NETA Certification

[EmagSamurai]

I have been considering whether or not I should pursue NETA certifications. While I've seen NETA certifications and testing standards referenced, I've only met one NETA certified individual. Is that because I'm just not talking to the right people? Is it common in some industries and not in others? Is there any real-world value to the certification?

 

[Coppersmith]

"NETA Certified Technicians represent the American National Standards published by NETA: the ANSI/NETA ATS, ANSI/NETA MTS, ANSI/NETA ECS, and ANSI/NETA ETT. Each is paramount to understanding the roles and responsibilities of a NETA Certified Technician and their duties as a representative of the NETA Accredited Company supporting them in the field.

A prospective NETA Certified Technician is first hired by a NETA Accredited Company. Then, when prepared, they sit for the NETA Certification Exam. Once the exam has been passed, the technician becomes certified as a NETA Level 2 Certified Assistant Technician. They may elect to sit for other NETA Certification Exams in the future, and advance their careers further at Levels 3 or 4."

https://www.netaworld.org/accreditation/exam-preparation

Are you currently employed by a NETA Accredited company? These are the only companies that care about this certification as far as I can tell.

 

[EmagSamurai]

Wow. I guess that's one way to create an elite club.

No, I'd missed that particular requirement. I suppose that may explain why I don't see many NETA technicians first hand.

 

[paulengr]

You can print out the level one certificates yourself. NETA only controls levels 2 and higher.

There are a few around here but consider this. NETA standards are written by testing companies for testing companies. Many of their tests are not based on standards or deviate from industry guidance or test the wrong things. For example it recommends infrared scans, micro ohmmeter measurements with only differential requirements, or torque testing on all connections. IR scans are pretty common and work when the conditions support it. Micro ohmmeter testing really doesn’t show anything unless a joint is almost ready to fail. Basic contact theory tells us that. It’s a test that is far more useful to check contact pressure on spring loaded contacts (breakers, contactors), not bolted joints. Finally torque testing? Are you kidding me? Fastener engineers have long since debunked that one.

They would also have you unwise and Megger every wire, even control wires. Then of course retorque to spec. And let’s not forget to indiscriminately hi pot everything just to ensure we get lots of follow up work.

So...the companies that are NETA accredited around here certainly do lots of testing. But they don’t make repairs, just test. They don’t even know what their test results mean. And they don’t even perform the tests properly or don’t know what to look for. As an example one of the NETA accredited testing companies around here routinely sprays breakers with solvent which frees it up by washing the residual dried up grease out. This definitely fixes seizing and the breaker passes testing, but then fails to close or trip two weeks later when the solvent has evaporated. We call it technician in a can.

My advice is don’t test anything you can’t repair. And don’t hire a testing company that doesn’t. There are just too many technicians in a can out there.

 

[EmagSamurai]

That's interesting.

So let me ask a slightly different question. Is there an organization that standardizes commissioning testing, or do the IEEE/ANSI standards drive that? I've spent most of my time working for a utility that has their own processes and procedures, and I'm curious as to what overlap and/or gaps there are compared to other industries. I believe most of the testing we do is based on IEEE guidance, but I haven't checked that in all cases.

 

[petersonra]

That's interesting.

So let me ask a slightly different question. Is there an organization that standardizes commissioning testing, or do the IEEE/ANSI standards drive that? I've spent most of my time working for a utility that has their own processes and procedures, and I'm curious as to what overlap and/or gaps there are compared to other industries. I believe most of the testing we do is based on IEEE guidance, but I haven't checked that in all cases.

There are some reasonably good standards for installation and commissioning put out by NECA.

NETA has a couple of standards for testing that are not horrible but are focused on forcing people to use NETA certified companies. Plus there are some things in it I am not real fond of as a previous poster mentioned. I think you could use them by excluding a handful of paragraphs, or parts of paragraphs.

Among other things I am not real fond of insulation testing of wiring that has to be disconnected from devices first. Chances are you are going to make mistakes in doing this. I am a fan of insulation testing field wiring prior to it being connected to anything that might have issues with the high voltages used, but to disconnect things that have been put together in a factory under factory conditions by people who do it for a living just about guarantees problems.

 

[jim dungar]

As mentioned NETA certified Technicians work only for NETA 'certified' companies. You can not be NETA certified if you work for a manufacturer.
I do know of some people that have gone the NICET route instead of NETA.

NETA testing standards used to include a phrase similar to 'use our values or follow the manufacturer's instructions'.
We had some water damaged busduct, the NETA tester wanted to see 5 MOhms, the manufacturer instructions called for a minimum of 1.5 MOhms. The busduct tested out at +4 MOhms. guess what the NETA tester said to do.

 

[g3guy]

Let's step into the waywayback machine.
Before there were all these new-fangled electronic printers there were Teletype machines.
These were electro-mechanical wonders. Lots of springs, levers, contacts, etc..
That is 'adjustable' springs, levers, contacts, etc. Some measurements in 10th's. That's ten thousanths of an inch. Spring length and tension, contact gap and more.
Lubrication was also essential as you might guess. Precise values in precise tech manuals.
Well, the tech goes in to do preventative maintenance on a working machine to make sure all those precise measurements are where they should be.
He gets done and whoops, Teletype is a bit cranky. Customer now very cranky.
I don't remember how long it took before Teletype Corporation issued the edict that virtually all recognize.
If it ain't broke don't fix it, touch it, look at it the wrong way and so forth. Only operate on machines that need life support.
I worked on a ton of these machines, mainly ones that others took apart and then were lost.
It didn't take long to figure out these machines just wore themselves into a working groove regardless of specs.
You could almost call them the first self-adjusting printers.

 

[bwat]

Something else you may find interesting, and this answers some of the gripes of post #4, is that I have been told that NETA has some strict requirements for the type of company that can become NETA certified. There are some loopholes, but generally they only want to certify a company that does only (or primarily) testing. This is why it's somewhat common to find NETA certified companies that only do testing.

I've heard of companies that actually create a separate subsidiary company that only performs testing and it's this branch company that is then able to be NETA certified. To the outside world it may look like one company, but legally speaking they are two.