Planned Electrical Maintenance for Businesses

Most businesses only think about their electrics when something stops working. Commercial electrical maintenance turns that around: instead of reacting to a tripped board or a failed light on an escape route, the installation is checked on a schedule, small faults are fixed while they're still small, and every visit leaves a record. Adtec Electrical offers planned maintenance for offices, shops, warehouses and industrial units from our base at Lyford near Wantage.

Periodic testing schedules

The backbone of any maintenance plan is periodic inspection and testing, reported on an Electrical Installation Condition Report. How often it is needed depends on the type of premises, how hard the installation is used and what your insurer, landlord or lease requires. Offices and shops are commonly inspected at longer intervals than industrial units, where machinery, dust and vibration take more of a toll.

Rather than testing everything in one disruptive visit, larger sites can be split into sections, with a proportion of circuits tested on each visit so the whole installation is covered over the agreed period. That spreads the work and keeps shutdowns short. Our commercial EICR page explains what the inspection involves.

Emergency lighting checks

Emergency lighting needs regular testing to prove it will work when the mains fails. General guidance is a brief functional test each month and a full-duration test once a year, with the results written in a log book. Many businesses carry out the monthly checks themselves and ask an electrician to do the annual test and any repairs. We can do either, replace failed batteries and fittings, and keep the log book up to date. See emergency lighting for installation work.

Checking distribution boards

Distribution boards are where problems often show first. A visual inspection looks for signs of overheating, damaged enclosures, missing blanks, dust build-up and out-of-date circuit charts. A thermal check, using a thermal imaging camera while the board is under normal load, can show connections that are running warmer than their neighbours, which is often an early sign of a loose or failing termination. Any hot spots found are recorded and put right at an agreed time.

Keeping board schedules accurate is part of the job. When circuits are added or changed, the chart is updated, so whoever opens the board next can see exactly what each way supplies.

Small works lists

Every building collects small electrical jobs: a faulty socket, a light that flickers, an extra point for a new printer, a damaged trunking lid. Rather than calling someone out for each one, we work through a small works list on a planned visit. You add items as they come up; we price and complete them, or flag anything that needs a separate quote.

Records for insurers and landlords

Insurers, landlords and managing agents increasingly want to see evidence that the electrical installation is being looked after. A maintenance plan gives you that in one place: condition reports, installation and minor works certificates, emergency lighting test records and PAT testing results. When an insurer or auditor asks, you have the documents ready rather than having to chase them.

How we set up a plan

We start with a visit to understand the building, the boards, how the space is used and any existing reports. From that we suggest which checks are needed and how often, and quote for the work. Visits are booked at times that suit your operations, with isolations planned in advance. There is no one-size package; the plan fits the premises.

For premises that also need portable appliance checks, PAT testing can be included on the same visits. For general installation work, see our commercial electrical services, or call 01235 430442.