Do you know it’s Much More Expensive to Install New Automatic Doors than to Repair your old one?
If you have automatic doors installed at your building, whether commercial or residential, it is important that you plan their maintenance carefully in order to keep them functional for a long time. If you don’t take measures to maintain your automatic doors, they can end up damaged before they have reached their full design service life. There are old sayings that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” and “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” When it comes to automatic doors, a variation of this same straightforward logic applies.
Other Reason To Take Care of the Existing Doors
In Canada, the winter lasts 4-5 months. When the cold season approaching, property managers and business owners are well aware that a broken- down automatic doors can lead to frozen pipes, frozen employees, and unhappy clients – not to mention increased heating costs and expensive emergency repairs.
Preventative Maintenance Can Effectively Make Them Last Longer
What can you do to reduce this risk? Implement a preventative maintenance program for your doors. By identifying minor repairs before costly breakdowns occur and avoiding same-day emergency service, you’ll capture significant operations savings and keep your customers moving. Under a basic maintenance program, UTS Automatic Doors certified professionals are sent to the site to inspect the automatic swing/sliding/revolving/folding doors at specified time intervals.
What to Expect During a Preventative Service Appointment
There are two major components of preventative maintenance –
- Performing service that helps prevent wear-and-tear
- Identifying the need for minor repairs.
Here’s what to expect from a technician*:
Inspect all components of the door for signs of wear – including the threshold as well as the rollers, upper and lower bearings, operators, shafts, arms, and guides.
Secure handrails at floor and door jamb.
Tighten door tracks, arms, bottom guides, and rollers. The components should be level, aligned, and clean.
Lubricate all drive rods, chains, rollers, bearings, and pivots as needed. Ensure the drive train is properly aligned, installed, and secured.
Calibrate door speeds, motion sensors, and safety features. Verify sensor patterns through a “walk test” and visual inspection of the equipment.
Clean the clean door header and track.
Repair or Replace worn items, such as decals, handicap operators, or mechanical components upon approval.
How Often Should Preventative Service be Performed?
UTS Group highly recommends you to get preventative service twice/year to ensure that doors continue to function smoothly. In Canada, you’ll want to schedule preventative maintenance in the fall to keep doors running smoothly through the holiday season and again in spring to remove salt build-up as well as look for the wear and tear from the ice and snow.
