How Are Circuit Breaker Panels and Disconnects Used?

Circuit Breaker Panel

A circuit breaker panel is the main point from where electricity is passed around to other electrical circuits. Power for your house comes through the service entrance which passes through the electrical meter which records the amount of voltage you use. It then flows through the circuit breaker panel. The panel usually gives out 100 to 200 amps of power. The panel, in short, is just a bunch of switches.

The service entrance wires are attached to terminals called lugs. Lugs are always energised with electricity unless your local power company shuts it off. A dead front cover, which is a metal panel, covers all the lugs and electrical wiring connected to the panel. The dead front cover provides access to every breaker and switch.

The circuit breaker panel always consists of a main breaker which is a large switch. If the main breaker is shut down, then electricity access to every other circuit is cut off as well. However, the lugs remain energised with electricity. Main breaker activity does not affect the lugs. The circuit breaker panel always has two rows for the branch circuits. It includes circuits which provide 15-20 Amps of energy for lighting or fans or other outlets in a kitchen or garage. Branch circuits which are labelled with 40-50 amps of energy are known as ‘double pole breakers’. These supply electricity to high voltage appliances such as dryers or air conditioners. A large breaker may also supply electricity to a sub-panel which is mainly used for electricity in detached r quarters. The panel also has hot & neutral bus bars. Moreover, the ground wires prevent electrocution from happening due to frayed hot wires. Many circuit breakers also consist of disconnectors.

Disconnectors

A circuit breaker disconnector is used to isolate the electrical circuit from electricity to maintain or repair it. A disconnector is only used for safety purposes and can be operated either manually or automatically. Circuit breaker disconnectors are off-loading devices which means that they do not contain the workings for controlling electric arcs and should be opened after the current is interrupted by another device.

A circuit breaker disconnect consists of a lock-out tag-out that prevents inattentive operations from happening. These locks are part of a trapped-key interlock system so that there is steady stream of operations. A switch disconnector combines the properties of a disconnector and load switch.

In disconnecting circuit breakers, the disconnector is integrated so that there is no need to use separate disconnectors. This has the advantage of being reliable and the need for maintenance decreases. The usage of this device is, however, limited as compared to a disconnector because there may be problem which arise while maintenance takes place.

A fused disconnect is used to replace a circuit breaker as it works in the same way and is cheaper. It can turn a circuit on or off and its fuses can provide protection. Having more information about electrical breakers and disconnectors can help you in every-day life. If a small electrical problem was to arise, you’d be able to solve it yourself.

Learn more about J & P Electrical Company and their vast line of new, surplus, and refurbished industrial electrical components including: circuit breakers, bus ducts, bus plugs, disconnects, fuses, panel switches, tap boxes, and transformers at www.jpelectricalcompany.com. To contact one of our product reconditioning specialists, call 877.844.5514 today.

Using Bus Plugs and Ducts in Manufacturing

There are millions of different pieces of manufacturing equipment and electrical components on the market today that only make sense to those who use them in their line of work. Most of which make little to no sense to those of us who don’t use them. For example, what use would you have for bus plugs and bus ducts, what are they and how do they improve manufacturing.

Bus duct and bus plugs are used to distribute power around manufacturing facilities and industrial buildings such as processing plants, metal fabricating plants, and throughout heavy manufacturing areas where the machines aren’t stationary or need to be moved around from time to time.

All manufacturing buildings are powered differently. For example, power is distributed through hardwiring in the walls of residential buildings so as to connect to all of the electrical outlets in a room. Industrial buildings such as factories, on the other hand, feature larger open floor plans with various machinery dispersed all around the facility, none of which are near any wall or permanent structure. They require a source of power, and in this case, a giant industrial electrical plug, which is where bus plugs and ducts come in.

A bus plug is essentially a component of a busway (industrial extension cord) that is used for delivering power to the appropriate equipment and circuits. Think of a busway as the extension cord you have at home that you use to plug in several connectors, the same applies to the busway and bus plug system, they enable flexibility and can be disconnected and rearranged to allow whatever manufacturing equipment that needs to be powered on virtually any floor of an industrial building. There is no physical hard wiring to the building, a manufacturing business can bring in more equipment without having to wire or rewire the entire electrical system; they simply have to plug in a bus plug into a busway, and voila, they are up and running.

