Blowing The Rust Off Motor Storage Practices

Whether the location is on- or off-site, electrical equipment placed in storage is there for one primary purpose. It needs to be available for quick installation when the equipment currently operating the process goes down for whatever reason. Like everything else, proper maintenance is required to ensure the reliability and operability of the equipment. Unfortunately, maintaining equipment that is not actually producing revenue is something often overlooked. Maintaining reliability of equipment begins the moment a facility takes ownership and continues for the life of said equipment. The best maintenance programs should include maintenance of equipment in storage to not only extend equipment life but also reduce labor and material costs. The primary intent of this paper is to cover the storage of rotating equipment; the concepts discussed can be readily applied to other electrical equipment as well.

I. Introduction

In today's world, most process industries rely on rotating electrical machines of one type or another to run their operations. Smaller entities may operate with a machinery inventory worth hundreds of thousands of dollars: larger ones may have more than a billion dollars' worth of equipment held in inventory. For most industries, acquiring new (or replacement) equipment is a continuous process, adding to the investment. Surprisingly, these “new” assets may reside in storage for months or years before installation. What occurs during this storage period can make - or break - any metric regarding performance and/or reliability.