Switchgear Rooms

High humidity in a switchgear room causes several damaging effects. It results in condensation of moisture on the switchgear surfaces when there is a sudden change in temperature because of outside (Weather) or inside (Air Conditioning) factors. The condensed moisture on the switchgear surface is detrimental to switchgear. The moisture may condense on switchgear insulator surface causing it to absorb moisture.

Moisture causes dust particles to become sticky forming a semi-conductive film on switchgear surface. Moreover, if the switchgear room is situated near any pollutant source like high-density traffic, sewer lines, landfill site or process industry, airborne gaseous contaminants also comes into play. Corrosive gases emanating out of these pollutant sources can seep into the switchgear rooms and along with moisture aggravates the corrosion problem. Humidity and corrosive gas together create a creep corrosion path on the insulators.

This creep path leads to ‘shorting out’ reduction in impedance and an increase in current leakage besides resulting in rusting and corrosion, short-circuiting, electrical and electronic component breakdowns, premature deterioration and inaccurate readings. These, in turn, have serious consequences depending on the exact nature of equipment housed in the enclosure.

The condensation problem is high in high humidity zones which includes coastal areas. Irrespective of the fact whether the switchgear rooms are non-air-conditioned or Air-Conditioned, humidity control is a must in the Switchgear Rooms. Unfortunately, the whole switchgear needs to be replaced once it is damaged due to short-circuiting. It leads to a substantial financial loss, as these are high-value equipment. Additionally, there could be revenue loss due to a system outage.