Commercial Roofing Systems If your facilities roofing system is currently 30 to 40 years old the service life of your roofing system is close to or has already expired. In a recent emergency, it was determined that a roof leak resulted in an electrical fault causing loss of power to critical facility equipment that resulted in a major shut down of the facility. The roof leak allowed water to seep down the outside of a conduit into a current transformer enclosure. This caused a phase-to-ground fault and tripping of the 13-kv supply breaker. The fault was not cleared by the supply breaker because of an over-current relay failure, so fault current was exposed to the service transformer which isolated causing an unplanned unit trip. The unplanned shut-down may have been avoided if a comprehensive predictive/preventative maintenance program were in place. Despite the perception of a long life, roofing systems should be part of a comprehensive predictive maintenance program because they are essential in the functionality of process equipment and other related operating systems. There are numerous benefits of predictive/preventative maintenance since maintenance is performed when it needs to be done helping to eliminate unplanned outages, keep repair costs lower and the service life of the facilities systems will be achieved and in all probability extended. Members of the National Association of Commercial Building Inspectors & Thermographers™ are here to assist facility managers/owners in the development of a comprehensive yearly evaluation of aging roofing systems through both visual/thermographic assessments. Take control of your Predictive/Preventative Maintenance Program and enhance your “power of decision” for repairs. Consult/Schedule an inspector today by visiting our Inspector Locator.

Source: Commercial Roofing Systems – Predictive/Preventative Maintenance | NACBI Community Forum