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Bowtie Engineering provides NETA-standard electrical testing for commercial and industrial facilities nationwide. We perform acceptance testing on new equipment and maintenance testing on existing systems to the standards published by NETA (the InterNational Electrical Testing Association) — including primary injection, relay testing, insulation resistance, and breaker testing. Led by licensed Professional Engineers and delivered through a network of NETA-certified technicians we can deploy across the United States, our testing verifies that your electrical equipment will perform safely and correctly when it matters.
NETA testing is a set of standardized procedures published by the InterNational Electrical Testing Association for commissioning, maintaining, and field-testing electrical power equipment. When equipment is tested to NETA standards, qualified technicians follow a defined, auditable methodology to verify it operates correctly, safely, and within manufacturer and code specifications. It matters because electrical equipment degrades over time — insulation breaks down, breakers fail to trip correctly, connections loosen. Facilities that skip NETA-standard testing are operating on assumptions about equipment condition rather than verified data, increasing the risk of arc flash, equipment failure, and unplanned downtime.
Bowtie Engineering performs testing to NETA standards using NETA & NICET credentialed technicians, with licensed Professional Engineers providing oversight and interpreting the results. Bowtie is NETA compliant and can utilize a trusted NETA Accredited Company if the requirement exists..
We state that plainly because the distinction matters when you are comparing proposals, and because an engineer reading your test data is worth more to your facility than an accreditation logo on a report cover.
Infrared thermography. A thermal survey performed with the building in service, identifying hot spots, loose connections and load imbalance before they become outages. Usually the first step in a maintenance scope because it requires no disruption to power.
Insulation resistance testing. Measures the condition of insulation in cables, motors and transformers, and is one of the better early indicators of equipment heading toward failure.
Primary injection testing. Full current injection through the complete circuit, including the current transformers and the trip unit, to verify a breaker will actually operate as intended. This is the most thorough form of breaker testing and it is where many maintenance programs stop short.
Circuit breaker testing. Contact resistance, timing and mechanical operation, confirming the breaker will clear a fault in the time your arc flash study assumed.
Protective relay testing and calibration. Verifies that relays pick up and time out to their set points, and that the coordination designed on paper is what the system will actually do.
Transformer testing and oil analysis. Turns ratio, winding resistance, insulation testing and oil sampling, which together give an early view of internal condition that no external inspection can provide.
Contact resistance testing. Measures resistance across connections and bus joints, where heat builds long before anything becomes visible.
Acceptance testing is performed on new or newly installed equipment before it is energized into service. It proves the equipment arrived undamaged, was installed correctly and performs to specification. It sets the baseline every later test is compared against.
Maintenance testing is performed on equipment already in service, at intervals, to establish whether its condition has changed. Without an acceptance baseline, maintenance results have nothing to be measured against, which is why facilities that skip acceptance testing often struggle to interpret their own data years later.
There are four common triggers. New equipment being commissioned, which calls for acceptance testing. Equipment that has cleared a fault, because clearing a fault is a mechanical and thermal event and the device may not be fit to do it again. Insurer or corporate requirements, which increasingly specify intervals. And NFPA 70B, which now sets maintenance expectations as a standard rather than a recommendation.
Intervals depend on equipment type, criticality, operating environment and load. A medium voltage switchgear lineup serving a data center is on a different schedule to a lighting panel in an office. Bowtie sets intervals as part of the maintenance program rather than applying one number across a whole site.
If nobody at your facility can say when the switchgear was last tested, that in itself is the answer.
Every test produces a written report with the measured values, the comparison against baseline or standard, and a clear priority on each finding. Findings are ranked by what needs attention now, what should be scheduled and what is worth monitoring. For clients on a service contract results load into BowVue alongside the arc flash and training data.
Bowtie provides PE-led, NETA-standard electrical testing — acceptance and maintenance testing, primary injection, relay and transformer testing — deliverable nationwide through a network of NETA-certified technicians, with auditable documentation.
Bowtie performs testing to NETA standards and deploys NETA-certified technicians nationwide, but Bowtie is not itself a NETA Accredited Company. Our testing follows NETA methodology and is documented to NETA specifications.
Acceptance testing (ATS) is done on new equipment before energizing; maintenance testing (MTS) is done on in-service equipment on a recurring schedule to catch degradation. Bowtie performs both.
Intervals depend on equipment type, criticality, and environment. NETA and NFPA 70B provide the framework; Bowtie sets your intervals based on your specific equipment and builds them into a recurring program.
Yes. Bowtie performs primary injection testing on low- and medium-voltage circuit breakers and switchgear, along with relay, insulation, and transformer testing — all to NETA standards.
Yes. Bowtie deploys NETA-certified technicians across the U.S. with standardized methodology and documentation, which is ideal for multi-site and national accounts.
