This announcement is final follow up to the power outage from March 28, 
2008.

The UPS manufacturer was here on April 10th and did some analysis of the 
UPS to see if there was any information to be learned.  The results show 
that the UPS is functioning properly and is not overloaded and hasn't given 
us any indication as to why the breaker tripped.

That leaves the breaker as the only possible source of this outage.

Further investigation of the breaker that tripped shows a high temperature 
condition on the load side of the breaker.  The line side is running at 
normal temp.  The electrician specifically indicated that this was not an 
overtemp condition, but is a point of concern.  This high temp condition is 
likely caused by faulty or loose terminal connections into the breaker.

There are two possible paths for us to take to rectify this situation:

1.  Attempt a hot fix by tightening the terminal connectors on the breaker 
while under load.  This is risky and does not guarantee the problem will be 
solved.  The only benefit of doing this hot fix is that we prevent a 
scheduled downtime.  The dangers of doing this hot fix is that tightening 
the connections may cause the breaker to trip, CAUSING an unscheduled 
downtime.  Even if the tightening is successful, this would also leave the 
old breaker in place.  While the breaker is performing to specification 
right now, it remains a questionable component within the entire system.  I 
do not prefer this method.

2.  Schedule a downtime and replace the breaker with a new unit. This is 
much less risky and will nearly guarantee the problem is resolved.  
However, it does cause a scheduled downtime and requires everything 
connected to the attached PDU be shut down in an orderly fashion.  This is 
the preferred method for two reasons, first, we are eliminating the 
questionable element in the system and second, we are not risking an 
unscheduled downtime from an accidental failure.

After weighing these options I have decided to replace the breaker and 
schedule a system shutdown on Friday May 2, 2008 from 11:45pm until 1:00 am 
central time.  As this is major outage, this announcement is going out to 
both our outages list and general announcements list.  Please watch for 
further announcements later today.  If your cabinet is scheduled to lose 
power during this downtime, you will be receiving an additional 
announcement directly notifying you of the scheduled outage.

If you have any questions or want to know if you will be affected by this 
scheduled downtime, please reply to this message and our support team will 
inform you of your status.

Support can be reached Monday thru Friday from 8:00am until 8:00pm,
Saturdays from 11:00am until 4:00pm via phone at 612-337-6340, or via
email at [log in to unmask]

-- 

Bil K. MacLeslie - TGWGTD - ipHouse   http://www.ipHouse.com/