UPS Lifecycle Management for 3-Phase Equipment

By: Molly Lacerte, Principal, Power Solutions, LLC

Three-phase UPS equipment has an approximate useful life of 10-12 years. The installation environment, maintenance, and services that are performed on your equipment have a direct impact on total cost of ownership and the length of reliable service your UPS equipment can provide. Learn best practices to prolong the useful life of your UPS equipment with these important tips for maintenance and service.

In today’s corporate world, controlling costs and minimizing environmental impact are top of mind as businesses continually strive to meet financial and sustainability metrics.  At the same time, the demand for real-time data and connectivity is ever increasing, putting pressure on data centers to deliver 100% uptime at the lowest possible cost with the smallest possible environmental footprint – a requirement that is more difficult to meet every year.  

The pressure on IT and Facilities Managers to get more reliable useful life out of power infrastructure is immense.  It’s become increasingly more common for senior management to demand critical infrastructure perform well beyond its recommended service life.  Corporations and government agencies are continually trying to minimize or delay capital expenditures, particularly those that are unbudgeted.  With budgeting cycles and lead times getting longer, major equipment purchases often need to be anticipated and planned for years in advance making the challenge even greater.

Along the same lines, operational budgets are tight and the importance of planning and allocating funds for proactive maintenance and repairs is increasing as approval for unplanned expenses gets increasingly more difficult.  This makes anticipating upcoming service and maintenance costs for the infrastructure an important task for IT and Facilities Managers.

Happening at the same time, corporations and government agencies are working to minimize waste and reduce the environmental impact of their operations on the planet.  This makes the effort to reduce waste a critical effort for many organizations and may counteract the need to replace aging equipment since scrap from power infrastructure upgrades, while highly recyclable, is considerable in weight and volume.

For critical infrastructure, such as 3-Phase UPS equipment supporting buildings and data centers, regular factory maintenance and service is the key to preventing downtime.  Knowing when to budget for different kinds of proactive maintenance and eventually full UPS system replacement can help IT and Facilities Managers secure the required operational and capital funding to maintain 100% uptime.

In this whitepaper, we share a detailed timeline for service that applies to most 3-Phase UPS equipment. Intended as a general guide, this overview helps you manage the total cost of ownership for your UPS equipment and plan for total equipment replacement well in advance.

Annual Factory Service and Preventive Maintenance 

The typical manufacturer-recommended useful life of a 3-Phase UPS is 10-12 years.  While some organizations stretch this to 15 years or more, it is common to see the availability of spare parts for older systems decline significantly after 10 years.  So, while the system may seem to be operational well past 10 years of service, if a critical component fails, the replacement part may not be readily available, leaving your site vulnerable to long stretches without battery back-up or worse, unplanned downtime.  

To help anticipate component failure and avoid costly emergency repairs, it is important to keep your UPS operating properly with regularly scheduled preventive maintenance service, proactive replacement of worn parts, and a factory service plan.

Regular maintenance of your UPS ensures your system is performing optimally and can extend the life of your equipment by keeping critical components clean, free of dust, and in prime operational condition. Regular preventive maintenance visits are the most effective way to identify potential problems in advance. Most UPS manufacturers include scheduled preventive maintenance visits in their 3-Phase UPS factory service plans.

At the completion of preventive maintenance (PM) visits, a detailed report is provided explaining the overall condition of the UPS, the environment it is installed in, and any recommended proactive maintenance. Most major manufacturers have a good sense of the reliable lifecycle for each component in the system and the PM reports generally make recommendations based on the age of the various parts combined with the result of visible inspection and testing with specialized instrumentation.  

The best way to anticipate potential problems before they occur is to protect your data center or facility with annual or semi-annual factory preventive maintenance visits by certified factory technicians. 

Remote Monitoring

Remote monitoring is a web-based service that lets you respond quickly to environmental or systems changes. This is an extra level of protection that allows your UPS to send push notifications to you and/or the manufacturer based on parameters that you set. The monitoring center can alert you of any significant changes in the physical environment or unauthorized human or electronic access to your equipment.

