 1000’s of businesses across the UK and our engineers have been delivering UPS service contracts across all the major UPS manufacturers such as Riello UPS, APC by Schneider, Eaton, Socomec, Vertiv for over 20 years.

Contact us today to find out how we can help with your UPS service and maintenance needs.