SPD Failure

[Robson689]

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Came across this today. Could this damage & unit failure have been caused by a surge? Normally just see the panels go red but have never seen the burn marks.

 

[westward10]

That's interesting send the pic to the manufacturers for their comment.

 

[buzzlightyear]

LOOKS TO ME THE TERM HAS NOT BEEN SCREWED DOWN.

 

[westward10]

No that's blowout from the spd. The left one has also failed from its indicator.

 

[SparkyChick]

At the end of the day, I think a lot of these are just array's of metal oxide varistors connected in various configurations. They have the potential to explode like any other electronic component. Could be, as @westward10 has already pointed out, it was well past the end of it's life and it simply gave up the ghost and the magic smoke.

Whilst it appears to have been a catastrophic failure, it also appears to have been relatively well contained.

 

[Robson689]

It's a weird one really! Only installed about 10 months ago. I'll never know what the cause was because I just recommend replacement and that's as far as my involvement goes really.

 

[Strima]

I'd send to the manufacturer for testing. L1 has operated so I would suggest a surge of some description.

Any signs of damage to the installations? If not then I'd say they've done their job.

 

[Robson689]

No signs of damage and no reported faults from the customer. Does this show the worthiness of SPD's? These modules are very cheap and potentially saved thousands in damaged equipment costs.

 

[Strima]

No signs of damage and no reported faults from the customer. Does this show the worthiness of SPD's? These modules are very cheap and potentially saved thousands in damaged equipment costs.

I know of a customer who refuses to pay out for SPDs but will pay out for new rectifier modules each time there's a strike in the area, which happens a couple of times a year with regular timing. That's £2500 each time for a new rectifier module...