!!! WARNING !!!
- Counterfeit breakers, fuses and ct’s, etc have been installed in some installations and present a real and dangerous threat to health. At Main Systems we only buy from OEMs direct or from trusted and reliable distributors and our zero tolerance to use cheap and uncertified supply chains, means our systems are guaranteed safe.
- Any consultant, business owner, contractor and or facilities manager should specify as a condition of contract, a fully auditable and traceable process be in place to ensure you obtain fit for purpose and safe components. DO NOT accept any system from any manufacturer who uses third party importers/distributors.
- As can be seen from the Beama information available HERE and HERE, the fraudulent and dangerous use of counterfeit components is a problem that is growing.
- And the fraudster or duped manufacturer may simply believe it’s not a safety issue as he/she is providing what you the end user wants, that is to say a cheap job.
- Should you be concerned?
Well if you take business critical supplies, like data centres, banking or trading floors, the use of simple counterfeit fuses may on the face of it, not be such a problem, after all a fuse is a fuse isn’t it?
- Well no, it is not that simple. Counterfeit fuses may not be fuses at all, they may just include a section of heavy duty cooker cable and worse still, may fuse early or late, taking down entire banks of servers.
- In other components, the dielectric strength maybe compromised resulting in ineffectual insulation.
- In some of the very worst cases, circuit breakers have been installed incorrectly, i.e. where the toggle protrudes through the front case of the panel and when a fault occurs, the ionising gases are blown out through the front towards the operator.
- Ask your panel supplier for a test certificate from the OEM who made it.