Remote Monitoring can take many forms. There are the basic SNMP traps that just about any network connected UPS can send on the network. This simple alerting system comes embedded in most network management cards included in UPS systems.

There are more sophisticated options available for users who want constant visibility into their UPS system. Some, such as traditional Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software, include more informative alerts and status updates for the UPS and any other networked equipment.  These are generally purchased through license keys and live on the site’s network. In many cases, for security reasons, access to the DCIM is not available outside of the physical network.

In the last several years, many major UPS manufacturers have introduced more sophisticated cloud-based monitoring applications that allow users to receive alerts remotely on their smartphones or other Internet connected device outside of the site’s physical network. These cloud-based applications require the site to allow push notifications to send data to the cloud. These cloud-based applications serve multiple purposes, one of which is to allow the manufacturer to build a database to analyze alerts and perfect their predictive analytics to help users know when their equipment is due for critical maintenance.

Finally, some manufacturers have developed monitoring and dispatch services that work closely with the factory service scheduling team to automatically dispatch a technician to a site in the event of a problem.  These more comprehensive services come with additional fees but provide users the peace of mind knowing the manufacturer’s response team is continually monitoring the equipment and reacting quickly in the event of a critical failure.

No matter how simple or sophisticated, remote monitoring is an excellent way to have the peace of mind that your equipment is being monitored 24/7.  While the more comprehensive stand-alone offers, such as cloud-based remote monitoring and monitor and dispatch services, come with additional fees, basic remote monitoring with the network management card may come included in some higher tier factory service plans. So, if you already have your UPS system under a factory service plan, you may already be eligible for this service as part of your existing factory service coverage.

Planned Annual Maintenance Costs and Service Plans

The standard factory warranty for 3-Phase UPS equipment is typically one year. Unless an extended warranty was included with the original equipment purchase, you will not have any factory coverage after the expiration of your standard warranty. Know when your warranty expires and plan to initiate factory service coverage at the end of the warranty period.

Initiating a factory service contract prior to the expiration of the factory warranty avoids costly recertification and pre-contract audits and immediately protects your equipment from unexpected failures.

Factory service plans vary in price depending upon the size of the equipment, the duration of the service plan, the upgrades included, and the specific terms of coverage in the service plan. Most manufacturers offer tiered service plans with coverage options that range from Preventive Maintenance only to full comprehensive coverage for parts and labor and guaranteed response times. Comprehensive service plans typically include annual or semi-annual PM visits.  Between the full coverage and the recommended annual maintenance, comprehensive service plans make budgeting for annual maintenance and service costs easy.

Annual Preventive Maintenance visits, or PMs, are the minimum level of service three-phase UPS systems should have throughout their lifecycle.  Factory service plans generally include an annual preventive maintenance visit. For more critical applications, some users add a second PM for semi-annual visits.  During the preventive maintenance visit, the technician conducts a thorough systems check of the equipment including cleaning critical components. All system parts are carefully inspected for wear and tear and any parts at risk of failure are either replaced or recommended for replacement. While on site, the technician will check your equipment for available firmware upgrades and complete any required updates to the system.

Most manufacturers recommend exclusive use of factory certified technicians when having any service or maintenance completed on their UPS equipment. In most cases, a factory service plan is the best way to ensure that only certified factory technicians work on your UPS system. In addition to the peace of mind that comes with factory certified labor, with factory services, you are guaranteed brand new, OEM replacement parts and, in some cases, supply chain preference.  Additionally, engineering upgrades and firmware updates are only available from factory certified personnel. 

In some instances, factory service plan coverage is not available for some UPS models. Not all major UPS manufacturers have a factory-controlled national service network. Or the manufacturer may only allow factory service plan coverage until the equipment reaches a certain age. For equipment that has “aged out”, the manufacturer may not offer a service plan option. In these cases, third party service providers may be considered.  

