Generator Rupture Basin Readiness

What the Art of War Tells Us About Readiness

Sun Tzu was a sixth century B.C., Chinese army general whose influential writing on military strategy figures into the curriculum even today, at West Point. Admiral Yamamoto, the architect of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s attack on Pearl Harbor, was a devoted follower. About readiness Sun Tzu wrote

“The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our readiness to receive him…”

His lesson about readiness may offer direction to us about generator management and specifically, rupture basin readiness.

A Good First Step: the Annual Leak Detection Verification

The California Fire Code (CFC 5003.2.9-5004.2.2.5) is good place to start. The annual inspection mandated by the state, confirms that existing alarms for secondary containment systems are functioning.  Our CD & Power field technicians can perform the rupture basin sensor verification which covers tanks with up to 4 sensors and alarms located either on the generator control panel or in the same room as the generator.  Additional sensors can be verified at an additional charge.  We remove the leak detection float sensors and trigger them manually to certify that both audible and visual alarms are performing.

But don’t stop there.

Readiness Demands Constant Vigilance

There are a lot of things you cannot control like natural disasters, brownouts and human error. You can have training programs and systems to erase human error but there is always going to be somebody who forgets to turn the power on. But you can control readiness.

Institute a regular maintenance routine to ensure you’re truly ready for anything. We can provide you with clear-eyed plan for keeping your backup power system completely ready.

Rupture Basin Readiness Protects Your Generator

A rupture basin not only serves to contain a potentially dangerous spill, it has sensors designed to alert you when it senses liquid such as diesel in the basin.

Failing sensors sabotage the warning system leaving you in the dark when a spill happens. While the rupture basin will contain all the fuel in your tank and then some (unless there is a problem with it), fuel could be draining from the generator, thus reducing its emergency backup power. You may not be able to operate for long if you are unaware that traces of fuel have leaked out.

If the leak goes undetected and fuel is added to the tank, fuel could overflow the basin exposing your operation to environmental violations and the long shadow of huge fines that follow.

Commitment to Readiness

At CD & Power we are on a mission to make sure our clients are ready, 24/7 every day of the year. That means being ready for an outage, ready for the inspectors, ready to keep their operations rolling no matter what. To learn more about our Rupture Basin Sensor Testing service or to schedule a consultation, contact us.