Seven secrets of UPS power system maintenance

According to Eaton, about two-thirds of downtime is preventable, with insufficient maintenance being one of the main reasons. You may not be able to do much to deal with malicious attacks, service provider issues, and unpredictable equipment failures. However, you can definitely take preventive maintenance measures to ensure that your data center avoids many potential downtime events. Preventive maintenance involves cross-system maintenance throughout the data center, and each system has its own maintenance requirements. In this article, I will provide you with some tips on preventive maintenance for UPS systems, hoping to help ensure that power fluctuations do not threaten your data center equipment.

　　UPS Preventive Maintenance Tips

　　1. Safety first.

　　Whenever you perform power maintenance, remember that life and physical safety should take precedence over everything else. When dealing with power equipment , even a small operating error can cause serious injury or death. Therefore, when dealing with a UPS (or any power system in a data center), ensuring safety is the primary concern: including following the equipment manufacturer's recommendations, paying attention to facility-specific details and standard safety guidelines. If you are not familiar with certain aspects of a UPS system or do not know how to maintain it, seek help from a professional. Even if you understand the UPS system in your data center, it is still necessary to seek appropriate outside assistance so that you can have a cool-headed person to help you when it comes to certain potential problems, so that you will not be troubled by stress.

　　2. Insist on regular maintenance.

　　Preventive maintenance in your data center should not be something you do on a whim, especially considering the potential cost of downtime. For your data center's UPS system and other systems, regular maintenance (on a year, half a year, or any time frame) should be performed and adhered to. This includes a written (paper or electronic) record list that records the specific time of the next maintenance activity and the last maintenance.

　　3. Keep detailed records.

　　In addition to scheduling regular maintenance, your data center should also have a detailed maintenance record (for example, records of cleaning, repairs, or replacement of certain parts), as well as the specific conditions of related equipment found during inspections. Cost tracking is also very helpful when you need to report maintenance costs or the cost of each downtime to data center leaders. A detailed task list, such as checking battery corrosion and looking for excessive torque on connecting wires, helps maintain an orderly approach. All of this documentation can help when performing equipment replacements, unscheduled maintenance, and UPS troubleshooting planning. In addition to keeping records, be sure to always keep these documents in a convenient and well-known location.

　　4. Perform regular inspections.

　　The above three tips apply to almost any part of the data center: no matter what the data center environment, it is good practice to strengthen security, schedule maintenance and keep good records. However, for UPS systems, certain tasks need to be performed regularly by personnel (who should be familiar with the basics of UPS operation). These important UPS maintenance tasks include the following aspects: 1. Inspection of obstacles and related cooling equipment around the UPS and battery (or other energy storage) equipment.

　　2. Make sure that there are no abnormal operations or any alarms from the UPS control panel, such as overload or battery exhaustion.

　　3. Watch for signs of battery corrosion or other defects. Consult the manufacturer's guidelines and recommendations for those specific devices. In some cases, you should strictly follow the equipment manufacturer's maintenance recommendations (or hire a professional to do it).

　　5. Recognize that UPS component failure is possible.

　　This seems obvious: Any device with a finite probability of failure will eventually fail. “Critical UPS components, such as batteries and capacitors, cannot always remain in working order,” the Eaton report states. So even if your power provider is providing perfect power, your UPS room is perfectly clean, and your UPS equipment is operating ideally at the right temperature, components can still fail. That’s why you need to perform maintenance on your UPS system.

　　6. Make sure you know who to turn to when you need service or unscheduled maintenance.

　　Sometimes, during routine inspections, you'll discover problems that can't wait until the next maintenance session. When these situations occur, you can save a lot of time and effort by making sure you know who to contact to help you. This means your data center must identify one or more solid service providers who can help you when you need it. These providers may or may not be the same providers that provide you with regular maintenance. (If a provider has a good record of your data center's repairs, they will be able to provide you with the most useful information, so ask that provider to come in. This can help you potentially save a lot of time and money)

　　7. Assign tasks.

　　"Weren't you supposed to do that last week?" "No, I thought you were." To avoid this kind of confusion, make sure you have the right people responsible for UPS maintenance tasks. Who is responsible for checking the equipment every week? Who is responsible for contacting the service provider to schedule annual maintenance (or adjusting the maintenance schedule)? There may be different people responsible for specific tasks, but make sure you know who is responsible for your UPS system.

　　Many UPS maintenance tasks are best left to those who are familiar with UPS. Again, safety is paramount: the voltages in a UPS system can be lethal, so it’s better to hire a professional than take chances. Preventive maintenance is key to all data center jobs, so many of these tips apply broadly, but UPS systems require special attention because they require stable power in the short term to provide your IT equipment. Downtime caused by dead batteries, failed capacitors, or clogged air filters, or even welded relays with outdated firmware, can be easily prevented by following a regular maintenance schedule. A well-thought-out preventive maintenance program can help save your data center from many UPS headaches in the future.