Like with many electrical systems, bus plugs also require circuit protection, which in this case, is through a circuit breaker or a fuse depending on the application. Using bus plugs and ducts is the most economical and efficient way to power large commercial facilities or manufacturing plants and feed all manufacturing equipment, particularly, in areas of the building where the power distribution keeps changing.

Dispelling Myths About Reconditioned Electrical Components

Many businesses and manufacturing facilities must purchase equipment and parts for maintenance & repairs. One of the key goals with purchasing equipment and parts is that they will serve them for the longest possible amount of time at a reasonable and affordable price. Refurbished machinery and reconditioned parts can be a great alternative for all business owners, especially those just starting out and are working within a budget. There are certain myths surrounding reconditioned components, especially electrical, that can deter business owners from making a purchase even when it’s the most logical option.

Below we will look at these myths and share advice on how to make a wise investment when purchasing reconditioned electrical components and refurbished machinery for your business.

Myth 1: Reconditioned electronics are slow and operate poorly in comparison to new components.

The truth is that how well a refurbished electrical component operates today has little to do with how new it is. It does however, boil down to the quality of reconditioning, maintenance, and use. New electrical components operate based on how they were constructed, and the software used to create them.

Myth 2: Reconditioned electrical components are junk.

Electrical components are termed as junk if they are no longer being used. However, once an old piece of electronic equipment is refurbished, it can work better than a new piece of equipment. When reconditioning the piece issues that have been exposed over time can be addressed. If one part is always breaking on the component, then when it is refurbished that element can be fixed properly to avoid an issue later down the road.

Myth 3: Refurbished gadgets and used devices are the same thing.

A used device is one that has been used and is experiencing wear and tear whereas reconditioned gadgets are those that are taken, dismantled and given a new lease on life. This means that it is rid of issues and malfunctions that could affect how it functions.

Myth 4: Reconditioned electrical components have a shorter lifespan.

Authorized refurbishing companies make significant investments on their reconditioned electrical components and as such, it is to their benefit if the refurbished equipment works for the longest time possible. So just because the electrical equipment is refurbished does not mean that it will not serve you for a long time in fact many times the exact opposite is the case.

Three Reasons Your Circuit Breakers Keep Tripping

Electrical issues tend to create a feeling of anxiety and frustration to the homeowner. In this age, reconditioned electrical components are a blessing that has helped much to improve the electrical sustainability in the home; but still, many people are not using it due to a lack of awareness. The homeowners don’t know what’s wrong, but rather suddenly, they lose access to the power.

To repair the circuit breaker, they are habitual of spending lots of money repeatedly but don’t invest in refurbished electrical components because they don’t know what’s going on at the back. Let’s have a look.

Firstly, you would have to understand what is a circuit breaker trip?

It comes because of a circuit fixed to your electrical switch surpassing its sheltered parameters. They can be recognized by a sudden loss of energy to machine or loss of power in your home that is restricted to a zone. There is a lot of issues that can bring about circuit breaker trips and following are the some of the top 3 reasons for an electrical breaker stumbling in your home.

Overload

A circuit over-loading is effortlessly the most widely recognized explanation behind a breaker trip. This basically implies that you have quite recently got excessive stuff stacked on the breaker. Breakers have a proper safe limit of energy from which they supply to your appliances and home. In the event, if it would be exceeded, the breaker will trip. You will witness this frequently when you endeavor to introduce another appliance where your electrical framework cannot bolster it, or if you connect to a powerful machine like a space radiator in a zone that does not have the entrance to safe amperage.

For example: If anyone has a 20-amp electrical circuit with 25 amps of electrical current running through it and at some time if you are using iron, hair dryer, and washing machine, then eventually the circuit breaker will trip to save itself from preheating.

