Sparks Electrical News August 2021

CONTRACTORS’ CORNER

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WORKING KNOWLEDGE WITH TERRY MACKENZIE HOY

Fires caused by electrical faults

I once wrote a short story about electrical faults which cause fires. This is an extract: “What do you see? You see the ruins of a building. It has burnt down. There are pathetic little burnt bundles of bits strewn everywhere. And the coroner (the coroner!) is there. He’s investigating what could have possibly caused this three alarm, fifty engine fire. A blaze which hideously burnt to death over two hundred people, many of them children. He steps forward to a man who is emerging from the ruin. Yessir! Arnie knows what it was ... and so do you ... it was an electrical fault. “Yup. Seems the guy who designed this here building didn’t take account of the possibility of an electrical fault.” Arnie and the coroner nod grimly. Yep, God strike me, that’s the tale. Here was this guy who designed miles and miles of wires and many switchboards in the building and, gee whiz, when it came to the question of ‘when these wires short out, would the fault cause a fire?’, the guy just crossed his fingers and hoped it didn’t happen! And, as you

were not – they are guilty until proven innocent. Thus, some people set fire to a building and claim they saw a flash from the distribution board which caused it. Some even set the distribution board alight. What to do? Read on. First, make sure you have insurance against any damage caused by fire (or anything for that mat- ter). Second, make sure the insurer or the lawyer gets a competent investigator in to find out what really happened. Make sure that the investigator knows about electricity and that the premises can be investigated before being cleaned up. In this re- gard I have investigated at least ten claims where the electrical system was blamed for setting a building or grounds alight. In not one case was this so. In two instances the fire investigator was sure it was an electrical fire and it was not. So, insure, investigate and, it goes without saying, make sure the original installation is to specification. Check it after installation. Check everything. Really check.

way by non-electricians. How can you stop it? You can’t, but do send a letter to your client saying that you are not responsible for any additions to the power system not authorised by a competent per- son. Problem number two is simple lies. Firemen and women are trained, on entering a burning building, to find the distribution board and switch off all circuit breakers before spraying water everywhere. Fire investigators see all the circuit breakers in the board switched down and then conclude that they tripped on short circuit and this caused the fault. It did not. What to do? Have a competent person inspect the circuit breakers. It is easy, if you know how, to tell if they were tripped or switched off. Problem number three: more lies. In terms of the Electricity Act, 1987, the supply authority (Eskom or the municipality) is liable if electrical damage oc- curs to property and they have to prove that they

and I and the television know, boy was he found out the hard way (look at all those burnt bundles!)”. This sums it up. The fact of the matter is that if a building is wired up to SANS 10103 code of prac- tice, it is not going to set the building alight by itself. The circuit breakers these days are very reliable and safe. So, what is the problem? There are three problems, actually. The first is interference and concerns a passen- ger jet aircraft which caught fire and crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Investigators identi- fied evidence of arcing in the wiring of the in-flight entertainment network, but this did not trip the cir- cuit breakers, which were not designed to trip on arcing. So, this is problem number one: once the electrical installation is complete it is quite possible for it to be rendered unsafe by persons adding a system to it which is unsafe. One sees this all the time: UPS systems, computer power supplies, etc., all hooked up to the electrical system in an unsafe

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When it comes to electricity, what you don’t know can hurt you

Digital marketing ideas for electrical contractors

products could find themselves working twice as hard as their com- petitors to achieve the same result. This enables electrical contractors to work smarter instead of harder. Safer and simpler maintenance Safety is a key consideration for all those in the electrical industry. Be- ing able to automate certain tasks, or to flag issues remotely removes many of the risks that electrical contractors face on a daily basis. Digitisation and connectivity of the electrical system also bring benefits for the installed base, providing visibility of the system status (loading, alarms, location) at a device level, either locally or remotely via the app, allowing for a more focused call-out for emergency/pre- ventive and predictive maintenance. This is coupled with full trace- ability of the product. In additional full analytics, packages may be added on top to provide dynamic monitoring of the system and rec- ommendation, prolonging the life of the equipment and building a closer relationship with the end user. Meeting customer demand Customers are increasingly aware of the latest technological innova- tions and, therefore, expect these to be offered to them at the very least. Being digital-smart means that you can fulfil the needs of your customers and lead the way in educating them on the vast benefits associated with smart or digital devices in the electrical industry. An electrical contractor who is limited to installing simple wired-in solutions is far from meeting the current expectations of customers. An inert device that isn’t IoT connected can’t tell a customer anything until someone physically looks at it, an unnecessary inconvenience in today’s connected world. However, a device which constantly streams data can offer them lots of useful, actionable insights in real-time – on factors such as energy consumption, equipment health, and faults. By offering smart innovative solutions to customers, electrical pro- fessionals can transform businesses, saving installation time, energy and money. For example, a recent study showed that for machine builders, embracing IoT could mean drastically reducing their time- to-market by up to 50% as well as reducing their maintenance costs. Solutions which incorporate Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure can help professionals to deliver on the expectation of IoT for their cus- tomers. EcoStruxure encompasses connected products that deliver operational data in real-time, edge control to manage the process, and optimising as needed. Apps and analytics then provide the agility to allow users to make decisions faster. Getting up to speed It is not in question that digital transformation presents exciting op- portunities for electrical contractors to reduce costs, save time, in- crease efficiency and safety. However, these don’t come without their challenges and pitfalls – especially for the less technologically savvy. As with many industries, the pace of technological advancements means swiftly changing customer expectations as well as necessitat- ing new skills in the electrical industry. There is a prime opportunity for the next generation of electrical professionals to carve out a place for themselves in the industry, and offer real value to their teams at the same time. Customers are look- ing for electrical advisors who can bring confident, individual recom- mendations for their specific needs, as well as digital solutions that enable superior monitoring and maintenance. Meeting these ever-changing needs will be a prerequisite for suc- cess in the future of the electrical industry.

