Harden Your Power Defenses: UL1449 3rd GenerationHarden Your Power Defenses: UL1449 3rd Generation

"The majority of all power disruptions originate from within your facility during the course of normal, everyday operation."

Power is the leading disrupter of what we often take for granted. We’ve been ingrained with a sense of fear that it’s the backhoe operator that we should worry about the most. Thus was born “Miss Utility” and today we have a new and improved "Miss Utility" reached nationally by dialing 811. The 811 service is the new FCC designated national three-digit number created to eliminate the confusion of multiple "Call Before You Dig" numbers across the country.

Still, the U.S. has a susceptible terrestrial power grid; the National Lightning Safety Institute reports that 30% of all losses paid for power damage are due to lightning, and result in annual losses exceeding $1B USD. So you know you need to harden your defenses with upfront gear to prevent lightning damage. Even if you do, it may fail and you could still suffer damage and losses. When you don't do anything, you will eventually suffer damage and losses because the odds are stacked against you.

But what about the remaining 70% root causes of power disruptions and losses to customer gear? We know from our friends at APC that,

Projected dollar losses in the billions are in addition to lightning causes of property loss and they vary by consumers, SMBs and large enterprise and industrial companies. The gear, systems and devices used on premise, generate most root sources of power transients and surges.

In Power Protection--Pay A Little Now, Or A Lot Later here’s what I would like to add.

What I recently discovered is that the UL specification 1449 Third Edition is a significant change over the Second Edition. The new UL specification was tested and rated with 3,000 amps while the Second Edition specification was just 500 amps. For a complete review of the UL 1449 Third Edition changes, read here or watch Eaton's video here.

Our next project will replace the old first edition TVSS with a new and improved Surge Protection Device (SPD). Be sure to look carefully at the specs of any proposed SPD. Peak surge ratings in 100KA or 600KA are key indicators to service life of SPDs. When I spoke with Liebert, they warned against cheaper units that have one-time protection, meaning that there is one fuse for each level of protection; in Liebert's gear the smallest SPD has over 40 fuses.

As is typical of surges and spikes, these hits can occur more than once in the same event. Gear with only one fuse for each level of protection can leave you hanging without protection.

Of course, price is relevant. Another indicator of price/performance is the peak surge ratings of the device; Liebert's specifications read, "The minimum numbers of surges the unit shall be able to protect against are 8,000 per phase." Looking inside most SPDs and data/telecom protectors there are resident metal oxide varistors (MOV), and these are key components as are their ratings. See: Arrest Your Lightning Protection Problems.

A few must-have features on new whole-panel SPDs are:

* Audible alarm
* Form C Dry Contacts (Used for remote monitoring)
* Replaceable modular components
* Surge Counter (Transient Counter)

Gear within homes, buildings or factories can also be the root source of power disturbances and even damage to other gear. The energy game to "use less juice" is an ongoing theme here at Telecomworx. For anyone involved in energy efficiency, you already know the investment cost of gear is higher. Component failures are higher-ticket items and you need to ask if there is any issue using SPDs and generators (transfer switch) along with any Solar PV, Wind and other alternative energy power plants (Isolation/cutoff switches and transformers).

For large enterprise and industrial concerns, flywheel technology adds another layer of protection around your defenses. In VYCON Flywheel Spins Green Benefits I wrote that, "They (Vycon) provide dual conversion, meaning that the utility feed passing through to the equipment side is protected." The output power from dual or double conversion is a clean steady sine wave and this gear does harden your power defense. In situations where flywheel technology isn’t practical, your first line of defense is at the panel, meaning install TVSS whole panel protection. Transient Voltage Surge Suppression is now referred to as SPD (Surge Protection Device) and they mean the same thing in the newest UL specification, but there are notable differences and improvements in the gear. These whole panel protectors (SPDs) protect against external and internal power issues.

In the original article I also wrote, "We’d been having trouble related to whole-panel protection." We had trouble with our utility for nearly 4 years and were out-of-pocket over $6,000 in damaged gear, fixtures and the HVAC system. Each year we racked up a few dollars here and there in replacing damaged gear. These repairs were small enough, annoying and paid by my company. The TVSS unit at the old location was UL 1449 Second Edition but what our network lacked then was a dual conversion UPS that may have prevented network losses. Even with dual or double conversion UPS, the problematic utility issues still caused damage to other systems.

The utility installed a power monitor with a strip chart recorder for two or three days and found nothing. They did this three times during 4 years. Our electrician was dispatched and checked, verified, tested and reviewed everything. We didn't know the cause. The evidence surfaced by being in the office on an early afternoon when the lights started glowing. We consulted a Citel engineer about our observations, and with the help of an unnamed receptionist at the then local utility office we filed a complaint with the Maryland Public Service Commission.

Up until then, everything in our building was new, and from the time we moved in for the next 4 years, we would lose gear, have HVAC failures, damaged network gear and even a dysfunctional microwave oven. The burned-up coffee maker was the final straw that elicited daily calls to the utility until the receptionist tipped me off and said, "File a complaint with the PSC." The Maryland PSC investigation found we were experiencing a Loss of Neutral. The monies I spent over time were little annoyances that often translated to arriving in the office in the mornings and facing a failure of some sort. This disrupted the day and even our service schedules when we were busy resolving damage caused by electrical problems. While we recovered $5,427 (less depreciation) from the utility, nothing paid us for the amount of disruption and time that we spent spinning our wheels examining our gear, challenging our vendors and re-examining our internal electrical system.

Our existing offices are using a vintage 1993 TVSS unit (First Edition) that is too old and offers less protection. A few years ago we removed Power Factor Correction (PFC) unit from our panel. The PFC unit did a good job paired along with our existing first generation TVSS on the panel until our efficiency improved. We originally installed efficient LED lighting and since then we've lost 4 mini-LED DC powered bulbs. Our HVAC system has an air purification system made by Ductworx and it is a UV AC-powered light installed on the air return. This bulb is warranted for two years and never lasts more than 15 months. These are two distinct problems and they seem to be unrelated in the sense that one bulb is AC powered while the other bulbs are DC powered. This is one of many examples in what to expect, where to start troubleshooting and when/where to remediate.

Getting back to the light bulb failures, we've added a local SPD on the AC powered UV fixture. Still we really haven't resolved the root cause or that 70% of suspected internally produced surges and transients. These culprits come from switches, power supplies, variable speed motors and all the electrical powered devices found in offices that turn on and off. When I spoke with MCG Surge Protection they told me that the same methods we use in telecom to protect against different kinds of voltages are applied in TVSS/SPD too. When more filtering is needed, it is usually done on a per breaker basis.

While there is no guarantee that you will stop every electrical disturbance, you can still harden your defenses. Check your whole panel protectors and remember the key idea is to minimize the negative impact of power disruption, and this means you must take an active role and identify the key components at risk. Our existing SPD is installed using a dedicated 30-amp breaker so we can power down the unit to replace blown modules without knocking down everything else. This is an important detail to note; where you install the SPD does matter for service and continued operations. Then, remember that behind the main panel there are usually numerous sub-panels and these sub-panels are worthy of protection too.