Short-Circuiting

This thing happens when a hot wire encounters another hot wire(s). You will generally observe darkening around the outlet or burning smell when this happens. Also, in case you are managing a short-out, don’t interface with your outlet by any means. Leave the breaker tripping, and call emergency help as soon as possible.

Ground Fault

A ground fault is genuinely like a short circuit, if not indistinguishable. The distinction is in the collaboration. A ground fault is a point at which a hot wire meets your establishing wire, and along these lines, the protected establishing of your outlet winds up void and dangerous. Handle this in a similar way you would do the precautions with the short circuit.

Now you would have an idea about the reasons why your circuit breakers keep tripping and what you should do when it does.

What Should You Avoid When Buying Refurbished Electrical Components?

Opting to buy reconditioned or refurbished electrical components has many benefits some that only your wallet can thank you for. Provided the reconditioned electrical components performs as they should, buying a used item for a lot less saves you quite a chunk of change, especially when it’s not financially feasible to buy a new electrical component. There are, however, certain risks involved in buying refurbished electrical components, particularly when you don’t know what to look out for.

You may start by asking yourself why the owner of said refurbished electrical component is selling the item(s) to begin with. The price might be right on the scope of your budget, but you might end up inheriting a costly problem that you have to contend with until you can re-sell it or buy another one altogether. You also may need to keep in mind that it might be hard to find spare parts of a used electrical component, which may also cost you an arm and a leg to have them repaired. Consider the following things that you certainly must avoid when buying refurbished electrical components:

Reputable Source

You finally find the component you have been looking for, the price is right, and it’s just a click away. But wait, with so many counterfeit parts available out there, how do you know that it is the real thing? When buying refurbished electronic components always look for a trusted source and crosscheck certain things such as how long they have been in business, including feedback and reviews from past customers, which ideally should be mostly positive because, well, you can’t please everyone. Reconditioned or refurbished electrical components that can be traced back to the manufacturer are probably ideal to purchase.

Cosmetic Imperfections

This should go without saying that a visual inspection of a reconditioned electrical component is of great importance. Even when being sold by a retail trader as “new old stock” or “used,” the electrical component should be in its original packaging where packaging is applicable even if the packaging shows a little shelf wear and tear or possibly opened. The electrical component should be cleaned, inspected and deemed fully operational within the manufacturer’s specifications even with noticeable cosmetic imperfections, such as paint wear or product scratches.

Refurbished electrical components will not always be in their original packaging. However, they are Okay to purchase provided they have been repaired by the manufacturer or manufacturer’s authorized service, they meet with all the manufacturer’s specifications and is in excellent condition

Missing Information

Do not buy a refurbished electrical component from an advert that doesn’t give you all the key product specifications, including how long it’s been used, its accessories, illegible labeling, the warranty if applicable, as well as the return policy, etc. Whoever you chose to buy from should also be able to answer all your questions to ensure that you can get your money back if the refurbished electrical component doesn’t work as it’s supposed to.

Four Rules for Electrical Safety After A Flood

Ensuring electrical safety after a flood must take precedence over salvaging any remains or inspecting the home. The reason: water and electricity do not mix! It is understandable that you are very eager to check on your belongings, to try to get things back to normal as soon as possible. However, there is always a high risk of electrocution after flooding and of course, no material belongings are worth facing any risks and hazards associated with live electricity in your apartment. Here are few practical tips that will help you ensure electrical safety after a flood.

Stay Away from A Flood-Damaged Basement

A flooded basement may have live electrical wires that you are not aware of. While it is easy to think you can really avoid meeting such wires, even the water may not be safe. It would be best to contact an electrician to ensure the home’s electrical meter is removed from the socket to ensure the house is totally disconnected from the grid. This is an ideal way to shut off all power to the house as there can still be an electrocution even if you have lost power – telephone wires, the cable wire or other wires may have electricity due to shorting and contact from outside electricity.

If there is Power Outage, Do Not Assume It Would Remain Off

After flooding, there may be widespread power outage from the municipal electricity supply. However, it is not ideal to rely on the power outage from the general supply for safety after a flood as power may be restored at any time. Never rely on the municipality utility but take steps to shut off the power from your own apartment.

