Professional Biography
Carlos Zeledon is a Senior Managing Engineer at YA Group. As a professional Mechanical Engineer he brings more than 35 years of experience providing forensic engineering and consulting services related to energy equipment and systems. His role involves performing engineering analyses, evaluations, and investigations focused on equipment performance, failures, and operational issues across a wide range of facilities and applications.
Carlos brings decades of hands-on experience in energy system design and evaluation, with expertise spanning HVAC systems, compressed air systems, pumping systems, CNC machinery, diesel generators, heat exchangers, and wind turbine generators. His work frequently includes root cause analysis and equipment breakdown investigations involving industrial and mechanical systems.
In addition to his forensic engineering work, Carlos has extensive industry experience across energy and power, nuclear, forensics, commercial and industrial buildings, and water and wastewater facilities. His technical specializations include industrial equipment, pumps, HVAC equipment, and wind energy systems. Carlos is fluent in both spoken and written Spanish.
Credentials & Certifications
- (CFEI) National Association of Fire Investigators, International: Certification Number 21608-16321 (2029) (CFEI)
- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Associate (LEED GA) (LEED GA)
- Project Management Certificate
Representative Consulting Assignments
- Waste Water Treatment Plant | Santa Paula, California — Evaluated and determined the cause of a waste water treatment spill, which resulted in a multi-million dollar loss.
- Commercial Building | Torrance, California | Cause of failure — Evaluated cause of failure of underground fire protection piping system that resulted in the flooding of the equipment.
- Hydroelectric Power Plant | Gooding, Idaho — Evaluated cause of failure of a pipe that resulted in the flooding of the power plant control station.
- Cold Storage Facility | Vernon, California — Evaluated cause of failure of the dry pipe fire protection system that resulted in the freeze up of the system.
- Wind Turbine | Oaxaca, Mexico — Evaluated the cause of a fire in the wind turbine nacelle.
- Manufacturing Facility | Henderson, Nevada — Evaluated scope of repairs for damaged CNC machine during handling.
- Paper Products Manufacturing Facility | Tijuana, Mexico — Evaluated cause of boiler deaerator explosion.
- Wind Turbine | Oaxaca, Mexico — Evaluated cause of wind turbine overspeed condition that led to the blades being destroyed
- Food Production Facility | Kingsburg, California — Evaluated cause of an injury to worker in a conveyor system
- Winery | Paso Robles, California — Evaluated cause of a wine tank implosion
- Government Research Facility | Albuquerque, New Mexico — Root cause evaluation of two boiler explosions.
Professional Experience
- Senior Managing Engineer | YA Engineering Services | 2026 - Current
- Principal Engineer | Envista Forensics | 2015 - 2026
- Construction Manager/Engineer | KOA Corporation | 2014 - 2015
- Energy Efficiency Engineer | Southern California Edison | 2007 - 2014
- Senior Nuclear Engineer | Southern California Edison | 1991 - 2014
Practices & Skillsets
- Failure Analysis
- Fire Origin & Cause
- Electrical & Mechanical Systems and Failures
- HVAC and Mechanical Systems
- Plumbing Systems
- Failure Analysis of Materials and Components
- Power Generation
Education
- Bachelor of Science (BS), Mechanical Engineering, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, 1991
Professional Licenses
- Professional Engineer (PE) - California - License #M 31240