Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

It was just 10 days ago that a second power outage in a month was a concern for a city in California. It seems that Long Beach’s problems are not over just yet. A few days ago, or exactly 30 days after the first power outage, the Traffic Circle and downtown sections of Long Beach saw the lights go out once again.

If there is one thing that can be said about each successive power failure, it is the fact that each took less time for power to be restored. This latest occurrence lasted from 12:04 a.m. to 3:49 a.m. just under four hours. However over 19,000 people were affected.

The previous two outages were caused by underground vault explosions and fires, both of which sent manhole covers flying and black and red smoke billowing. According to SCE spokesman Robert Villegas, “An underground cable failed at 12:04 a.m., initially leaving 491 customers without power in the Traffic Circle area. To get the situation under control, crews then shut off power to 18,964 customers.”

While the exact cause of this latest power outage has yet to be determined, there is always the possibility that the cable failure was due to the extreme heat being felt in California. What Villegas could say for sure is that the events were unrelated to the two major power outages downtown Long Beach experienced in July.

Finding out the reason for all of these outages in a fairly limited area is not really a concern for Long Beach’s population. However, three outages in the course of 30 days are enough to upset the most laid back person. It is difficult to live a normal life when you are waiting for that possible fourth outage.

Regardless of the reason for the growing number of power failures and outages, not only seen in California, but all around the country, when the power does go out, there is no way to tell how long it will be out. Having the power go out without any notice can lead to a loss of data and equipment, as well as goods, such as food.

The question to ask is if there is anything that can be done to try to save as much information and equipment during situations such as this. Whether your business server crashes, or you did not have a chance to save that term paper you are writing, or your freezer is no longer keeping anything cold, you are experiencing a loss.

The best way to prevent further damage or loss from taking place is to have an uninterruptable power supply (UPS), such as those provided by Minuteman Power Technologies connected to your more vital systems. The simple process of connecting your more sensitive equipment and data storage devices to a UPS could save a lot of headaches and in most cases, quite a bit of money.

Irrespective of whether you believe in global warming or not, we are most definitely experiencing weird weather patterns that seem to be causing fires, droughts, flooding and power outages. There is not much that we can do about the weather but we can, at least, try to save as much as we can and having a UPS in place is a great way to start.