There are many national, regional and local third-party service providers to choose from. How many in your area will depend largely on the UPS system you have. When considering your options, we recommend you confirm that the technicians are certified to work on the make and model UPS you have, that they have direct access to factory-approved spare parts and that you understand the limits of coverage in any service plan they offer. This last point is important because when third-party providers offer service plan coverage, they will frequently only cover emergency repairs up to the cost of the service plan leaving the user responsible for the balance of any time and materials repairs beyond that. These differences are usually reflected in the pricing of third-party service plans.

Best practice is to use factory services when available and use third-party providers only on an as needed basis or as recommended by the manufacturer.

Best Practice – Factory Service Exclusively

Factory certified technicians generally train with the manufacturer’s product developers giving them the highest level of system knowledge and ensuring that they are familiar with all product upgrades. Factory trained technicians must recertify with the manufacturer on a regular basis, so their skills and product knowledge remain sharp. This enables them to quickly troubleshoot and accurately diagnose system issues resulting in shorter repair times, minimal downtime, and optimal system performance.

Additionally, the major manufacturers train and support a national and sometime global network of trained technicians so you can have access to factory service when and where you need it. As an added bonus, the major manufacturers usually give customers with factory service plans supply chain preference for spare parts so replacement components that can have lengthy lead times are almost immediately available through a network of distribution centers. Third party service providers must purchase their spare parts through traditional channels, which generally have longer lead times – and that translates to increased downtime for your equipment.

UPS equipment manufacturers frequently release software updates, engineering revisions, and firmware upgrades for their equipment. Usually, these updates are not available to third parties. Using only factory services ensures that your equipment has the latest upgrades available to maximize efficiency and the length of useful service life.

Finally, many third-party providers specialize in one specific area of the data center infrastructure so your UPS service provider may not be knowledgeable in maintenance and service for your cooling equipment or vice versa. The larger, global manufacturers such as Schneider Electric can service and repair your power and cooling equipment in addition to your switchgear, generator, and other power systems engineering equipment, making them a true single source provider for your data center infrastructure.

UPS Battery Replacement Services 

When operating within the manufacturer’s recommended temperature range, UPS batteries typically last 3-5 years. While UPS batteries are known for their reliability, one bad battery can compromise the entire string leaving you at risk of down time.  For this reason, we recommend annual battery preventive maintenance visits and suggest planning for complete UPS battery replacement every 4-5 years. Batteries that are installed in high temperature rooms will have significantly reduced useful life and will need to be tested and replaced more frequently. In general, UPS batteries installed in IT white space can be replaced every 5 years with annual preventive maintenance to serve as early detection of potential problems.  UPS systems in grey space, or areas with high temperatures or increased dust, should have battery PMs every 6 months and will likely need to be replaced every 3-4 years.  It is important that the temperature and humidity of the environment where your UPS is installed is carefully maintained within manufacturer recommended ranges.

When your UPS is three years old, chances are the factory technician will recommend a battery replacement during your annual preventive maintenance visit. Generally, the testing conducted during the preventive maintenance will give plenty of advanced notice that the batteries are beginning to decline. This should allow ample time to budget and plan for a battery replacement. 

In most cases, if the recommendation at year 3 to replace the UPS batteries is based solely on age, there is still plenty of time to monitor the aging of the batteries and plan for replacement closer to year 5. However, if the recommendation to replace batteries is based on readings that indicate high levels of wear, such as out of range voltage or resistance readings, it is important to start planning for replacement in the shorter term.  Factors that could cause batteries to show early signs of wear include high temperature environments, more frequent cycling, if the batteries have been fully depleted, or if the UPS went on battery power before the batteries were fully recharged.   

Complete proactive battery replacement services are not included in factory service plans so this is an additional expense that will need to be planned for around year 5 of the UPS service life.

As you start planning and budgeting for a full battery replacement service, this is a good time to assess your run time requirement. Now that the UPS has been installed for a few years, you probably have a good sense of how much run time you really need. When you replace the batteries, do you need to increase your run time? Do you have too much battery capacity? If you don’t need as much battery capacity as your system currently provides you can potentially save money by using smaller or fewer batteries. The available runtime with the batteries currently installed in the UPS is typically reported in the PM report. It is important to note that available runtime generally declines as batteries age. This is completely normal. Your Power Specialist can review the PM report, and your current power needs to help determine the specifics of your battery requirement.

