Proof of maintenance on transformers for insurers

Businesses that suffer a power transformer failure on their site could face bills running into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hopefully this unfortunate event will be covered by insurance.

Most insurance companies, however, will want evidence of a maintenance regime to show that this expensive asset has had care and attention throughout its working life to minimise the risk of failure. If test and maintenance reports are not available, there is a risk that the insurance company could seek to minimise its liability.

A new power transformer of the type used in on-site substations is, in itself, very expensive, but its delivery time could be many months, so the downtime from a failure and the cost of alternative temporary supplies could make the total loss of a transformer failure an enormous cost to a business.

As a result, it’s no surprise that insurers are taking care that every aspect of their policy agreement has been satisfied before they pay out on such large claims. And the policy small print invariably puts the onus on the transformer owner to take all practicable steps to keep it in good condition — which essentially means regular testing and maintenance.

Many business owners assume that the power transformers on their sites are the responsibility of the utility company that supplies them with power. While this is usually the case, there are many instances where the transformer is the responsibility of the company that owns or rents the site.

“We strongly recommend that any company with a power transformer on site should check whether or not they are responsible for it,” says a loss prevention consultant. “If they are, they should at least consider setting up a regular testing program. Not only will this help to keep their insurers happy, it will also minimise the risk of the major disruption to business that invariably follows a transformer failure.”

To assist with testing and preventative maintenance, Megger recommends a variety of transformer test equipment be used by electrical contractors and service technicians to provide this valuable service to their clients. These include dielectric frequency response analysers for determining the moisture content in transformer insulation, sweep frequency response analysers that can detect electromechanical changes inside transformers, turns-ratio test sets, transformer oil analysers and transformer ohmmeters.

Megger Limited
www.megger.com