Is it better to upgrade or replace your switchboard?

An electrical switchboard is crucial to the successful operation of any building and plant. As with all vital pieces of equipment, if a switchboard suddenly fails and interrupts critical power to the installation then your business will suffer.

Of course, quality switchboards are designed with a significant lifespan, which can make identifying points of failure over the span of many decades difficult. Performing periodical maintenance of the switchboard will help identify the symptoms of failures before the equipment inside a switchboard fails.

So how do I know when to replace my switchboard?

Because the effects of age within a switchboard as so variable, there are many other ways that you can detect if your switchboard needs replacing or upgrading. It may pay to ask a number of questions the next time you conduct regular building and switchboard maintenance:

• Is the switchboard and contained cabling overheating?
• Are fuses blowing more often than before or is any particular circuit breaker tripping more often?
• Is there unsteady electric supply – such as lights flickering?

By identifying problems within your system before a failure occurs, a replacement can be designed and implemented into your organisation to prevent costly downtime.

Why would I need to upgrade my switchboard?

Businesses and homes alike are seeing an increase in alternative energy consumption by embracing technology such as solar panels.

Any time that you make a considerable energy addition to a building, reevaluating the capacity of your switchboard and electricity needs is important to avoid system failures.

One of the primary difficulties associated with this is ensuring your switchboard complies with developing industry standards – without feeling the need to replace it every few years. So how do we ensure a system is reliable and won't require extensive maintenance or replacing?

Evaluate your options

The first thing to do is evaluate the needs of your building and the operational state of your current switchboard. Once done, take into consideration the availability of parts, the level of equipment degradation, cost of maintenance and the urgency of a replacement.

In many situations, tearing out your system to replace with something entirely new won't be necessary. This is where we at DaRa Switchboards offer a solution beyond the usual standard; from our expert engineering team to the 5000 m2 DaRa manufacturing and distribution facility in Mulgrave. 

We're committed to providing you and your business with the highest level of care – from the design stage to commissioning and production. No matter what the needs of your organisation, we'll work together to help you meet the electricity requirements and standards of your workplace, all within a competitive time frame.