Improving Uptime and Efficiency Through Power Quality Audits

By Jason Axelson, Fluke Subject Matter Expert, Power Quality

The actual cost of poor power quality extends beyond equipment replacement. It encompasses downtime, missed deadlines, and lost productivity. Power quality audits and analysis tools can provide clarity and operational assurance.

Often overlooked, power quality — defined as the effectiveness with which electrical power supports reliable device operation — can be the underlying cause of equipment failure, production delays, and increased energy bills.

Poor power quality is estimated to cost businesses worldwide more than US$160 billion annually, according to at least one published estimate.

Power quality issues can significantly impact companies, leading to production losses, equipment damage, and elevated energy costs. These issues manifest as voltage sags and surges, harmonics, spikes, and flicker, causing equipment wear, increased maintenance expenses, and even complete plant shutdowns.

Fluke provides examples to quantify these costs. For instance, replacing a 50 hp motor annually may cost US$5,000. If this leads to 4 hours of downtime at US$6,000 per hour, the total cost would be US$29,000. Similarly, the failure of a 100 kVA transformer could result in US$7,000 in replacement costs and 8 hours of downtime, with an annual total of US$55,000.

As these examples demonstrate, even isolated power quality incidents can result in substantial losses. Therefore, investment in power quality audits, monitoring and analysis tools, mitigation strategies, and proactive maintenance is critical for businesses to minimize these indirect costs. (See the case studies that follow.)

What Poor Power Quality Looks Like

Power quality problems often manifest in various ways, frequently undetected:

• Harmonics: Non-linear loads, such as VFDs and UPS, cause harmonics that distort the electrical waveform. This distortion results in overheated transformers, undesired circuit breaker trips, premature aging of electrical equipment, and unexplained downtime.
• Voltage Sags and Swells: These brief voltage dips or spikes can force sensitive machinery to reset, halt production lines, or damage critical components. In automated manufacturing systems, a single voltage sag can stop operations for hours.
• Transients: Fast, high-energy pulses, often caused by switching events or lightning strikes, can lead to equipment degradation, corrupted data, or complete system failure — especially in IT or process control systems.
• Energy Waste and Poor Power Factor: A low power factor can result in utility bill penalties and strain electrical infrastructure, increasing both energy costs and the risk of failure.

Identifying the Most Troublesome Power Quality Problem

Harmonics are among the most serious and common power quality problems in industrial settings; however, their severity depends on the specific industry and equipment in use. Here is a comparison of harmonics with other power quality issues:

• Harmonics are generated by non-linear loads like VFDs, UPS systems, LED lighting, and computers, which are increasingly prevalent.
• They can lead to overheating in transformers and motors, undesired tripping of circuit breakers, degraded performance of sensitive electronics, and reduced equipment lifespan.
• Harmonics can alter voltage and current waveforms, increasing energy losses and lowering power factor, which may lead to utility penalties.

Industries that rely heavily on automation and power electronics, such as manufacturing, data centers, and food processing, are particularly susceptible to harmonics.

Other power quality problems can be equally costly. For example, voltage sags and swells cause sudden resets, downtime, and damage to sensitive equipment — issues that the EPRI considers the most common cause of downtime.

Furthermore, transients (fast, high-energy spikes) are known for causing damage to IT and control systems, especially in facilities with inadequate surge protection. Imbalance and flicker can also lead to poor motor performance and customer complaints in utilities.

In summary, harmonics may represent the most significant problem in facilities with a high density of VFDs and non-linear loads. For other companies, however, voltage sags/swells or transients may be more disruptive, particularly if they cause production halts or data loss.

A comprehensive power quality strategy must address all these problems, requiring companies to be more proactive rather than reactive.

