By implementing best practices for preventive maintenance, power plants can head off equipment failure, avoid costly downtime and reduce corrective maintenance costs. Effective preventive maintenance is also an essential tool in keeping insurance rates down. This article discusses several critical power plant components and the operating and maintenance practices that insurance companies expect to be implemented to reduce their risk exposure. Because of their use in the majority of large-scale power plants, steam turbines are the focus of this article, spanning lube oil analysis, high-energy piping, vibration monitoring and turbine overhauls, with particular emphasis on the turbine overspeed testing process. A proper steam turbine maintenance program will include all OEM recommendations and suggestions specific to the turbines at each insured location. How these recommendations are implemented is very important to the turbines' well being. Not fulfilling OEM recommendations, particularly the critical ones, can affect the insurability of a turbine and trigger unpleasant insurance penalties as well.
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