A customer of ours is in charge of the electrical distribution of a manufacturing facility and had some switchgear running in his building and his production line. These metal-clad switchgear and circuit breakers have been well maintained and functioned properly but over the years the manufacturer obsoleted one particular product line and stopped supporting its parts as well. He's been able to source parts through the secondary or used equipment market through qualified dealers like National Power Equipment, Inc. but one specific product was nearly impossible to locate. In this case, it was a plastic part the is very fragile and breaks if you even look at it wrong. This customer wanted to find replacements for 60 of them but couldn't seem to find that quantity in the used equipment market. He also felt that it didn't make much sense to replace an inherently inferior part with the same inferior part that is just going to fail in the same way.

The solution...National Power Equipment's Aftermarket Parts Department. In less than 2 weeks, NPE had designed the tooling to make a replacement part using modern materials that are stronger and more resilient than what he had been struggling with for years. A true one-and-done solution.

This part was an electrical connector that brought control power into his Federal Pacific H2 and H3 type circuit breakers. This part was originally manufactured with material that tends to crack and break causing an increased risk of breaker failure, downtime along with the risk of an injury to the operators. Check out this part and other's in NPE's Aftermarket Parts Store. The parts listed on our website all suffer from inherent defects the NPE has worked hard to make stronger, faster, better and they don't cost six million bucks!

Over the years, NPE has identified many parts that have design defects, that are no longer made, and/or are hard to find. It makes little sense to replace a defective, damaged part with another part with the same inherent faults, and you certainly do not want to wait weeks to get it. That is what the NPE Product Improvement Center (PIC) and its Aftermarket Parts (Aft's) list is focused on...having what you need, when you need it and often at times, at a better price point. 

Sometimes, it's about an improvement such as using moden, fiber-reinforced plastics as used for our DB Control Relays or simply a design change to improve strength as with our VB/VB1 Secondary's and DS Secondary's or just by having it in stock when you need it and at a better price than the OEM, that's if it's even still available. Currently, we have over 300 items on our Aft list. All of them are in stock, when you need them. They are available to order 24/7 online or through your normal purchasing channels.

If you don't see what you need, let us know! We are always looking for new ideas and ways to add to our ever-growing Aft list!

Just one more way at NPE we live up to our pledge...The right part, at the right price, right now!

Traditionally, the used equipment industry and especially the market for used switchgear has been thought of as being counter recessionary. The common wisdom being, customers will spend money to maintain and upgrade old equipment rather than buy new to save money and to avoid the long lead times associated with purchasing and installing new switchgear.

Recent growth in manufacturing and our economy has changed this dynamic and now used switchgear, circuit breakers and parts have seen a surge in sales that looks to continue well into the future. We see the driving forces behind the growth as:

• Increased demand for products pushes manufacturers to restart old production lines and push them to new limits.
• Much of the switchgear that powers these lines are no longer supported by the original manufacturer because of the planned obsolescence. This creates increased demand for used and aftermarket solutions. NPE AFTERMARKET PARTS
• Used and aftermarket solutions are typically 40-60% less expensive than purchasing new equipment, and they are available much faster and generally carry the same or better warranty as new. To add to this, the fact that personnel are already familiar with how this switchgear operates and you have a win-win scenario.
• Increased cash flow from the economic upturn allows for maintenance and upgrades that had been previously deferred.
• Regular maintenance and testing of switchgear and breakers will increase the life span of the equipment by decades. Older technology can be easily upgraded with options like arc flash protection, ground fault and communications. All these factors will reduce down-time and unscheduled outages.
• For Field Service Specialist - servicing switchgear that has been obsoleted by the manufacturer will also serve as an opportunity for companies to provide other equipment and other services that field engineers can alert them to. Having your people in a plant, actively promoting your products is the best advertising you can get. 
• Older switchgear can be repaired and upgraded to meet new demand. Many of the new products are sealed and unable to be repaired. As a result, repairs or upgrades that would cost a few hundred or few thousand dollars, and cannot be performed and users are forced to discard equipment and purchase new replacements for tens of thousands of dollars and potentially long lead times. 
• Many customers are realizing that planned obsolescence will also render new installations of the latest whizz-bang technology obsolete, the same way their current equipment has been treated. Maintaining and upgrading current equipment just makes sense.

The bottom line is that just as a rising tide raises all boats, as the economy grows and thrives, so will the demand for used equipment dealers like National Power Equipment, where our motto is, "The right equipment, at the right price, right now!" Whether you are an end user, in the repair industry or a dealer, we strongly recommend you prepare for double digit growth in 2021 and the years that follow.

GENERAL ELECTRIC POWERVAC CELL SIDE SECONDARY MOUNTING KIT

Today in our spotlight, is the GE Powervac Cell Side Secondary Mounting Kit. When replacing the cell side secondary mounting block, the metal bracket that it's mounted to, often needs to be replaced at the same time because one of the mounting tabs has to bent out of the way. This can cause misalignment and even strength issues in the final product.

NPE has a solution for that with our secondary block assembly kit NPE P/N 100003494. The kit comes with a brand new zinc plated bracket, springs, clips and washers. The locking tab is prealigned to minimize the amount of stress applie to it during installation. 

Why go through the effort of scheduling an outage just to replace part of the assembly? Do it right the first time with our hardware kit, secondary and new pins (sold separately). We also sell the pin removal tool. 

Powervac Secondary Disconnects have become an itrem that is becoming more and more of a regular maintenance item. As mentioned in previous blogs, NPE has a solution for that with its fiber reinforced secondary block.

This part and all of NPE's New Aftermarket Parts are available online at https://www.npeinc.com/aftermarket-parts or through your normal purchasing channels. We have "The right part, at the right price, right now!" 

Part number used to reference original OEM's for identification purposes only. The are not manufactured, endorsed or warrantied by OEM.

WESTINGHOUSE/EATON/CUTLER HAMMER SJA/SJA CLOSE COIL

OEM #'s:

2147A48G11

7860A34G02

Today, we are spotlighting the Westinghouse/Eaton/Cutler Hammer Vacuum Starter Close Coil 110/120V. This part which has been custom manufactured through an exclusive contract with NPE. It is available from stock in limited quantities https://www.npeinc.com/sjasjs-coil.

This part and all of NPE's New Aftermarket Parts are available online at https://www.npeinc.com/aftermarket-parts or through your normal purchasing channels. We have the "The right part, at the right price, right now!"

Part number used to reference original OEM's for identification purposes only. They are not manufactured, endorsed or warrantied by OEM.