“Riter Engineering Company has been a factory representative in this industry for over 91 years. We have represented Pacific Crest Transformers for over 10 years, through several ownership and name changes. Pacific Crest has been an outstanding company with a 1st class heavy duty transformer product with an outstanding service record and outstanding professional employees. All in all, Pacific Crest is one of the best manufacturers of power transformers in the United States and we have been proud to represent them.

One of the hallmarks of Pacific Crest is their commitment to customer service. We have sold hundreds of transformers and in all these years we have had only two field issues, both were in mining applications, both with the same engineering firm and neither was a result of the Pacific Crest design.

The first event was on a 5 MVA transformer that was dedicated to a single motor driving a fresh air fan. The transformer was sized to almost the exact full load amps of the motor, no margin of headroom. During a shut down and restart of the motor for routine maintenance of the fan, the motor failed because of existing loads that had been transferred to the transformer. Pacific Crest stepped right up to the plate and repaired the motor at their cost including shipment. The motor’s FLA was pushing the limits of the transformer and the additional loads exceeded the specified rating of the transformer.

The other failure occurred at a new mine portal, it was a 10 MVA transformer that was put in the substation with pad mounted switchgear for incoming protection to the transformer. Then went to three single phase voltage regulators and then into a 5kV switchgear that was handling the mines full electrical loads. The center phase voltage regulator failed. The fault went back through the transformer and the fuses, back to the primary substation 13 miles down the canyon. It had a recloser device on the breaker which opened and closed three times per the re-closure program. There was no protection device on the transformer (differential relay such as an GE Multilin SR 745), after the third fault the circuit was opened and two days passed and, without anyone going to the substation for a visual inspection, they decided to reset the breaker and close the circuit seven (7) more times under supervision. Of course this caused a full bolted fault 10 times on the transformer which was totally destroyed. Pacific Crest was good enough to inspect the unit, even though the enclosure was totally destroyed.

The mining company wanted a replacement transformer under warranty. Pacific Crest investigated thoroughly and assisted in determining the cause of the damage, even though it was clearly an outside the warranty event. Even our design cannot stand up to 10 full bolted faults without a protection device. The engineering company continues to specify Pacific Crest Transformers because of the heavy duty design and their outstanding customer satisfaction and service record. Pacific Crest went through every step to satisfy the customer and answer their questions.

In short, 2 failures with the same mining company and the same engineering company against hundreds sold and applied in the field is a great testimony to a company that always goes the extra distance to stand behind its products and give excellent customer service.”

- Mike Jackson
Riter Engineering Company