What happens during a UPS preventive maintenance visit? It is a scheduled service visit that finds the early signs of failure and fixes them before they cause an outage. Every visit follows one protocol covering the critical components of the system: the batteries, the electrical side, the firmware and the mechanical parts, and it ends with a signed report.

The batteries come first. Impedance capacity testing, individual cell voltage, temperature measurement, and a visual inspection – so weak cells are identified before they fail, not after.

Then the electrical side. Infrared imaging of the connections, contactors and breakers reveals hot spots before they become fire hazards.

The unit itself gets the manufacturer's latest firmware, to fix known bugs and improve monitoring. And the runtime claim gets tested: actual runtime under nominal load, verified – the measurement NFPA 111 compliance and data-centre insurance audits ask for.

Mechanically, fans, filters, connections, cables and internal components are all checked, and every connection is cleaned and torqued.

And it does not end when the van leaves. Every visit ends with a signed report: photos, measurements, recommendations, and a replacement schedule, formatted so it drops straight into a compliance audit. The report is the record: what was checked, what was found, and what happens next.

GDF Technologies runs these visits across Canada, with around-the-clock emergency backup, and same-day response in Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and Ottawa, and 24 to 48 hours elsewhere. If your UPS is due, call 514-252-8324, and the quote comes back within 4 business hours.

What should a UPS maintenance contract actually include? Not a sticker on the cabinet: a cadence, a checklist, and a report you can hand to an auditor. Here is what GDF puts in one.

The cadence comes in three tiers. Annual is the minimum: one visit a year, right for small single-phase units in non-critical rooms. Semi-annual is the standard for data centres, hospitals and government facilities. Quarterly, four visits a year, is for high-availability environments: Tier three and Tier four sites, mines, mission-critical loads.

Every visit runs the same inspection, and it is not a glance. The batteries get impedance testing and load-bank validation, so capacity is measured, not guessed, and replacement is a number, not a feeling: sealed lead-acid batteries last three to five years, and we recommend replacement when capacity drops below 80 percent of rated. Connections get a torque check and a thermal scan, because a high-resistance joint announces itself as heat long before it burns open. Capacitors and fans are wear items with replacement windows in the maker's own documentation. Room temperature is logged every visit, because float life halves for every 8 to 10 degrees Celsius above rating. And the bypass and transfer path gets tested, with firmware brought current.

The contract carries more than the visits. Priority emergency dispatch is included, so the 24/7 line knows your locations before it rings. Documentation is bilingual. Every visit ends with a written report and remaining-life estimates, aligned to the Canadian Electrical Code, NFPA 111 and the IEEE battery standards. And because GDF is an independent third party, one contract covers the whole fleet across brands, in or out of warranty.

A contract is how maintenance gets done before the outage, not after it. GDF Technologies, since 2012. Same-day response in Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and Ottawa, 24 to 48 hours elsewhere. Call 514-252-8324.