How often should an automatic transfer switch be tested?

Annually, under load, with the building actually transferred onto the generator. Running the engine on no load proves the engine and nothing else. Most failed transfers we attend belong to buildings that had been 'testing' monthly for years.

Can you work outside office hours?

Yes, and near the hospitals we insist on it. Any isolation is planned with building management for an evening or weekend window, with the work staged to fit and everything tested before the building comes back into use.

Plumber in Upper Hill, Nairobi

We cover Upper Hill including Upper Hill, Community, Hurlingham, Ralph Bunche Road, Elgon Road, Ngong Road end. Off Ngong Road, Valley Road and Ralph Bunche Road. Commercial buildings require a works permit from building management before any isolation.

What is different about plumbing in Upper Hill

Upper Hill office towers on Ralph Bunche Road run automatic transfer switches whose failure stays invisible until the mains actually drops.
Buildings near the Upper Hill hospitals cannot lose power during theatre hours, so board work here is scheduled for evenings and weekends.
Clinics and offices along Elgon Road still distribute through the original household consumer unit, so the board is the limit long before the supply is.

Electrical work in Upper Hill

Upper Hill is our most commercial coverage: office towers, medical buildings and converted houses carrying commercial occupancy. Work here is planned rather than reactive, and access is negotiated with building management rather than arranged on the day.

Transfer switches that have never transferred

Almost every building here has standby generation with an automatic transfer switch, and almost every one of them tests by running the engine. That proves the engine starts. It proves nothing at all about the switch, which is the component that actually has to operate.

We test by transferring the building onto the set under real load. It is a different test, it takes longer to arrange, and it is the only one that means anything. The failures we have attended were all in buildings with an impeccable record of monthly engine runs.

Working around clinical hours

Buildings near the hospitals cannot be isolated during theatre and clinic hours. Every board change, every upgrade and every test is an evening or weekend job, planned with management, staged into the available window and fully tested before the building comes back into service.

Domestic boards, commercial load

The Hurlingham fringe is full of houses now working as offices and clinics, still running the consumer unit they were built with. Servers, air conditioning and commercial kitchens on domestic distribution is the recurring finding, and the answer is a properly designed board rather than a larger main fuse.

What we are usually called out for in Upper Hill

Three-phase power Three-phase upgrades, load balancing and lost-phase fault-finding for homes and commercial buildings. Generators and changeover Generator installation, manual and automatic changeover, and the annual load testing that keeps it working. Emergency electrician An EPRA-licensed electrician 24 hours a day for tripping boards, partial power loss and anything that smells hot. Rewiring and electrical installation Full and partial rewiring, consumer unit upgrades and installations brought up to current standard.

Landmarks we work around here: Ralph Bunche Road, Nairobi Hospital, Community roundabout, Elgon Road. See our rates.