Preventing Business Downtime With Electrical Maintenance 
No matter how unique a business is, there is one thing that almost all of them have in common: they rely on electricity. Many people, including business owners, tend to take electricity for granted. As long as everything seems to be working, they don’t think about the actual electrical health of their building.
Can ignoring proper electrical maintenance lead to business downtime and, by extension, can undergoing electrical maintenance regularly prevent that downtime from occurring? The answer, of course, is “Yes, absolutely” to both.
Let’s look at a few reasons why electrical maintenance is important, what it entails, what steps business owners or their employees can take themselves, and what to do if you need a commercial electrician in Fort Myers, Florida, or the surrounding area.
How Electrical Maintenance Can Prevent Business Downtime
Here are just a few of the many ways routine maintenance on your business’s electrical systems can prevent downtime:
- Avoids Safety Risks: Customers, employees, or even you yourself can be harmed or even killed by faulty wiring or other electrical issues. Maintenance identifies or addresses these issues before they happen
- Reduced Fire Hazard: Electrical issues can cause a fire to start inside the walls and spread to other rooms or floors before you even know anything is wrong. Maintenance shows you potential problems before they happen
- Maintain Compliance with State and Federal Laws: Electrical issues spotted by an inspector or government official can lead to forced closures, heavy fines, and other problems. With proper maintenance, there are no violations
- Lowers Repair Costs Over Time: Taking care of a minor issue while it remains a minor issue is a lot better than waiting for it to become a major one that ends up costing five times as much or more to fix. Maintenance might be the key to keeping your company financially solvent
- Avoids Potential Revenue Loss: If any of the above issues or another electrical issue causes you to close even temporarily, those are days or hours of closure where you aren’t making money. Maintenance allows you to keep your doors open and keep customers’ wallets open
What Electricians Look For During Maintenance Inspections
Even a business that seemingly has no issues with its electricity can be at risk for downtime or worse. Not all potential threats are visible, especially to the untrained eye.
However, a professional electrician who has conducted hundreds or even thousands of maintenance inspections over the years will know the warning signs of a severe electrical issue that could lead to significant downtime and loss of revenue (not to mention a building burning to the ground).
During an inspection, they’ll check the building’s wiring, test the circuit breakers, looking for outdated materials, and more. Most cities and states update their building codes every two to three years, so it’s possible that an older configuration that was once legal could now be a violation.
They also have tools like thermographic scanners that can detect overheating in your building’s electrical system before it leads to a fire or burnt-out circuits. If the wires are deep within the walls, these overheating components might be difficult or even impossible to detect.
Finally, they’ll make sure everything is properly grounded and bonded. Excess electricity can be dangerous, which is why it needs a path to reach the ground instead of going into someone’s body or into a piece of equipment. Grounding checks make sure that you and your employees are safe from electrocution.
Electrical Maintenance Tips for Business Owners
First, your employees should be trained to report any electrical disturbances in the building, like flickering lights, odd sounds coming from machines, or circuit breakers tripping frequently. The sooner the issue is taken care of, the less money it’ll cost to fix.
Second, you should schedule regular maintenance checks with a certified electrician on a regular basis. It depends on the size of your building and the current state of its wiring, but generally every three to six months. When the electrician visits, they’ll tell you how soon you’ll need to schedule the next inspection.
Next, consider upgrading systems to be more energy-efficient and modern. This includes your business equipment, as older machines are prone to electrical issues that could cause a major fault or cause a fire, which can lead to significant business downtime. Newer equipment also tends to use less energy than older models, which can lower your monthly bill.
Finally, check your energy bill regularly. If you have an accounting department, they should notify you of any sudden increases. These are usually caused by inefficiencies or damage to the building’s wiring or your machines. Unless your utility company has increased its rates, they should be relatively steady if everything’s working properly.
Avoid Business Downtime with Electrical Maintenance from Mr. Sparky!
If you’re a business owner in Fort Myers, Florida, or the surrounding area, and you haven’t had an electrical inspection or conducted routine maintenance in a while, you could be at risk of prolonged business downtime or an electrical fire.
Don’t worry, it’s not too late! You can keep your doors open and the lights on by calling a quality professional electrician for an inspection. Don’t put up with any malarky, call Mister Sparky! At Mister Sparky’s Electrical in Fort Myers, Florida, we offer home and business inspections, as well as routine maintenance to keep your business open.
Don’t wait around for another electrician to show up “whenever they get the chance”. We’re America’s on-time electricians, which means we’ll show up when we say we will and not “when your name is next on the list”.
For business inspections, routine maintenance, or any other electrical solutions , Mister Sparky has you covered. Give us a call or set up an appointment on our website today!
