ReturnChecker.com

Does a diagnostic program pay for itself?

Pick what you're protecting, answer three questions. ReturnChecker supplies the industry benchmarks, shows the arithmetic, and checks the return.

What are you protecting?

Each class sets credible defaults for failure cost, find rate, and repair cost — all still adjustable.

Three questions about your system

That's all we need — everything else uses industry benchmarks you can inspect (and override) below.

Units of the class you picked, inspected with IR, UV, ultrasonic, or similar
Fully loaded: equipment, secondary damage, emergency labor, outage impact. Preset by asset class — adjust if you know better.
Surveys, instruments or contractors, analysis, reporting
RETURN CHECK
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Where the return comes from

Findings aren't one population. Each priority class carries its own likelihood of failing within 12 months — likelihood × consequence is what sets the repair order.

PriorityFindingsLikelihood of failure (12 mo)ConsequenceRisk removedPer $1 of repair
The benchmarks — inspect or override
Typical annual multi-technology surveys find actionable defects on 2–10% of components (NETA/NFPA 70B-graded IR, UV, ultrasonic find rates). Preset by asset class.
/ /
P1 = severe (NETA ΔT >15°C or equivalent), P2 = serious, P3 = early-stage. Typical distribution from graded survey programs. Must total 100.
Split doesn't total 100% — fix to trust the results.
% / % / %
Severe defects progress fast; early-stage ones give you time. Blended default ≈30% across all serious findings (conservative vs. published defect-progression studies).
Fixing a found defect as scheduled work — parts, crew, planned outage window. Preset by asset class.
×
Risk removed per dollar spent must clear this multiple. 2× is a conservative screen; DOE FEMP program data typically supports far more.
Nothing is saved on a server unless you request the email report. Your numbers live only on this page — keep them before you close it.

The arithmetic: return = (frequency × consequence) ÷ cost to reduce the risk. Frequency = failures per year the program prevents, computed per priority class as findings × likelihood. Consequence = fully-loaded cost of one failure. Cost = repairs + program. If it makes sense, it shows in the arithmetic.

Benchmarks: U.S. DOE FEMP O&M Best Practices (predictive maintenance saves 8–12% vs. preventive, 30–40% vs. reactive; ~10× typical program ROI); NETA MTS / NFPA 70B severity grading; industry defect-progression and downtime studies. Counts avoided failures only — deferred capital, insurance credits, and multi-year replacement exposure are upside not included.

ReturnChecker.com — a tool from EnergyRiskAcademy.com

Prepared by John Munno · 2026