Cooling electrical rooms

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Davebones

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Location
North Of Tampa Fl
We have a maintenance shop with a 4000amp Sq d bolt-loc ,and a 1600 amp switchgear located in back.Room is about 2200 sq ft.The plant manager wants to turn off the ac at night to save on energy cost.I'm not sure if this is a good idea as this might cause problems with condensation.Most electrical rooms like this I've been around are usually kept cool all the time.Just would like some opinion's on this.
 
Most electric rooms around here are not cooled if anything they are heated for condensation, Most HV gear comes with cubicle heaters.

Where are you located?
What is the un-cooled average temperature and maximum temperature?
Is all this distribution equipment at 480/277 and 208/120?
 
Davebones said:
Down here in sunny Florida just north of Tampa.Have seen heaters inside of 4160 motors but not in switchgear down here.
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I used to live there and have seen plenty of heaters in switchgear in that area, we have a field service group in Lakeland.

The heat should not be a problem, but turning the AC on and off may cause condensation issues. I would either leave the AC on or off and keep it that way.
 
If you want to have some fun, the first night the a/c gets shut off, sent an

e-mail to the plant manager from the Boss's computer saying 'all the power

went out".
 
Davebones said:
We have a maintenance shop with a 4000amp Sq d bolt-loc ,and a 1600 amp switchgear located in back.Room is about 2200 sq ft.The plant manager wants to turn off the ac at night to save on energy cost.I'm not sure if this is a good idea as this might cause problems with condensation.Most electrical rooms like this I've been around are usually kept cool all the time.Just would like some opinion's on this.
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You may suggest to him that several alternatives and opinions.

  • If the room houses other things and/or the AC is used for personal comfort of employees, the switchgear maybe segregated into a smaller enclosure and separately conditioned.
  • The lights in the room may generate more heat than the switchegar, so when the lights are turned off the AC uses less energy.
  • Install a day/night/weekend thermostat to control the AC.
  • If the switchegar gets wiped out due to condensation or overheating, any savings may be wiped out as well.
  • Add insulation.
  • Make sure any options that involves money actually pay back the investement.
 
Condensation is based on keeping surfaces a certain temperature above ambient. Using anti-condensation heaters in the gear has trade-off with conditioning the space. Two advantages of conditioning the space is that you are providing positive pressure so stuff in the air is not going into the switchgear room, and the a/c is also removing moisture in the room. The savings of turning off at night may not that beneficial if you then have to use power to run anti-condensation switchgear heaters.

I would contact the gear manufacturer for help, they are set-up to answer this type of issue.
 
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