Electrical equipment maintenance 101

This paper will explore the maintenance of electrical equipment. Specifically it will look at: 1) Why maintenance is performed on electrical equipment? 2) What, legal or other, drivers are behind performing electrical equipment maintenance? 3) Electrical equipment maintenance is performed on an interval, but what is the purpose of this interval and how is it determined? 4) What is the difference between breakdown, preventive, and predictive electrical equipment maintenance methods and when should each be applied? 5) What do available testing technologies, such as - insulation resistance, power factor, oil analysis, partial discharge, infrared, ultrasonic, functional analysis, etc., tell us about the condition of electrical equipment and when should they be applied to various types of electrical equipment? 6) What does analysis of electrical equipment maintenance data/information reveal about the frequencies, philosophies, and foundation on which maintenance is performed?.