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Surge Suppression and the Convenience Store/Gas Station Industry
Is your business worth fifty cents a week? A dollar a week? Five Dollars a week? In most cases, we can specify installations that begin producing cash-flow immediately. In other words, our equipment will provide a greater return in benefit than it costs...immediately. In many cases the entire cost, including installation, can be recovered within six months based upon reductions in maintenance and repair costs alone. The best proof of this is a study (see link) done by the US Navy (using equipment with similar qualifications to ours but costing between $1200-$1500 per unit).
Do you operate without insurance?
Does it make sense to operate your business without insurance? Your Stedi-Power installation is more valuable and more effective than insurance. Why? Insurance only pays you for what you physically lose. It won't pay for the loss of confidence your customers suffer. Even if it pays for lost sales during your downtime...it won't pay for losses you suffer because your customers showed up one day and you were closed...or your downtime put them in a bind and they went looking for more reliable sources. It surely won't cover routine equipment unavailability that results in your customers finding a better place to invest their own hard-earned income.
Reliability...Reliability...Reliability
You can have the best people, the best location, the most desired product, and the best price. It's all worthless if your facility cannot open or your equipment cannot operate. What would a single day of downtime cost you? Doesn't it seem ridiculous to risk this when the solution can be easily and inexpensively implemented?
After protection, the greatest benefit is reduced downtime related to electrical and electronic repairs. We can routinely show reductions in electrical repairs ranging from 30% to 50% and reductions in electronic downtime and repairs exceeding 70%.
The more equipment you have that is electronically controlled or operated, the greater benefit you will see. The benefit seen with larger equipment may not be as readily apparent as that seen in facilities with large amounts of electronic equipment. The reason is deceptively simple. Our equipment can be expected to double the life of your electrical or electronic equipment. Such an increase is easy to see in something that lasts one to two years before failure, but a motor, with a typical lifespan of 5 to 10 years...won't show any benefit for...5 to 10 years.
We regularly hear from customers that they don't have electronic or electrical problems...and then after installation, we regularly hear that the customer had no idea they would see such an impact. It's very simple, really. These problems have always existed. "Transient" means that the problem comes and goes. It's not like you can look at a piece of equipment that has failed, or you can look at a typical machine that mysteriously works fine after restarting and see a neon sign on it that says "A transient was here".
Studies indicate that transient activity accounts for more than 88% of all power anomalies (abnormalities or deviation from the normal steady state). That's why we can confidently state that customers will see a tremendous benefit from installation, because installation of our equipment will result in an immediate and dramatic increase in power quality. Each of these events will affect our facility different ways. Many times, nothing more than a "glitch" is seen. You restart your equipment and everything works fine. What you don't see is the incremental damage that occurs each time one of these events occurs...damage that occurs even when the equipment continued to operate normally.
Plug-In Strips
This just isn't a viable option. We can effectively provide coverage to the point where every single outlet in your facility is protected. The cost to do this with plug-in type equipment would be prohibitive...even if you used the most commonly seen, cheap ($10-$20) unit.
Further, these devices can cause more problems than they solve. This is because they are seldom used properly. Look at the plug-in strips in your own facility and count how many have become (for all purposes) extension cords. How many of them have equipment besides your computer plugged into them? This practice can result in transient activity produced by this equipment actually causing faults in the computer they're supposed to be protecting. A scanner or laser printer, for example, plugged into the same strip as a computer, tends to cause regular lockups and restarts...which are usually blamed on the computer.
UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supplies)
Again, we go to studies of power quality. Less than ONE-HALF OF ONE PERCENT (.005) of power quality problems result from power outages. It seems obvious if you think you need something to protect you from power outages (the primary purpose of a UPS) you should have something to protect you from something that is ONE HUNDRED SIXTY TIMES more common...transient voltages.
Many UPS manufacturers claim to have transient protection built in. We find that the protection in these units is no more robust (or effective) than the cheapest of the plug-in type surge suppressors. Since suppression equipment degrades over time, the failure of the protection component of the UPS typically results in the customer replacing the entire unit...when the only thing wrong with it is a failure of the surge suppression circuitry. The protection equipment built in to UPS equipment is pathetically inadequate, in most cases.
Our position is simple. If you have a UPS planned with your computer system...you've simply increased the amount and value of the equipment we protect.
Computers
The best way to protect your equipment is at a point as far as possible away from your computer. Studies indicate that as many as 80% of computer malfunctions are related to transient activity.
Inventory and Fuel Control
Inventory and fuel control systems often share close electrical interconnection with pumping and metering equipment (a major source of transient activity). Protecting equipment at the service panel assures that not only the electronic equipment is protected from transient activity produced from pumping equipment, but the pumps themselves are protected from activity produced by other pumps. Entrusting this equipment to the capabilities of the typical plug-in surge suppressor seems senseless given the proportion of business activity that is produced by fuel sales and inventory control. Proper application of surge suppression equipment has also been shown to eliminate communications problems between outlying locations and the main office.
Security Equipment
How much of your security equipment depends upon electronic equipment? Do you think a $10 plug-in surge strip is adequate protection for a multi-thousand dollar security system?
Lighting
How would you like to reduce replacement of fluorescent and neon lighting by 50% to 70%? Given that the typical convenience store has 600 linear feet of fluorescent lighting and a significant investment in high-voltage-high-output lighting, this can be a significant expense. Many store owners are surprised to find out how expensive it is when data is gathered over time--the typical store can easily spend more than $100 per month in lighting replacement and service costs. In fact, you can recoup your protection and installation costs in one service call for some types of outdoor signage.
Administration/Office Facilities
Are you trusting the protection of the computers to surge-strips that cost little more than an extension cord? Our own experiences with offices using Windows (either 98 or XP) is that restarts or the "blue screen of death" are practically eliminated with adequate protection. This is evidence that it was not the operating system that was causing the problem, it was the power supply. We see this phenomena even in offices that are already using surge strips or individual uninterrupted power supply systems (UPS).
Car Wash Systems
Automated car wash systems are most often controlled by electronic equipment. What does it cost you for your system to be down for a week (typical downtime for an electronic control repair)?
Back-Up Generators
Do you think your backup generator system can provide power as clean as that offered by your utility? Our complete installations provide for protection between this power supply and your equipment. Consider what a disaster it would be for a simple power outage to be turned into a major catastrophe by a malfunctioning generator and you'll find the cost of protection is almost meaningless.
Other Considerations
It's possible your facility shares characteristics of other facilities if you also operate restaurants or hotels on the premises. If so, you might want to consider the specific equipment benefits for the following facilities, as well:
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Stedi-Power, Inc
5044 B U Bowman Drive #102
Buford, Georgia 30518
PHONE: (678) 546-6780
Last Updated: 07 Jun 2004
©1997-2004 Stedi-Power, Inc.
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