What is Surge Testing and Why is It Important?

Surge testing is critical to the reliability and safety of electrical equipment. Minor insulation defects in equipment that continually operates, such as motors, generators, transformers, and coils, can cause costly and prolonged outages. Surge testing methods offer customized diagnostics for identifying when insulating systems have had an electrical insulating system failure, and their condition before failure.

The Importance of Surge Testing for the Electric Maintenance Industry

Surge testing is critical to supporting the electrical maintenance industry’s ability to implement preventative maintenance programs so that industrial plant operations are not impacted by equipment failure or interruption of production. As an example, using surge testing to identify insulation deficiencies in electrical equipment allows maintenance staff to schedule repair/ replacement work prior to the failure of motors/generators to minimize the impact of long-term business closure due to equipment failure.

One of the main causes of electrical equipment’s insulation failure over time is the degradation of insulation caused by thermal cycling, vibration impacts on insulation, contamination of insulating material by foreign material ingress, and aging of the insulation.

By implementing the use of surge testing to perform a baseline assessment of insulation health, electrical maintenance technicians can track equipment insulation over time periods and use that data to identify insulation deterioration trends to maximize their planned maintenance activities when appropriate.

Advantages of Using Surge Testing

The main benefit of Surge Testing is early detection of problems. If a turn-to-turn short is identified before the problem becomes a phase-to-phase fault, it saves the time and money it would cost for repair work. Reducing the risk of needing to replace an entire piece of equipment can save even more money by allowing for quicker replacement.

The second major benefit is improving safety. Any electrical failure could cause potential hazards such as fires, arc-flash explosions, or other dangerous conditions. 

Surge Testing provides quality assurance all the way through the lifecycle of the equipment—from motors and generators, all the way through coils and transformers—helping to ensure long-term success.