Do not operate the HVAC Equipment until it is inspected

Flooding may sometimes affect the ductwork and could even flow into parts of your air conditioning system or some areas that may appear dry. The HVAC system could be a big electrical risk if powered up without inspection. Ensure a qualified HVAC specialist checks the system before power is restored.

Dispose Electrical Equipment Affected by Flood

After water in your apartment has been pumped out and recovery efforts have begun, you would need to dispose any electrical equipment affected by the flood. Items such as armored cable, fuse boxes, building wire, switches, air conditioners, heaters, circuit panels and breakers and any items that cannot be salvaged must be disposed to avoid any potential risks and dangers while they are in use.

The Importance of Using Refurbished Electrical Components

Most of the industry experts these days are looking forward to being able to use refurbished electrical equipment and replacement components on their manufacturing lines. Although many people have misconceptions about using refurbished components such as transformers, bus ducts, panel switches, circuit breakers, and such however the truth is that reconditioned machines and components offer a variety of benefits for your workplace.

Importance of using refurbished electrical components can be highlighted from below points:

Reduced cost:

One of the biggest benefits of using refurbished electrical component at industrial processing is that they are cheaper as compared to other identical solutions. The components that come after refurbishing process usually have low selling price irrespective of the reason why manufacturer renewed it. It will help you to save somewhere between 25 to 50 percent on your component purchase.

They come out of rigorous inspection process:

Components that are available at lower price range does not mean to present lower quality. Instead, the refurbished components undergo the more careful testing process. It doesn’t matter what wrong happened to the product before refurbishing process, manufacturers always prefer to follow careful inspection to ensure the best performance. It means you will be able to buy many superior components at the lower price range.

Ease in availability:

Most of the components get obsolete from the market with time and if some specific product lines need them it becomes a challenging task to find the lot again. But the surplus components are the best choice to find components of such limited lots. On time availability of these difficult to find components will help you to avoid downtimes at your workplace. Most of the refurbished products are generally available with same day shipping service.

They come with a warranty:

Just because you are buying Surplus Electrical Components for your product assembly lines, it doesn’t mean that they will not last long. As per market reviews, the refurbished components usually have more life and they also come with a warranty. Most of the manufacturers offer around 12 months warranty on their refurbished component collections so you can find them a trustworthy solution for your industry. Most of these components are certified that they will work safely and same as original ones.

The biggest benefit of buying refurbished components is that you can get services for parts that are outdated, and their production is stopped by the original manufacturer. If you are planning to repair your old pieces of electrical equipment and need same components for replacement, the surplus collection is the best choice to keep working without facing any trouble.

To ensure safe purchase of refurbished components, you must check the policy of the company. It is important to look for a vendor that ensures quality refurbishing of components with safe cleaning process including proper analysis, testing and rigorous inspections. The price range of refurbished components also varies company to company, so it is good to check with various vendors and compare their prices to ensure the best buy services. Once you can find a right seller that guarantees safe operation of refurbished components, you can use them safely at your manufacturing lines.

Learn more about J & P Electrical Company and their vast line of new, surplus, and refurbished industrial electrical components including: circuit breakers, bus ducts, bus plugs, disconnects, fuses, panel switches, tap boxes, and transformers at https://www.jpelectricalcompany.com/products.php. To contact one of our product reconditioning specialists call 877.844.5514 today.

Safely Refurbishing Manufacturing Equipment after a Flood

Flooding can cause much devastation. One of them being the ability to ruin the workability of electrical equipment. Manufacturing equipment is much like any other electrical equipment in the way it reacts to water flooding inside its circuits. If you are the owner of such machinery, and it has been hit by a flood or any other water spill, then you don’t need to worry because you have an option to refurbish these electrical components.

Reconditioned electrical components can save you from spending extra money on buying new equipment. Also, it can save your time because installation of new equipment and getting it working just like the previous one can be hard.

