Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

The folks up north in Calgary, Canada, experienced a widespread outage late last year, and only now are fire officials wrapping up the investigation as to what caused such an event. It seems as though a failed circuit switch was to blame for the electrical blaze that left many without power for days.

"The exact cause of the fire is difficult to determine due to the extent of damage caused by the fires," said Deputy Chief Ken Uzeloc, according to local news sources.

"Investigators spent a fair amount of time sifting through the debris and reviewing the contents of the manhole. However, they were unable to determine why the relay failed or why the failure resulted in a fire."

While fires of this nature can be difficult to avoid 100 percent, these instances are a good reminder for businesses and residents to have a back-up plan in the event a wide-spread outage of this nature affects an area for days on end. Without power, not only do residents suffer, but businesses cannot open their doors for customers. It can also mean lost billable hours of work for a remote worker. It can mean lost access to a server and communications for a service provider.

The simple solution to avoiding a catastrophe is power protection and uninterruptible power supplies.

Power protection systems are a must for keeping a steady power supply during power cuts, spikes, surges and numerous other types of interruptions in power supply. Power protection systems provide much needed protection against health hazards and data loss, and are necessary for maintaining communications systems.

In addition to regular system backups, companies should seek uninterruptible power supply (UPS) devices to provide emergency power when power fails. The most obvious advantage of an uninterruptible power supply is, of course, the maintenance of power.

Minuteman Power Technologies, a provider of unique and robust power protection solutions, offers an array of products geared towards the educational sector, from outlet surge protectors to UPSs. Using power protection equipment can save institutions thousands in costly damages due to outages as well as keep things running smoothly and efficiently in the event of an interruption or total outage.