PacB Group // When Generator Performance is Crucial, Proper Maintenance Will be Essential

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When Generator Performance is Crucial, Proper Maintenance Will be Essential

It often seems like a lifetime ago when the most likely explanation for a sudden loss of electrical power in the home was a lightning strike on a nearby sub-station. Sadly, that has all changed, and not only are the frequent outages of the 21st-century due more often to defects in the nation’s power infrastructure, but many of them are also planned in order to conserve power reserves for uses that are considered to be more strategically important.

This has meant that both South African homes and industries have become more dependent upon the means to provide their own power and, in the case of industrial and commercial users, regular generator maintenance is equally essential if they are to ensure continued operation.

The effect of a typical power outage on the average domestic user may be to cause families a degree of inconvenience and, if sufficiently prolonged, it might even result in some deterioration of food in the fridge. However, any financial loss that may result is certain to be trivial compared with the potential impact of a factory brought to a total standstill as a result of an untimely blackout. To avoid such disasters, many businesses that would have normally relied solely on Eskom to meet their power requirements have now installed a generator or two, and are making provision for their maintenance.

It is also quite common for an operation, whose premises are remote from the national service provider’s network, to rely solely on electricity generated on site. In such cases, in addition to the gensets in daily use, they will often keep a reserve machine as a backup to be used in the event of a problem with one of the operating units, and a need to take it offline to perform repairs, or simply to conduct a scheduled inspection and service of a generator as part of a preventative maintenance programme.

In order to ensure that one is prepared for most eventualities, it is normally sufficient to carry a small stock of the spare parts that are most frequently called upon, in addition to maintaining an adequate supply of diesel fuel and essential lubricants. Most of the routine tasks that are likely to be required should not demand a great deal of technical expertise and their details will be well-documented in the manufacturer’s operating manual for the model in use.

That said, there are also many who prefer not to undertake the responsibility for generator maintenance and any minor repairs themselves. In such cases, it should normally be possible for an owner to enter into an agreement with any reputable supplier who will then assume full responsibility for all servicing and repairs as defined by the terms and conditions of the contract.

It is, however, important to be aware that even when these responsibilities are allocated to a third party, repairs and servicing will necessitate a period of downtime, and so it is important to make provision for these occasions. The best way to do this is to have a standby machine that is fully-operational, and can be powered up and brought online when required. In the absence of a backup unit, it may be possible to arrange for routine generator maintenance to be performed outside of normal working hours. Nevertheless, without the option to employ a backup unit, an indeterminate period of downtime will be inevitable in the event of a machine failure.

Fortunately, the performance of these machines has improved tremendously over the years, and breakdowns are relatively rare, especially among products from the industry’s more iconic brands, such as Cummins, Perkins, Scania, and Volvo. However, the pedigree of the supplier can be every bit as important as a world-class product for essential repairs and maintenance to a generator. Offering both top-quality products and expert backup, PacB Group is a preferred supplier among South Africa’s industries.