Power quality is gaining recognition as a fundamental piece of the overall energy puzzle. To create a full solution, it is no longer enough to have power going into residential and commercial applications; that power quality must be clean. Joe Piccirilli, Founder and CEO of RoseWater, and Chris Walsh, Director of Global Sales and Marketing for Powervar, understand this need for clean power and spoke to Tyler Kern about moving away from the old power paradigm in these residential and commercial applications and paving a new road with an emphasis on power quality. Powervar is a commercial power solutions provider for OEMs since 1986. Their driving mission is to ensure quality protection for power sources and make sure their equipment works as it was designed to work.“We strive on keeping businesses in business,” Walsh said. “The power company can only provide power. They do not ensure that you have clean power within your facility.”Piccirilli said that many of today’s energy trends and solutions for residential applications begin in the commercial space. And a problem in the commercial world that Walsh referred to as power viruses can impact many businesses, including quick-service restaurants. These same viruses are spilling into the residential market, too.“Some of these power viruses we (Powervar) protect are power surges, common-mode voltage, electrical noise, voltage swells or sags, and power outages, which is the only one you can actually see,” Walsh said.

He likens the situation to an iceberg where the power outages are the visible part of the problem, but all the unseen portions of the power virus iceberg are what’s going to sink a ship.“One of the things I’ve noticed in the residential world is, when we see a power surge or a power sag, a lot of times it will be lights dimming for a quick moment or the lights getting a little brighter because the voltage spiked up a bit,” Piccirilli said. With more and more energy uses occurring in residential and commercial areas, the need to protect equipment from these power viruses increases, as does the need for installing the right power cleaning solutions.