Unplanned power outages

Facilities Management is committed to providing the campus with clean, reliable energy. Sometimes, however, unexpected outages will occur.

What Causes Unplanned Power Outages?

Generally speaking, power outages are caused by weather (e.g. storms, high winds, lightning), high power demand, animals contacting wires, equipment failures, and auto accidents damaging poles or other equipment.

Common causes at UC Irvine are: failed campus cables and transformers, failure of the SCE feed, flooding, and other unpredictable events.

What Actions Are Taken By the Campus When an Outage Occurs?

Minimizing the impact of a power outage on the campus community and our equipment is a top priority. As a result, Facilities Management is staffed 24/7 and will immediately respond to an outage by identifying the problem, informing the campus community, and working to restore power as quickly as possible.

What Should I Do During an Outage?

In the event of a power outage:

• Turn off all lights and unplug equipment and computers. Leave one light on to indicate when power has been restored.
• Avoid using candles, as they are fire hazards.
• Do not use a gas stove for heating or operate generators indoors (including the garage.) Both could cause carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Do not open refrigerator doors unless you absolutely have to. An unopened refrigerator can keep foods cold enough for a couple of hours. A half full freezer will stay cold for up to 24 hours and a full freezer for 48 hours. If you must eat food that was refrigerated or frozen, check it carefully for signs of spoilage.
• If a traffic signal is not working, treat it as a stop sign.
• If you are in an elevator, push the alarm or help button and wait for someone to respond to you.
  
  If you have questions or concerns during an outage, please contact Facilities Management at (949) 824-5444.

What Preventative Measures Has UCI Taken?

To minimize the impacts of power outages on the UC Irvine community:

• Critical circuit power is supplied to selected equipment in most of our buildings by means of emergency generators. These generators are maintained and tested on a regular basis to help ensure they will perform as expected in outage situations.
• Safety lights have been installed in buildings to assist you in locating exits and all exit doors will continue to function during a power outage.
• Available resources are used to repair, improve, and expand the campus electrical infrastructure, making the power supply more reliable.
• NACS and Administrative Computing Services have installed equipment in their data centers to help protect critical networked servers and computers.

How Can I Prepare for an Unplanned Power Outage?

To make power outages safer and less inconvenient you can:

• Keep a flash light and backup batteries in a handy location.
• Install surge protectors to help safeguard valuable electronic equipment.
• Computers can be easily damaged, not only from the various electrical surges and spikes, but from brownouts and "flickering" as well, especially during bad weather. Surge protectors aren't enough to protect computers; therefore it may be wise to protect your computer system with a UPS (uninterruptable power supply). For more about UPSs see - http://www.megavolt.co.il/Tips_and_info/UPS.html. For assistance with determining appropriate system specifications, call Facilities Management at (949) 824-5444.
• If you use a computer, keep files and operating systems backed up regularly.
• Housing critical computers in centralized data centers is also an option. Please contact NACS at (949) 824-2222 or Administrative Computing Services at (949) 824-8500 for further information.

Plug critical equipment into red plugs. This will provide emergency power from emergency generators. Please be cautioned that there is only limited power available from these emergency power sources, so please only connect the most essential equipment to these circuits.


How Do I Report Damage Incurred During a Power Outage?

If there is damage to Univeristy facilities or equipment, please email the details to riskmgt@uci.edu