How Companies Have Addressed Power Quality Problems and Potential Issues

An undisclosed large-scale food processing facility, operating continuously, began experiencing frequent, unexplained equipment shutdowns. The failures were not isolated to one specific area; they affected conveyor drives, packaging lines, and even the refrigeration control systems. Maintenance teams explored various potential causes—mechanical wear, control system glitches, or even operator error—but the interruptions persisted, costing the company thousands in lost production per hour.

As outages became more frequent, the company engaged an electrical contractor to perform a comprehensive power quality audit. Over a five-day logging period, the team recorded high levels of harmonic distortion, particularly the fifth- and seventh-order harmonics, which significantly exceeded the IEEE Standard 519 recommended limits. The cause was identified as several aging VFDs controlling key motors throughout the plant.

These harmonics were not merely causing undesired trips. They were overheating transformer windings, stressing UPS systems, and interfering with sensitive PLCs. These subtle but damaging conditions went unnoticed because they did not trigger alarms or appear in standard maintenance reports.

Once the problem was isolated, the company acted immediately. They installed harmonic filters at the VFD panels, replaced the most degraded VFDs with newer, low-harmonic models, and updated grounding and bonding systems to improve power distribution integrity.

The results were significant:

• Equipment downtime decreased by 70%, which improved throughput and reduced overtime labor costs.
• Energy costs decreased by 12% due to a higher power factor and reduced transformer losses.
• Preventive maintenance schedules were updated to include annual power quality audits.

This case highlights a key insight: Power quality issues often appear as random equipment failures. However, with the correct diagnostic tools and expertise, these issues can be identified, quantified, and resolved.

Another example comes from the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington, where maintenance staff recognized that power quality directly influenced the performance and longevity of their life-support pumping systems. Continuous pump operation to circulate and filter water for marine animals places significant stress on motors and control systems.

By integrating regular power quality analysis into their preventive maintenance schedule, the zoo's technicians identified early signs of inefficiency and mechanical wear in their pumps.

Instead of relying on subjective assessments—such as listening for noise, feeling for vibration, or waiting for failures—the team used real data to evaluate pump efficiency curves, identify bearings or valves requiring attention, and schedule service before costly breakdowns occurred.

The benefits extended beyond reduced downtime. The zoo reduced emergency maintenance costs, extended the lifespan of its pumps, and decreased energy consumption. This allowed for more resources to be directed toward animal care and sustainability initiatives, aligning operational efficiency with environmental stewardship.

How to Prevent Power Quality Losses

Proactive prevention is significantly more cost-effective than reactive repairs. The food processing facility example demonstrates how a single audit and targeted corrective actions reduced downtime by 70% and decreased energy costs by 12%. At the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, proactive monitoring helped extend pump life, reduce emergency maintenance costs, and lower energy consumption — thereby allocating resources to core priorities like animal care and sustainability.

Companies can take the following key steps to achieve similar results:

• Conduct regular power quality audits: Annual or semi-annual audits identify underlying issues before they result in costly failures.
• Use advanced power quality analysis tools: Detailed data logging and clear reporting enable facilities to pinpoint root causes whether harmonics, sags/swells, or transients — and implement corrective measures with confidence.
• Implement proactive maintenance strategies: This includes the installation of harmonic filters, use of surge protection, and regular inspection of grounding systems to mitigate common power quality risks.

Summary: Power Quality Requires Proactive Attention

Power quality is not merely an engineering concern; it represents a significant business risk. Neglecting it can lead to lost production, expensive repairs, and elevated energy costs. For industrial companies aiming for operational excellence, addressing power quality must be a top priority.

About the Author

Jason is a subject matter expert at Fluke specializing in power quality, electrical test equipment, and product applications. With deep experience supporting both customers and distribution partners, he helps professionals select, operate, and troubleshoot a wide range of diagnostic tools—including power quality analyzers, battery testers, acoustic imagers, and thermal imagers. Jason regularly leads application-based training sessions, drawing on his hands-on knowledge to bridge the gap between technical challenges and practical solutions across industries. Connect with Jason on LinkedIn.