However, manufacturing equipment requires prudent considerations in order to safely refurbish them. Let us go through these considerations.

Assess the damage

The first thing before even considering repairing or refurbishing any electrical component is to check the extent of the water damage that it has received. In order to do that, you would need to gather all the information that you have about the equipment. That information can include all the pertinent drawings and documentation that had come with the instrument.

Once you have that information, you can either yourself do the inspection or have a specialized team to do it. Too often, an electrical component is well insulated by the manufacturers against any water intrusions. Thus, through valuable knowledge about the machinery and the assessment of the damage, one can get an idea if it needs to be repaired.

Never try plugging the equipment

Water has electrical properties. When it seeps inside an electrical component, it floods all the circuits therein. If the component is running when it experiences water seepage, then it can result in short circuits. Alternatively speaking, if equipment is turned on after it has received water seepage, then it can still cause short circuits. Either way, the machinery is damaged, and thus, whether equipment is on or off before the flood, you should never plug them into the electrical socket to see if they are working.

Leave the equipment for drying

As we said before, you should never plug in the manufacturing equipment in electricity socket. What you should do is let them get dried. Nobody should be allowed to get near to it unless some decision is reached on whether the equipment should be completely removed or its individual parts are taken out for refurbishing.

Hire refurbishing professionals

What we talked about in the above paragraphs are main considerations on the part of the owner and the operators of the manufacturing equipment. However, when it comes to repairing the equipment after flooding, proper refurbishing professionals should be hired.

These professionals know the working of equipment and also the makeup of its complex circuits. They can guide you better regarding whether the components should be completely renewed or repaired.

Refurbished electrical components can work just like they used to when they weren’t damaged. Some people have a fear in their hearts regarding these reconditioned electrical components. However, they should know that the repairers are there to bring a damage component to life without compromising its workability.

Learn more about J & P Electrical Company and their vast line of new, surplus, and refurbished industrial electrical components including: circuit breakers, bus ducts, bus plugs, disconnects, fuses, panel switches, tap boxes, and transformers at https://www.jpelectricalcompany.com/assetmanagement.php. To contact one of our product reconditioning specialists call 877.844.5514 today.

Purchasing Reconditioned Electrical Supplies

Making sure that proper electrical supplies are used in any kind of electrical repairs or upgrades around your home or business it is important to get the optimal result. It is nearly impossible to replace electrical supplies that are well used when equipment is older as the replacement parts have become obsolete. When you aren’t able to find new electrical components for older equipment the best and only way to navigate is with refurbished electrical components.

Needing Parts for Older Equipment

When you have obsolete circuit breakers, bus ducts, transformers, switches, and any other supplies that are no longer viable you run the risk of ending up with an electrical problem that could be dangerous. However if you are unable to find the parts new that could be a problem. This is why companies specialize in reconditioning obsolete electrical components. Reconditioned electrical supplies need to meet the quality standards that will ensure peace of mind when any types of electrical repairs are done inside your home or business.

There are many cases of electrical issues that are caused by worn electrical supplies and this is not something that should be happening with options available such as reconditioning obsolete or used electrical components. This is the main reason why such a large number of facilities look into refurbished electrical components when electrical work is done.

Safety Matters

Any work that is related to electricity needs to be taken seriously if you are to get the most reliable results when you get it done. This is definitely important and it will ensure that you can create a very safe environment for your home or place of business. Proper electrical components and supplies can mean the difference between a safe place and one that is a constant risk.

Finding The Right Fit

Finding the best possible refurbished transformers, circuit breakers, switchboards, disconnects, and fuses are definitely an essential part of repairing equipment electrical components and electrical repairs. Quality refurbished electrical components provide the best outcome and help you avoid any dangerous setups that could cause fires and damage to your equipment at home or in your office.

A large inventory of refurbished electrical components is available online at www.jpelectricalcompany.com. You will find that the prices and the number of available products match the quality that you can expect from every purchase. Fast, reliable and packed with the features you need for a truly successful result. Reliability, durability, and quality are the main reasons why this is the best place to shop for electrical supplies.