After having a beautiful new gate designed and installed, it’s shocking that one of the most commonly overlooked maintenance things about driveway gates in Portland ,OR is keeping the gate clean and well-maintained.
Keeping Your Automatic Gate Clean
Similar to a car, your gate can look its best if it’s frequently washed and sometimes waxed.
It will be quite costly to have a gate removed, sandblasted, powder coated, and rehung once its finish has faded, flaked off, or rusted. It doesn’t take long for your gate’s once pristine look to become blemished due to neglect.
Washing and waxing your gate once a year will keep it looking stunning for an extended time to come.
Stopping Pests Damaging Your Automatic Gate
In addition to the look of your gate, a true concern for all electrical equipment that’s installed outdoors is insect, snail, and vertebrate damage.
Snails and slugs will destroy a circuit board in short order requiring a gate repair. The slime trails they leave behind become highly conductive with even the most minuscule quantity of moisture.
Spider webs with even the slightest bit of moisture on them also can conduct electricity and harm a gate’s circuit board. And bee nests and ant hills will quickly corrode gate opener electronic equipment.
The Quality Of The Circuit Board Matters
Higher quality automatic gate equipment is more immune to intrusions by these troublesome pests and also the electronic equipment is more resistant to damage. This can be as a result of circuit boards on higher end automatic gate operators are enclosed in more secure enclosures, and also the circuit boards themselves are dipped in a very protective coating.
That being said, there’s no brand of automatic gate equipment which will last indefinitely if it’s left to the legs and wings of pests. We have a tendency to suggest that owners of automatic gate systems keep a watchful eye and set up a yearly maintenance appointment, to help ensure pests don’t destroy your driveway gate system and to keep your electric gate looking like new.
Keeping Your Automation Equipment Up To Speed
Mechanically, the maintenance needs of an automatic gate system can vary greatly depending on the sort of system you’ve got installed.
A lower value system would force additional maintenance than a higher end system.
This is as a result of a higher end system is installed with sealed bearing, maintenance-free hinges on swing gates, and sealed bearing maintenance-free wheels on slide gates. Higher end systems will have higher quality automatic gate equipment that doesn’t need to be adjusted as often as lower end systems.
Lubricating Vital Automatic Gate Parts
If your system doesn’t have sealed bearing hinges or wheels, you ought to make sure that the bearings stay greased by using marine grade grease applied through the grease fittings using a grease gun.
Many swing gate and slide gate operators have internal chains that should be greased. Slide gate operators even have the main drive chain that should be lubricated.
WD-40 should never be used as a lubricating substance for any of those chains. A heavy grease is only a slightly better choice. The most effective option is spray on white lithium grease.
Summary
Regardless of wherever your gate falls on the quality spectrum, all systems will need to be checked periodically to make sure that the gates are opening and shutting with the proper amount of force, and that the reversing devices are functioning properly.
It is also necessary to tighten all electrical connections, as they will loosen over time because of vibration and expansion/contraction caused by weather. Additionally, the driveway gate system ought to be checked periodically to make sure there has been no mechanical damage that’s causing the gate operator to work harder than it should be, thereby shortening its life.
Your ability and willingness to take care of your system should be factored into your decision on whether or not you would like a lower end or higher end system, and whether or not you want to contract with a competent automatic gate system installer who will share with you recommendations on maintenance and maintenance contract options.
Consult with a gate expert today, don’t hesitate to call us at (503) 455-7393, visit us on our contact page or visit us in Portland, OR.
