Food Processing Facility Electrical Services

The Challenge

A dairy processing facility near Greendale had outgrown its 400A electrical service after adding a second bottling line and expanding cold storage capacity. The existing electrical infrastructure — much of it original from the 1990s — was showing its age: non-washdown-rated enclosures in processing areas were developing corrosion, refrigeration compressor circuits were undersized for the new equipment, and the main distribution panel lacked the spare capacity for planned future expansion into cheese production.

The upgrade had to be completed while the facility remained in full production — milk doesn't wait. Additionally, every electrical installation in processing and washdown zones had to meet current CFIA facility design standards, with proper documentation for the facility's next federal inspection. Any production downtime during the cutover would mean lost product and disrupted milk pickup schedules for the facility's dozen dairy farm suppliers.

Our Approach

• Designed and installed a new 800A, 600V three-phase service with a main switchboard, power factor correction, and surge protection — including 30% spare breaker capacity for future cheese production equipment and a second cold storage expansion already in the owner's five-year plan.
• Replaced all processing-area electrical with washdown-rated installations — IP66 stainless steel disconnects and enclosures, liquid-tight flexible conduit with proper drain fittings, sloped conduit routing to prevent condensation pooling, and sealed penetrations between hygienic processing zones and non-production areas per CFIA requirements.
• Installed dedicated refrigeration circuits with proper motor starter coordination for new screw compressors, evaporator fans, and condensers serving the expanded cold storage and blast chiller — including phase loss protection and temperature monitoring integration with the facility's cold chain management system.
• Built a temporary power distribution system to keep the original bottling line operational throughout construction — isolating the new installation zones so production continued uninterrupted during the six-week electrical upgrade. The cutover to the new service was completed during a scheduled 12-hour sanitation window.
• Provided full as-built documentation including single-line diagrams, panel schedules, and a zone-by-zone enclosure IP rating schedule for the facility's HACCP plan and CFIA compliance records.

The Result

The service upgrade and facility-wide electrical modernization was completed on schedule — six weeks from permit to final inspection — with zero unplanned production downtime. Every Technical Safety BC inspection passed on the first visit. The facility's CFIA inspector reviewed and approved the electrical documentation package during the next scheduled inspection, noting the washdown-rated installations as a best-practice example for dairy processing facilities.

The dairy now operates with modern, code-compliant electrical infrastructure capable of supporting the planned cheese production expansion and additional cold storage without further service upgrades. The facility manager reports that nuisance breaker trips — a recurring issue with the old installation — have been eliminated entirely. CN Electrical continues to provide annual electrical inspections and thermal imaging for the facility.

"Upgrading a dairy plant's electrical while staying in full production is no small ask — CN Electrical handled it flawlessly. Chris mapped out every phase, kept our bottling line running the whole time, and the washdown-rated installations are exactly what our CFIA inspector wanted to see. The documentation package alone saved us hours of prep before our federal inspection. We won't use anyone else."