New technology tends to come to a business in pieces— a new point-of-sale system, a security camera upgrade, or an EV charger because a customer asked about it. On their own, each new addition is a relatively “small” change that comes with little consideration for how it will impact the electrical system. This is why the cumulative impact so often comes as a surprise to business owners.
Electrical systems don’t fail because of one great overload. They fail because of a slow, steady increase in demand that hasn’t been tracked.
How “Small” Upgrades Can Add Up
Commercial electrical panels are generally sized to the equipment that was present during construction or during a major renovation. Every piece of new technology that comes in after that has to be sourced from that same capacity, whether it was added months or years after the rest of the equipment in the building.
A few camera upgrades, a couple of new workstations, and a point-of-sale upgrade might seem small on their own, but combined, they could add up to something close to or even over the total capacity of the system.
EV Chargers Are Bigger Than They Appear
Electric vehicle (EV) charging is one of the fastest growing areas of commercial power consumption, and often overlooked in terms of its impact. One Level 2 EV charger can put a big strain on a commercial power system, and a business installing multiple of them for their employees or customers to use is often adding the power draw several large household appliances would have at once.
Without a proper load calculation ahead of time, EV charging installations are frequently the culprits that push commercial systems beyond their capacity, sometimes without anyone even realizing it until the rest of the equipment in the building is acting strangely.
Servers, Networking, and Point of Sale
Unlike lights or air conditioning, servers, networking equipment, and points of sale generally run 24/7. This is a much steadier drain on a commercial power system and frequently underestimated, because it doesn’t have the same “big spike” as things like conditioning and lighting. The more connected devices and always-on systems a business has, the more this steady drain adds up.
Security, Doors, and Other Systems
Security alarms and systems, smart doors, and video displays typically come in stages, sometimes from different departments within the same business. Each new addition is usually evaluated on its own merits rather than in relation to the cumulative effect of all the security systems that have already been added in the past few years.
This is one of the most common ways we’ve seen businesses inadvertently overload their electrical systems by adding security-related technology in increments rather than in one well-planned wave.
Why Companies Often Miss This Until It Causes a Problem
The nature of this sort of electrical system overload is usually that it doesn’t announce itself clearly. Instead, businesses tend to notice strange behavior from their system long before seeing a clear cause. Power breakers that are tripping more frequently or seemingly inexplicable changes to the behavior of equipment can both be signs something is wrong.
Because the system may continue to operate most of the time, these warning signs are easy to brush off as isolated issues. By the time the pattern becomes obvious, the electrical system may already be operating under more strain than it was designed to handle.
How To Add Technology and Equipment Appropriately
The problem isn’t the new technology, but rather the fact that it’s being added without anyone considering the cumulative effect on the electrical system. The appropriate solution is to plan ahead for large technology additions based on a load calculation that takes into account all of the existing equipment, as well as the additions themselves and some room for future growth.
This is a major part of the work we do with businesses throughout the Denver metro area at MV Power Solutions. Before adding new technology or equipment, our team can help identify what the existing electrical system is capable of handling, as well as what changes need to be made to the system to allow for new equipment to be added. That way, new additions are made on the business’ timeline as opposed to in the middle of a crisis.
Planning a new technology upgrade for your business? Contact MV Power Solutions to schedule a consultation before installing any new equipment, and have our team help make sure your electrical system is ready.