Most AC capacitors have a shelf life of five-seven years, while DC capacitors usually need replacing between seven-ten years. Signs of damage to be aware of include leaks, cracks, splits or any drying out which could potentially cause an issue. If/when these signs occur your UPS maintenance engineer will highlight the need to change your caps in their report. Best practice is to change your caps when your UPS maintenance provider advises you to as when capacitors fail, they fail spectacularly. They can catch fire and even explode, damaging other components and present a serious hazard.
Below is a video (created under controlled conditions) which shows just how dangerous it can be when capacitors fail.
If you have any concerns regarding the condition of your capacitors Centiel offers a free UPS Health Check.
As part of your free UPS Health Check one of the Centiel technical team will attend site to examine your UPS system. They will assess the condition of its internal components and its system performance.
Following the visit you will receive:
A full system assesment
Advice and recommendations based on your systems performance and condition
Contact our team of specialist advisors today to find out more.
To view more of Centiel’s short videos visit our YouTube channel
Health & Safety Alert
On 2nd August 2019 the Health and Safety Executive released a safety alert reference ‘CEMHD1 – 2019’ titled ‘Use of ICAR Capacitors (caps) in Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Systems’, warning users of uninterruptible power supplies of a safety concern relating to self – healing polypropylene caps manufactured by ICAR of Monza, Italy.
Managing Director, Mike Elms has released the following statement