AURORA, CO - A little help from your friends can go a long way. Just ask Mike Pennell, president of P&F Supply Co. (Grand Rapids, MI).

Pennell has been providing low-voltage electrical equipment and reconditioning services to a nearby potash processing plant in southwest Michigan for many years. But when the client recently asked if P&F Supply could recondition five medium-voltage 5kV contactors during a regularly scheduled maintenance shutdown, Pennell hesitated.

"While we do contactors and starters all the time, most of our work is under 600V. We normally don't get into medium-voltage work very often," explained Pennell. "But our technicians had the time, and I figured it was a good time to learn. Luckily, the PEARL member network and technical standards provided the help and guidance we needed to expand our business into medium-voltage work."

Pennell sent a bid to recondition the five contactors and shortly thereafter received the first two devices. Potash plants use a lot of salt, which is highly corrosive to metal. P&F Supply technicians needed to strip down the silver and steel; replate all the parts; complete the contactor recondition to PEARL standard 2250, "Medium Voltage Contactors Air"; and verify operation through final testing.

"We called Malcom Frederick [PEARL President and Houston Operations Manager for Shermco Industries (Houston, TX)], and he walked us through the entire reconditioning process," Pennell explained. "We needed a 15kV HIPOT source to fully test the device. We didn't have that in our testing arsenal, so we rented it from long-time PEARL Supporter Intellirent Co. and were up and running. When it came to replacement parts, we turned to Brian Corekin [PEARL's Past President and President of Monster Fuses Inc. (Portland, OR)], and he had all we needed."

The contactors work brought in about $15,000 to P&F Supply's coffers, but more importantly, it opened up the possibility of doing more work for his clients. "We've had some other inquiries already," added Pennell. "It's opened a new door for P&F Supply. Having the PEARL network and standards behind us helped me feel confident that we could do the job right."

Contactors Before and After Reconditioning