What are common preventative maintenance schedules and checklists for lighting?

A common checklist used for lighting preventive maintenance is the one the U.S. Department of Energy outlines (provided below). That said, the items on your checklist will depend on the following:

• What components are you responsible for?
• Are there specific goals you are trying to achieve?
• What are your capabilities in terms of tools, equipment, procedures, etc.?

What are the components of lighting systems?

Among the items you’ll need to factor into your PM scheduling are the following:

• Lamps or bulbs, including fluorescent, incandescent, and LEDs
• Ballasts, which control power and brightness
• Housing, used to protect and shield the lamp
• Lighting control, such as switches, dimmers, occupancy sensors, and timers

Each of these will need cleaning, checkups, or replacement every so often in order to keep working optimally.

What are the goals of lighting maintenance?

Typically, most lighting systems are designed to provide more lighting than is actually necessary. The reason for this is because lamps lose brightness over time.

A solid preventive maintenance plan can slow light loss, meaning there’s less necessity to overdesign the system. That translates into savings on initial installation as well as lower energy costs over time. Given how about 20% of money spent on electricity in the U.S. goes toward lighting, those savings can be significant.

In addition to reducing the costs of lighting overdesign, preventive lighting maintenance also aims to improve the following:

• Energy efficiency overall
• Addressing design issues
• Safety and security
• Aesthetic appeal

What procedures are used in lighting maintenance?

To achieve these goals, the following procedures are commonly employed:

• Routine cleaning of lamps and luminaires
• Group and spot relamping
• Inspection, repair, and recalibration of lighting equipment such as switches or timers
• Evaluation of the lighting system as a whole

When needed, group relamping can be performed at the same time as a scheduled cleaning in order to save time.

Lighting maintenance checklist

Here’s a sample checklist provided by the U.S. Department of Energy: