Culinary Technicians, New York kitchen repair company, authorized repair service

     A building’s electrical system can represent a major component of a building's total value. The average value of an electrical system within a facility could range from 8%- 15% of the buildings total value. These systems are prone to breakdown caused by something known as electrical arcing, which is essentially a big “short-circuit”. A significant portion, as much as 25%-50% of the entire electrical infrastructure of a building can be damaged in an electrical arcing event. Your restaurant has a wide range of electronic equipment or equipment that has some type of electronic component such as transformers, electrical switches, motors, computer boards, computerized thermometers, voltage regulators and generators; as well as all types of business equipment which is more electrical than mechanical in nature, like computers, fax machines, audio/PA systems, credit card machines, printers and telephone systems.
      A number of power failures originate at the utility company level as a result of utility equipment failure, normal utility switching operations, blackouts, brownouts or poor power quality. Such "failure" can cause equipment to breakdown due to power surges or low-voltage conditions. Surges can create microscopic damage to the silicon chips inside electronic equipment. These electrical surges will result in literally melting away components of the computer boards. The damage occurs not when the electricity suddenly cuts out, but when it resumes, sending a surge of voltage through the lines. Today’s sensitive electrical and electronic equipment is easily damaged. Thunderstorms, heat and humidity can also strain utilities. Lightning is the most obvious source of power surges. Lightning season begins in the spring and peaks in the summer with the most activity in July and August. High energy pulses or surges can also come from within a building from air conditioners, heating systems, refrigeration systems, production machinery, motors, pumps and any other type of high energy use equipment. These systems have always been prone to breakdown due to they are heavily used. In addition to the average 10-year life expectancy of commercially used equipment, the loss exposures are changing. There is an increase in equipment which utilizes some type of "electronic brain," microprocessor or low-voltage circuitry. This trend has significantly increased the risk of equipment failure. Common causes for electrical/ electronic equipment failure are power surges, burnout of motor, connector or control failure, power quality problems and other types of physical factors, including moisture, heat, cold, weather change, single-phase operation, overloaded conditions and improper control setting. Other causes such as insulation or gasket deterioration, water or oil leakage, refrigerate sludging or contamination, cracks or breaks in refrigerate piping can cause equipment to breakdown.
      Businesses depend on electrical equipment, and an unexpected surge can result in a serious financial loss. Installing a surge protection system is the best precautionary step but there is no guarantee it will prevent a power surge breakdown. Training your restaurant staff is one of the most important steps in reducing equipment failure and breakdown. Staff members should know the correct system functions of all units and their cycle times in the facility. Such equipment with computerized timers and control boards will not function if the boards are “burnt-out” due to power surges. In most cases, staff members will continually attempt to restart these units causing further damage and failure to the unit motor. Unfortunately, this results in the need to replace the computerized board(s) and motor(s) in order for the unit to operate. Educate staff on the protocol if suddenly a unit is NOT operating under its normal function. For instance if defrost times are off in a walk-in freezer, a possible power surge could have taken place after closing and prior to opening causing the units times to be incorrect. Check all other systems such as breakers, reach-in units, soft-serve units, A/C controls and any other equipment with a clock or electric dependant control. Reset the unit(s) under manufactures specifications. This will ensure costly repairs due to improperly restarting or resetting equipment units.
      Knowing your equipment and educating your staff will ensure minimal and unnecessary equipment breakdowns and failures.
Best regards,
Staff at Culinary Technicians

TYPES OF POWER PROBLEMS
Lightning
The worst type of surge is a direct lightning strike; of which there is no real protection for other than lightning rods in place around the premises. Lightning travels the quickest route to ground which would follow a lightning rod directly to ground and bypass the internal circuits of a building. If an electronic device takes a direct lightning surge, it’s usually pretty much destroyed.
Telephone Surge
The most common type of power surge is through the telephone lines. Telephone lines use very low current and from time to time a surge of electricity will spike down the line and inevitably cause some modems, satellite TV boxes, cable boxes and fax machines to fail on that line. This type of power surge can be prevented most of the time by using a surge protector. Surge protectors are designed to gate voltage coming through them and limit the current going out to a certain amount which usually prevents damage to electronic devices. Surge protectors do not store electricity therefore they can not stop massive surges and can not prevent data loss on computers from brown outs or blackouts. Most surge protectors have RJ-11 input and output for telephone cables to protect modems and facsimile devices from power surge over the telephone line.
Blackouts and Brownouts
Blackouts and brownouts are not as common as telephone line surges but cause more damage than surges or lightning strikes each year. The reason is they are more common than lightning strikes and more components are affected by blackouts and brownouts than telephone line surges. A severe brownout is visible to the human eye as in the flickering lights and can damage any device that uses. Installing an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) will provide back-up power. Blackouts shut down all electrical devices and units and cause most of their damage when power is restored and a massive surge rushes through the line. Power conditioners or line conditioners are devices between your facility and the power main increasing or decreasing voltage to regulate the power being delivered.
Electrical surges and spikes are typically not visiable to the human eye until a major problem occurs. They can, however, be monitored by special software which in turn will provide evidence as to their existance.
Surges
A surge is a short-term increase, typically at least 1/120th of a secodn, in an electrical signal of at least 110 percent of the normal voltage. Consider a typical computer board running at 120 volts. During a surge, the power dirtected at the device is now more than 132 volts. This is when the damage occurs.
Spikes
Electrical Spikes is a significant increase in electricity on a line that lasts for a very short amount of time. Typically, a spike will last from less than 1 microsecond up to 100 microseconds.
Sags
Sags are a decrease in electrical power to 80% loss or less of normal voltage. For instance, our normal operating voltage is 120 volts, a sag will decrease to 95 volts. A sag can be cause by large devices such as elevators or microwave ovens. Any unit drawing large amounts of power from the line a taxing the total power being provided by the monent. You may have seen this when light dim when a microwave is turned on or someone uses a dryer. Sags may not damage equipment as much as any of the above but they will cause a reboot or damage directories in a system and prolonged exposure will lead to equipemnt failure and breakdown.

POWER SURGES AND YOUR EQUIPMENT

Welcome,

Culinary Technicians knows restaurant equipment is essential for successfully operating a restaurant, nursing home, hospital and any large kitchen facility business. A facility can work efficiently by having properly maintained equipment that is needed to prepare, store and serve food and beverages. Commercial kitchen equipment is generally thought to have a life expectancy of about 10 years. When properly cared for, however, equipment can last much longer. Our Preventive Maintenance programs ensure your equipment is receiving the proper routine maintenance. Detailed training is imparted to the restaurant staff regarding daily maintenance of equipment so as to ensure longevity and productivity of the equipment. Any commercial kitchen requires good management and adequate equipment to function competently. Equipment such as walk-in refrigerators/freezers, icemakers, reach-in units, beverage coolers, soft serve machines, food processors, food warmers, dishwashers, ovens, grills, and cutlery need to be maintained and repaired regularly. It is important that all the equipment function to their proper efficient capacity. This will prevent sudden breakdown of equipment, reduce energy costs, increase productivity and help in smooth operations.
Having a Preventive Maintenance Program is the cost effective way in ensuring a reduction in equipment loss or failure but it cannot eliminate all equipment failure. What situation would most likely take place in any commercial kitchen, an equipment failure or a fire? You’re probably guess equipment failure. Take this a step further, which occurrence is more likely to happen, a power surge that damages electrical equipment or a major fire? You’re probably adequately prepared for fire.

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