1.Safety First.

Life safety should be considered the most important than everything when you’re dealing with electrical power. You’re always one small blunder cause serious injury or death. So when dealing with UPS (or any electrical system in the data center), make sure that safety is a top priority: that includes observing manufacturer recommendations, paying attention to the special details of facility and following standard safety guidelines. If you’re not sure about some aspect of your UPS system or how to maintain or service it, call a professional. And even if you do know your UPS system in the data center, getting outside assistance can still be necessary, so as to someone with a cool head can give a hand when dealing with some potential problems, and make it not plagued by pressure.

2.Schedule Maintenance and Stick it. 

Preventive maintenance shouldn’t be something that you’ll just “get around to”, particularly considering the potential costs of downtime. For UPS system of data center and other systems, you should schedule regular maintenance activities (annual, semiannual or whatever the time frame) and stick it. That includes a written (paper or electronic) record listing upcoming maintenance activities and when past maintenance was performed.

3.Keep Detailed Records.

In addition to scheduling maintenance plan, you should also keep detailed maintenance records (for instance, cleaning, repairing or replacing some components) and find the condition of the equipment during inspection. Keeping track of costs can also be beneficial when you need to report the maintenance cost or the cost loss caused by each downtime to data center managers. A detailed list of tasks, such as inspecting batteries for corrosion, looking for excessive torque wire etc to helps maintain an orderly approach. All of this documentation can help when planning for equipment replacement or unscheduled repair and troubleshooting of the UPS. In addition to keeping records, be sure to keep them consistently in an accessible and well-known location.

4.Perform Regular Inspection.

Much of the above can apply to almost any part of the data center: No matter what the data center environment is, enforcing safety, scheduling maintenance and keeping good records are all excellent practices. For UPS, however, some tasks need to be performed regularly by staff (who should be familiar with the basics of UPS operation). These important UPS maintenance tasks include the following:

(1) Make inspection of obstacles and related cooling equipment around UPS and batteries (or other energy storage)

(2) Ensure no operating abnormalities or no warnings of the UPS panel, such as an overload or a battery near discharge.

(3) Look for signs of battery corrosion or other defects.

5.Recognize that UPS Components will Fail.

This may seem obvious that any equipment with a finite fault probability will fail eventually. It is reported that “critical UPS components such as batteries and capacitors cannot always be in normal use”. So even if power supplier provides perfect power, the UPS room is perfectly clean and running ideally at the proper temperature, the relevant components will still fail. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the UPS system.

6.Know whom to Call when you Need Service or Unscheduled Maintenance.

During daily or weekly inspections, problems can arise that may not be able to wait until the next scheduled maintenance. In these cases, knowing whom to call can save a large amount of time. That means you must identify one or several fixed service providers when you need them to give a hand. The provider may be the same as your regular provider or not.

7.Assign Tasks. 

“Weren’t you supposed to check that last week?” “No, I thought you were.” In order to avoid this mess, ensure that people should know their responsibilities when it comes to UPS maintenance. Who checks the equipment weekly? Who connects service provides, and who arranges the annual maintenance plan(or adjust the maintenance schedule) ?

A specific task may have a various person in charge, but make sure you know who is responsible for what when it comes to your UPS system.