The 3-Phase Combo You Didn’t Know You Needed: ICM Introduces the ICM450A + ICM530 Series Bundle
Let’s face it: The HVAC Industry is becoming more digital, more electronic and more complex, especially for 3-phase commercial applications. This is great in terms of our engineering and technical advancement, but it also calls for more protection for this equipment, being that it is likely some of your most expensive assets. Line Voltage Monitors (LVM’s) or Surge Protection Devices (SPD’s) are both necessary tools that will protect these units, but using one or the other alone is not enough. Let us break it down for you!
What is Line Voltage Monitoring?
Three phase equipment is subject to damage from phase loss, imbalances and the overheating of motor windings. LVM’s constantly monitor incoming line voltage for phase loss, disparity, under/over voltage conditions, phase reversal, rapid short cycling and more.
As you can see, with a voltage imbalance of only 8%, the motor winding temperature increases up to 128%:
When a phase loss or a significant voltage imbalance occurs, LVM’s will safely take your system offline by breaking a control signal through a relay when it spots a power anomaly and bring it back online once the event is over.
What is Surge Protection?
Surge protection devices do just that: They protect your system or electrical units from excessive voltages caused by power anomalies (such as a lightning strike to the grid) or other causes of grid disturbances, by absorbing and dissipating the energy caused by a surge over a (very) short period of time and converting it to thermal energy through a series of Thermally protected metal oxide varistors (TMOV’s).
With increasing demand on today’s power grids, the need for surge protection is greater than ever. Furthermore, SPD’s are often required to uphold manufacturing warranties and newer NEC codes now require the installation of SPD’s on new service installs and/ or upgrades to service.
Why do I need both?
Voltage monitoring is a necessary tool to measure the health of the power running your equipment and protect against phase loss (and thus motor burnout), but alone it is not enough. Sometimes, power anomalies will occur within a matter of nanoseconds. In this event, an LVM will not be able to detect nor react in time to protect your equipment. This is one of the main reasons that Surge Protection Devices are a requirement in tandem with the LVM.
Moreover, when equipment appears to be failing it’s often that the voltage monitor itself is the issue, as it’s not able to perform its function to indicate that the voltage is off. An SPD will protect your line voltage monitor as well as the control board and the unit itself. Without coupling LVM’s and SPD’s together, your equipment is not fully insured nor protected. Speaking of service calls, imagine paying thousands of dollars to replace or fix your equipment when you could instead replace the surge protection on your equipment for a fraction of the cost?
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ICM’s Best-In-Class Duo
The ICM450A & the ICM450A PLUS
These classic ICM Line Voltage Monitors have been a market leader in voltage monitoring for many years. With a new slimmer space-saving design, new soft keys for easy set up of system parameters, a true RMS voltage reading (on a digital backlit display) and a huge memory for recording faults (to name a few), it’s clear to see why. Although the ICM450A & ICM450A PLUS are primarily beneficial for phase loss, which is a critical occurrence to safeguard, they also support phase imbalance and over/under voltages which can also be detrimental to your equipment’s health and safety assurance.
The ICM530 Series
Whether it’s the ICM530 or the ICM531, this Best-in-Class 3-phase surge protection series are highly competitively priced products. Best Part? These self-sacrificing SPD’s are not “one and done” deal; They can suppress multiple surges before the TMOV’s are considered toast.
Bundle, save and protect with the ICM450A/ ICM450A+ and the ICM530 Series Combo!
Right now, ICM is offering a 10% discount on a combo deal for any 3-phase application for line voltage monitors and surge protection. For more information on this deal, click here.
Which Protection Bundle Do I Need?
Author: Abby Gamba