In any business, when power from the grid is lost or temporarily unavailable, generators provide reliable power. During power outages, you want assurance that your business can continue, it won’t stop, and you get this assurance from generators.
To maintain the health of an engine generator, load bank testing is essential. For any facility or business that relies on generators, load bank testing is an integral or critical part. To make these generators perform really well when they are needed the most, it is necessary to test them. This testing is done with load banks.
What is Generator Load Bank Testing?
An examination and assessment of a generator set to check all its components in order to make sure that all are in proper working order is known as “Generator Load Bank Testing”.
The equipment that is used to perform the load tests brings the operating temperature and pressure level to an appropriate level and creates an artificial load that imitates the original load.
Especially for standby and emergency generators, this testing is important and proves to be beneficial, as standby generators rarely run they may not be used for carrying heavy loads on a regular basis.
Is your generator exposed to higher than 30% of its rated KW load? If yes, then perform a load test. This is a general rule for load bank testing.
Generally, most of the generators do not run at their full output, and thus the key to the load bank test is testing at full kilowatt output. This testing will determine if the generator can perform under any situation or not.
Load bank testing gives you the assurance that your generator will deliver the highest power level when needed, and it remains active and will not fail. It also assures that the generator will maintain an adequate temperature and pressure to run as long as possible.
How Does a Load Bank Test Work?
Let’s have a look in short at “how a load bank test works!” In this test, a load bank places an artificial or duplicate load on a generator. Then, the test is set for a particular time interval. The load is then increased gradually during the test, and then it measures and records the generator’s ability to handle the power level at each increment. The test also measures if the generator functions as normal or not for that particular length of time.
A load bank is a machine with various rated kilowatt sizes and cables that are similar to battery cables. A load bank test is important and critical to determine the performance of important engine parameters and their efficiency.
Why Load Bank Testing is Important to Your Business?
For many facilities, load bank testing is not optional. This testing is essential to maintain the health and efficiency of a generator. Generally, most of the standby generators are exercised or tested on a routine basis, but under a no-load condition. And thus, a problem with the engine arises at the worst time, which is direct during the next power outage.
Thus, an annual load bank test is recommended that takes a minimum of two to four hours with a minimum load of 80% of the nameplate rating on the generator. Testing as mandated by NFPA-110 is recommended for emergency applications and healthcare facilities. For any facility or organization, it becomes mandatory to test the system regularly, if it has a Level 1 emergency power supply system (EPSS) to provide power to prevent loss or harm to human lives.
Benefits of Load Bank Testing
There are many benefits to regular load bank testing of equipment.
- Load bank testing detects engine issues earlier and thus reduces the risks and the expense of major failures in the future.
- It provides assurance that the generator will work properly during a future power outage.
- Load bank testing verifies the abilities of the generator outside of the occasional startup.
- It cleans out carbon deposits of various equipment for more efficient running.
- This testing confirms that the cooling systems work properly when under load.
- Gives peace of mind to the owner or the manager of the organization that generators will work properly whenever needed.
- Load bank testing helps to remove fuel from the generator to prevent wet stacking.
What Do Perennial Technologies Offer?
At Perennial Technologies, we provide 4 main types of load banks:-
1) Resistive Load Bank
2) Inductive Load Bank
3) DC Load Bank
4) Medium Voltage Load Bank
We provide load banks for sale as well as load bank rental with 10 KW to 2 Megawatt power options!
We also provide pontoons for sale, gensets on rent, etc. as per the customer’s requirement.
