Mark Lamendola

1 week ago | ecmweb.com | Mark Lamendola

Article 110 provides general requirements for all installations. Circuit protective devices need to clear a fault without extensive damage to the electrical equipment of the circuit. The NEC wants designers and installers to permit this, so Sec. 110.10 requires you to select and coordinate the following:Overcurrent devices. Total impedance. Equipment short-circuit ratings. Other characteristics of the circuit to be protected. This last item on the list seems vague, and the NEC gives no examples.

1 week ago | ecmweb.com | Mark Lamendola

The production department of any manufacturing plant exists to get product out the door, on time, within budget, and made to spec. The maintenance department of any manufacturing plant exists to support the production department in this goal. Maintenance does this by such things as preventing unscheduled downtime and optimizing machine performance. And maintenance does this within its budget. The funding for that budget comes out of the revenue generated by the production department.

1 week ago | ecmweb.com | Mark Lamendola

In this scenario, the plant is divided into four parts. Motor failures in three of them are fairly rare and the rates are similar. Once a motor is replaced, that is pretty much the last time. You work as a maintenance electrician in one of those areas. In the fourth area, motor failures occur at a much higher rate and a few of those motors have been replaced four times in the past three years. Until recently, nobody was aware of this difference because there are de facto four maintenance departments.

2 weeks ago | ecmweb.com | Mark Lamendola

While walking through a plant in southeast Missouri, an electrical consultant noticed an employee standing on the top rung of a ladder. The consultant was escorted by an engineer who was employed by the plant. The consultant told his escort about the problem, and his escort immediately went to the ladder and asked the person on it to come down so they could talk. They spent a few minutes talking about the unsafe act.

4 weeks ago | ecmweb.com | Mark Lamendola

Coming into contact with an overhead power line is a preventable safety incident. When it’s not prevented, the consequences are usually fatal. Informative Annex N provides an example of an industrial procedure for working around overhead electrical lines and equipment. The example procedure is preceded by a short introduction [N.1] that covers important principles and concepts. An important principle is you should always assume the lines are hot and operating at over 1,000V.