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Reactive Maintenance
Reactive maintenance repairs or replaces equipment after it breaks or fails.
Reactive maintenance repairs or replaces equipment after a failure has occurred. It responds to a breakdown rather than performing work on a preventive schedule or acting on measurements of deterioration.
It is one maintenance approach within an operations and maintenance program. The Department of Energy distinguishes it from time-based preventive work and predictive work performed before failure.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy: Operations and maintenance approaches.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does reactive maintenance differ from preventive maintenance?
Reactive work follows a failure. Preventive work is scheduled by time or use before a failure occurs.
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