AC and DC Capacitor and Fan Replacement 

Monolithic UPS systems, or those that are made up of a single power module that contains the rectifier, inverter, and static switch, also have stand-alone AC and DC capacitors to ensure the instantaneous transfer on and off battery power. If the capacitors are not operating properly, the UPS is at a high risk of dropping the load. Both the AC and DC capacitors in your UPS need to be replaced approximately every 5-7 years. During the 5th year of UPS operation, it is likely that the factory technician will report that it’s time to consider replacing the capacitors and fans in your UPS. Capacitors store electric energy once they’ve been disconnected from the power source and are responsible for keeping the flow of power to the load uninterrupted. They are critical in the seamless transition to battery power in the event of an outage. Failed capacitors will prevent your UPS from operating properly and can jeopardize your load if there is a loss in utility power.

Unfortunately, while your service technician can identify signs of wear and tear of the capacitors, you won’t know that the capacitors are about to fail until there is an outage and the UPS doesn’t successfully switch over to battery power. For this reason, service technicians generally recommend capacitor replacements based on the age of the current parts. Service plans do not include the proactive replacement of capacitors, so replacing the AC and DC capacitors in the UPS would be an additional expense to plan for in year six or seven of UPS operation.

In the case of modular UPS systems, the capacitors and fans are typically embedded in the power modules. In most cases, the power modules in their entirety are easily replaced instead of changing out the capacitors and fans inside the power module, the factory technician may suggest a power module replacement or revitalization service on the same or similar timeline as they would for a monolithic UPS with stand-alone AC and DC capacitors.

Special Considerations for Modular UPS Equipment 

Modular UPS systems are designed to have the flexibility to scale up or down as needed. They also have the additional benefit of offering N+1 or more redundancy because they have multiple power modules.  With N+1 redundancy, there is an “extra” power module included in the UPS ready to pick up the load if one of the other power modules fails. As an example, a 40kW UPS with N+1 redundancy will have a total of five different 10kW power modules in the chassis. In normal operations, only four of the power modules are supporting the load while the fifth is online and available in the event one of the other power modules fails. This redundancy allows operators additional time to replace the failed power module since the load immediately has the 40kW total protection it needs with the N+1 redundancy. Many users with highly critical applications opt for modular UPS solutions so they have both the flexibility to scale and the added protection of redundancy.

Modular UPS systems can also be modernized more easily leaving the potential to have a longer overall useful life. Manufacturers such as Schneider Electric offer a Modular Power Revitalization Service (MPRS) for modular UPS equipment. With the MPRS, all the internal components of the UPS are replaced including the power modules, static switch, network card, and display. Essentially, everything except the chassis is replaced. This leaves you with brand new UPS equipment at a fraction of the cost to replace it and without ever having to power down the IT load.

To complete the MPRS, the UPS needs to go into bypass but not taken offline. This virtually eliminates the need for downtime to upgrade the UPS protection and avoids the installation and labor costs associated with a complete UPS system replacement.

The Modular Power Revitalization Service is ideal for systems in years 8-10 of their service life. For best results, it is recommended that the batteries be replaced at the same time. Customers that have this refresh service completed can expect 5 or more years of reliable service life from their UPS.

Modernization Services for 3-Phase UPS 

As part of their own sustainability efforts, most major UPS manufacturers offer what they call modernization services.  These generally include the proactive components replacements that have already been covered in this whitepaper. Additionally, more comprehensive modernization services are available that are designed to prolong the useful life of the UPS and put off larger and more disruptive UPS replacements.

For some model UPS systems, modernization services can include power module replacement. The power module for most UPS systems, whether monolithic, or modular, is the brain of the UPS and the most critical component of the system. For monolithic UPS systems, the cost of replacing the power module can closely approximate the cost of a new UPS.  In these cases, the primary advantage to replacing the power module versus the entire system is the minimal disruption to the site operation since downtime is only required if there isn’t an external maintenance bypass.  Secondly, the power module replacement labor is typically significantly less than the labor expenses associated with a full UPS system replacement.

