The Mystery of the Exploding $300,000 Telecom Switching Hub

One of the most memorable mysteries I’ve confronted in my decades investigating power quality issues involved a major Canadian bank and expensive, repeated equipment failure.

I was called in by a telecom provider to investigate why their phone switch kept blowing up. This was no small matter; we’re talking about a large bank’s visa call centre with 300 employees that all depended on the system.

Initially, the situation seemed straightforward. I installed a power quality meter for monitoring but the new phone system failed while the PQ meter was actively engaged. Curiously, the meter showed no abnormalities. This posed a significant puzzle, and the costs were adding up, since the switches cost $300,000 per system.

So, we launched into an in-depth technical analysis to tackle the Power Quality complexities. After installing a new UPS on the telecom switch and adding surge protectors both on the main power and the T1 data connection, we believed the issue could be resolved. However, when the phone system failed a third time, I expanded the scope of the investigation. The stakes were higher than ever, as the bank had now replaced the $300k phone system three times.

This required a new approach.  I brought the 'blown-up' telecom system back for further exploration and to initiate a more in-depth technical investigation. I took it apart and found dust settled on the inside. I decided to test that dust by sending it to a local laboratory and the results paid-off; the dust was identified as carbon - a highly conducive and potentially disastrous material in a sensitive environment such as a telecom switching centre.

The source? The room next door was housing the elevator motors with carbon brushes. It turned out that the ceiling in the telecom room was missing some tiles and this allowed carbon dust from the elevator room to drift across the gaps in the ceiling and into the telecom room. Since the switch has a large fan, drawing air from the room to cool itself, it was inadvertently sucking in this conductive dust. The accumulation of that dust is what caused the repeated explosions in the phone system.

The bank had actually launched a lawsuit against the telco, but in the end it was withdrawn and redirected towards the property management company.

This case not only underscores the importance of thorough investigation but also highlights the effectiveness of innovative and unconventional thinking in power quality investigations.

Sometimes, the culprit isn’t the obvious electrical fault but something as innocuous as tiny specs of dust. Fine details matter in the field of power quality troubleshooting and solutions, and the investigative work can often be as important as the technical know-how.

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