SecoGear – Installation, Operation and Maintenance Manual 12 of 56
Excellent maintenance is essential for the reliability and safety
of any electrical equipment:
• Maintenance programs must be designed for the specific
application, well planned and carried out consistent
with both industry experience and manufacturer
recommendations.
• The local environment must always be considered, including
such variables as ambient temperatures, extreme moisture,
number of operations, corrosive atmosphere, major insect
problems, and any other unusual condition or abuse of
the application.
One of the critical service activities, sometimes neglected,
involves the calibration of various control devices. A
proper calibration monitors conditions in the primary
and secondary circuits, sometimes initiating emergency
corrective action, such as opening or closing circuit breakers.
In view of the vital role of these devices, it is important
that a periodic test program be followed. GE recommends
checking all significant calibrations at an interval of
one to two years, until you have accumulated enough
Maintenance
3. Although the provided interlocks reduce some of the
risks, the individual’s actions while performing service
or maintenance are essential to prevent accidents. Each
person’s knowledge, mental awareness, and planned and
executed actions often determine if an accident will occur.
The most important method of avoiding accidents is for
all associated personnel to carefully apply a thorough
understanding of the specific equipment – from the
viewpoints of its purpose, its construction, its operation –
and the situations that could be hazardous.
All personnel associated with installation, operation, and
maintenance of electrical equipment, such as power circuit
breakers and other power handling equipment, must be
thoroughly trained, with periodic retraining, regarding power
equipment in general, as well as the particular model of
equipment with which they are working.
Instruction books, actual devices, and appropriate safety and
maintenance practices such as OSHA publications, National
Electric Safety Code (ANSI C2), National Electric Code, and
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70B Electrical
Equipment Maintenance must be closely studied and followed.
During actual work, a supervisor should audit practices to
assure conformance.
experience to select a test interval better suited to the
individual requirements. The interval between periodic
checks will vary depending upon the local environment,
the type of device, and the user’s experience.
Some devices can be adequately tested using test sets.
Specific calibration instructions on particular devices are
typically provided in the vendors’ documentation. However,
these manuals cannot include every possible part that could
require attention, particularly over a very long service period
or under adverse environments. Maintenance personnel must
be alert to deterioration of any part of the supplied switchgear,
taking actions as necessary to restore it to serviceable status.
Industry publications of recommended maintenance
practices such as ANSI/NFPA 70B, Electrical Equipment
Maintenance, should be carefully studied and applied
in each site’s formation of planned maintenance.
Visit geindustrial.com for the latest publications.
Some customers may require additional assistance from
GE in the planning and performance of maintenance.
GE Industrial Solutions offers onsite services to perform
maintenance or provide technical assistance.
The performance and safety of all equipment may be
compromised by the modification of supplied parts or their
replacement by non-identical substitutes. All such design
changes must be qualified to ANSI/IEEE Standard C37.59.
Maintenance personnel should methodically keep
written maintenance records as an aid in future service
planning and equipment reliability improvement.
Promptly report any unusual experiences to GE.