For modular UPS systems, the modernization services that include replacement power modules can be highly cost effective because these systems generally have multiple power modules that include other critical components such as the AC and DC capacitors.

These more comprehensive modernization services have a sweet spot of somewhere between 8-10 years after initial installation.  While designed to prolong the useful life of the UPS to closer to 15 years of service, UPS modernization is not intended to completely replace full system replacement.  The critical components inside UPS systems become obsolete over time and their availability for replacement can present significant challenges the older a system gets – modernized or not.  UPS systems 15 years old or more are at a much higher risk for an extremely limited availability of spare parts meaning a single capacitor failure has the potential to bring your entire system, and thus load, down for prolonged periods of time while you wait for replacement parts to arrive.  It is for this reason that most manufacturers have a limited lifespan for which they will offer comprehensive parts coverage for their equipment.

Planning for UPS System Replacement 

Most manufacturers assign a 10-12-year useful life to 3-Phase UPS systems.  Regular maintenance, pro-active repairs, and modernization services may extend that closer to 15 years.  Any 3-Phase UPS system still in operation more than 15 years past initial installation should be considered for immediate replacement.

Regardless of whether your UPS has been modernized, as the UPS system reaches 10 years in service, it’s time to start planning and budgeting for a full replacement.  These capital projects can be relatively simple, or quite involved depending on the physical space, access to the UPS room, changes in the UPS load and runtime demand, and the criticality of the UPS application.

Evaluate how the demand on your IT environment has changed since your UPS was installed. Has the IT load increased? Or have servers and computing equipment been moved off-premises? Is critical data stored locally or on the cloud? The network equipment that connects you to the cloud may have a higher level of criticality than it did when the UPS was installed.  How have your runtime requirements changed, if at all?  Is the load supported by a generator?

In addition to specifying the correct replacement UPS, it is important to properly scope the replacement labor for the project to get a reliable estimate for budgeting and planning purposes.  Are you looking for a turnkey replacement where a Power Specialist such as Power Solutions, LLC comes in and manages the entire project from design through start-up?  Or do you have the engineering, electrical and mechanical resources on site to complete the installation already and only need to procure the new equipment?

If the UPS system is 15 years old or more and you are not ready to replace it yet, it is now more important than ever to have annual preventive maintenance visits, semi- annual battery preventive maintenance visits, and keep your on-site services contract current, if still available, so you can be assured the support you need from the factory is available in the event of a problem or failure.  If your equipment is too old to qualify for factory coverage, consider a service plan from a third-party provider.

If it’s time to start planning for the replacement or refresh of your existing UPS equipment, it is recommended that you work with a knowledgeable, vendor-neutral UPS reseller such as Power Solutions, LLC to review your current requirement, the equipment you have installed now, and your options for replacement.  With a site visit, your Power Specialist can scope the installation including any rigging, electrical work, or other site work that may be required to accommodate the new equipment and dispose of the old.

Three-Phase UPS equipment is designed to provide reliable power protection for 10-12 years. As a rule, expect to proactively change the batteries twice and the capacitors and fans once during the service life of the UPS. In the case of modular equipment, the capacitors and fans are embedded in the power modules and replacement of those parts would follow the same timeline.

Service options from the major UPS manufacturers provide your system with the care it needs to operate efficiently and minimize downtime. Generally included in factory service plans are technical support, preventive maintenance, fast on-site response, and remote monitoring. This means your UPS system receives both proactive maintenance designed to prevent potential problems from occurring, and, if needed, quick on-site emergency response to diagnose and correct a problem.

At a predictable and fixed annual cost, factory service plans take the guesswork out of budgeting for maintenance or unexpected service charges and ultimately minimize your total cost of ownership. Plus, you’ll have peace of mind knowing your UPS system has the best, most comprehensive service available.

For more details about factory service plans from the major UPS manufacturers, see the whitepaper version of this article, or call Power Solutions, 800-876-9373 or [email protected].