Your emergency generator sets are in place and you have a maintenance program you are following promptly. What’s the next step in ensuring your power generators work as efficiently and smoothly as possible? Perform load bank testing.
Load bank testing is, essentially, the testing of a generator by placing a “dummy load” on it. Primarily, load banks are used to prevent the critical problem of wet-stacking in diesel generator sets. Wet-stacking occurs when a diesel engine operates without loads at a harmful temperature, causing unburned – “wet”—fuel to accumulate in the exhaust system. As a generator needs the proper temperature and amount of fuel and air to operate efficiently, it is necessary for loads to be placed on it in order to alleviate any harmful conditions. This is where load bank testing steps in—it allows you to test your generators and check that every aspect is performing as it should.
When it comes to new generator sets, it is required that load banking is done, ensuring the generator can handle 100% of its nameplate capacity. According to the JCHAO, annual load bank testing of emergency generators used in hospitals and health care facilities are also required.
As emergency power generator experts, we routinely perform and provide load bank testing. As you can use either permanent load banks, which remain with the generator, or portable ones to be taken to the site, load banks are easy and accessible. We work with resistive load banks that can handle testing of up to 2,000kW plus. While every load bank that we work with offers a variety of different features, we know it’s important that one is used with every diesel generator set that cannot be tested with the proper amount of load—just another way to prevent a power emergency.
