Preventive Maintenance (PM) is the regular inspection, testing, and care of your access system.

Here are 5 good reasons to do Preventive Maintenance:

1. Save money: First, by keeping the system lubricated, wear is reduced which extended the life of both mechanical parts and the electrical motors and boards that drive the mechanical parts.
Second, many issues cost less to fix if detected early. For example, a cracked weld on a vehicle gate hinge is a much cheaper repair than if the weld goes unnoticed, the gate falls off, and the gate operator suffers extensive damage.

2. Safety and Risk Avoidance:
Access systems employ numerous approaches to reduce the risk of personal injury or damage to vehicles and gates. These include pedestrian photoeyes, siren detectors, entrapment sensors, emergency battery back-up systems, vehicle loop detectors, and others. When one of these systems fails, they can go unnoticed until a problem occurs. We are one of few companies that tests and inspects these systems as part of our regular PM Inspection.
- For example, we recently began serving a 4-year old gated community. Our first inspection revealed that the emergency battery back-up system and the emergency siren detector were both inoperative due to improper wiring. It's likely that neither system had ever worked before we fixed it.

3. Property appearance:
The access system is part of the first impression. A smart-looking, proper-functioning access system will improve the appearance and value of a property. On the other hand, an access system that is broken, creaks, slams, shakes, or "just doesn't work quite right" will raise questions regarding management's ability to effectively maintain not only the access system, but the entire property as well. We take pride in making sure our customers' access systems are an asset, not a liability-we do this with quick response times, by fixing issues right the first time, and by making sure the system performs as it was intended to perform.

4. Liability:Property owners / associations may be held liable for injuries or damage associated with their access system. In today's litigious society, the saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care" is true more than ever. Our regular inspections of access system including safety systems may prevent an event which would have resulted in legal action against the owner or association. Furthermore, should a problem occur, documented records of completed maintenance inspections and testing of safety systems could prove invaluable.

5. Improve System Performance:
We inspect the system to make sure everything is running smoothly. Frequently, the system is "working", but needs minor adjustments to make it work "better." This includes gate arm travel limits, close delay times, traffic loop sensitivities, even minor things like adjusting an entry system's screen for improved readability or replacing burned out bulbs than illuminate a keypad.

In today's litigious society, avoiding damage to people and property is even more important than ever. The following is a checklist of actions that may reduce the risk of injury, vehicle damage, and legal action resulting from your gate system.

Warning signs: Signs should warn that gates are dangerous and that pedestrians should not use gates designed for vehicles. Once installed, you may want to take a dated picture to document that the signs were installed.

Pedestrian Entrances: Separate pedestrian entrances should be provided so that pedestrians don't have to walk though the vehicular gates.

Photo-eyes: Photo-eyes for swing / slide gate operators detect the presence of an obstruction between the posts, and prevents the gate from closing. If the gate is in the process of closing, the gates will reverse direction and open until the photo-eye beam is clear. In our opinion, photoeyes are one of the most reliable and cost effective ways to prevent damage to vehicles. (Another option is a traffic loop installed under the path of the gate - however, these loops don't "see" pedestrians and have to be ignored by the gate operator when the gate is closing because the moving gate looks like a vehicle.)

Emergency siren detectors: Siren detectors allow fire, police and EMS to gain entry into the neighborhood using their siren in the yelp mode. E recommend you also contact your emergency responders and verify they have a code to use as a back-up.

Entrapment Reversal: Newer gate operators can detect an obstruction to gate or drive arm travel and reverse direction. If the obstruction remains they will shut down and sound an alarm.

Battery power back-up: During a power outage units equipped with battery back-up will open to allow entry and/or exit to the property. Units without battery back-up should have an alternative and safe way for the gates to be opened in the event of extended power loss. Should a fire/police/EMS emergency arise during a power outage, and the gates are inaccessible, response time could be negatively affected. It is conceivable the property could be held liable for any damages resulting from this additional delay.

Regular maintenance and testing: Regular maintenance and testing is important for several reasons. First, the safety systems mentioned above need to regularly tested to be sure they are operating properly. Second, proper lubrication and maintenance of the access system will improve reliability, extend component life, and save money in the long run. Lastly, a regular thorough inspection of the gate hinges and welds can identify a small problem before it becomes a big problem; for example, a weak hinge or cracked weld is much more likely to fail during a stress event (such as the gates bumping into vehicle or a child "riding" the gate ) and the damage to vehicle or child could far surpass the damage to the gate. Be sure that whoever performs your maintenance will provide a written report showing they inspected the welds / hinges and tested the above systems, in addition to performing the customary lubrication and operator inspections.