Stewart Gregory, VP of Power Products at Schneider Electric, dis- cusses why it’s essential to keep up with new innovations as they arrive. Innovative technologies are now used to facilitate business opera- tions across a vast number of industries. The electrical industry is no exception. Change in the electrical industry has moved so rapidly that those who were slow to catch on are now being left behind. In the meantime, those who welcomed new innovations as they arose have benefitted in a multitude of ways. Given the increasingly competitive and constantly progressing na- ture of the industry, it has never been more critical for electrical con- tractors to stay on top of the latest products, trends and techniques to be competitive. Yet, as the importance of software and connectivity continues to grow, the sector is becoming increasingly divided, slowly splitting between those who recognise the opportunity and those who are yet to be convinced. For those who wait too long, the chance of catching up diminishes as the capabilities gap continues to grow. An unprecedented number of installers and engineers will soon be retiring from the electrical industry. This provides the opportunity to upskill the sector ‘en masse’. Therefore, those in the profession, and those entering it, need the training to prepare them for the rapidly digitising workplace. End users are digitising, and electrical engineers need to digitise along with them, otherwise companies may find themselves unable to fulfil the needs of their customers. In the residential sphere, cus- tomers are demanding smart homes whilst in corporate buildings, energy management systems have become indispensable. To match changing customer expectations, electrical contractors need to get trained on what these products are, the benefits, and how to install them to avoid being left behind. The opportunities that digitisation and innovation present to the electrical industry are emerging fast. These include energy manage- ment, predictive and preventive maintenance, service contracts and reduced running costs for the client, to name but a few. Those busi- nesses which successfully implement new technologies are set to receive a number of overarching benefits. Gaining a competitive advantage Working with the latest technologies can improve efficiency for elec- trical contractors, ultimately giving them an edge in this competitive market. For example, working on boards with plug-in components, such as Isobar P, cuts the wiring time in half for the electrical con- tractor, while leveraging connected technologies that allow users to instantly monitor the health and energy usage of their distribution boards, via simply connected software packages. This means the electrical contractor saves time on the installation whilst the end user saves money through greater connectivity. Furthermore, digital advancements have brought changes to prod- uct configurators. If you’ve designed a system with different connect- ed components, electrical contractors no longer need to spend time either speaking to third parties or looking up each product to ensure they’re all compatible. Thanks to the digitalisation incorporated by Schneider Electric, compatibility can be checked quickly and simply – all via a mobile phone. Electrical contractors can simply download a simple app, con- nect to the board and check the compatibility of different compo- nents. The app will then alert them to any issues and provide a full maintenance log and traceability. These are just two examples of the ways that digital technologies and innovation can increase efficiency for both electrical contrac- tors and their customers. Those who fail to get trained on new digital

• One way or another, you have to reply to all of these comments quickly. • Social media sites give electricians an existing opportunity to make their brand more popular. • If you promote your electrical business in an effective way, the aware- ness of your brand is likely to increase significantly over time. People will remember your brand and contact your electrical company when such a need arises. Now, let us try to figure out how to use social media to promote an electrical company. First and foremost, you need to create profiles for your electrical company on the top social media sites. After that, you have to promote your electrical business on social media in the best possible way: • Add social media buttons to your electrical business website. By do- ing so, you will make it possible for your site’s visitors to join your company on social media. • Update your social media profiles with fresh content. It would be great for you to publish fresh content on your electrical company’s social media profiles regularly. This is something that helps electri- cians draw the attention of social media users to their businesses. • Make use of paid social media ads. If you take advantage of paid ads, you will be able to advertise electrical services on social media fast and easy. Provide all types of electrical services Your job is to provide an effective solution to any of your client’s electrical needs. If you provide a full range of electrical services, you will be able to help anyone. That means that your electrical business will get more clients. Email marketing will help you get more repeat customers for an electrical business First of all, you have to attract potential customers to your electrical business. After that, your task is to turn your new clients into repeat ones. And of course, email marketing will help you with that. So, it would be nice for you to collect emails of your prospects and then send them an email from time to time. By doing this, you will be able to remind your potential and existing clients about your electrical business. People will contact you when they need to get electrical work done in the future. As a result, your electrical business will get more repeat customers as well as sales. Provide good services at good price It is also important to note that your marketing efforts will be crowned with success only if your business provides good electrician services at a good price. Otherwise, you will just waste your time and money on marketing your business. It goes without saying that electricians should do everything possi- ble to achieve customer satisfaction. High quality of work has to be the number one priority for your electrical business. That is why you have to hire only highly professional electricians, who can provide customers with high-quality work. Plus, electricians must be committed to the best possible customer experience. It is very important for electricians to communicate with their clients effectively. If your clients are happy with the quality of your electrical work and customer service, they will most likely choose to use your electrical services again and again in the future. However, the most important thing is that happy clients will leave positive reviews about your company and recommend your electrical business to others.

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SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

AUGUST 2021