Electric doors and gates don’t need constant supervision, however, repairs and maintenance can become costly if maintenance is left until something breaks. Maintenance is straightforward, but some tasks are better left to qualified professionals.

Deciding to do repairs or maintenance yourself can save both money and potential headaches, but it can also lead to worsening the situation if you start working on something you shouldn’t.

Basic Troubleshooting for Homeowners

When gates or doors stop working, the first check is also usually the simplest—has the power tripped? RCDs (the switches in your fusebox with a test button) often trip, and resetting it might get things working again. If it trips again, leave it off and find a professional—there’s a fault that needs servicing.

Another issue arises from the use of remote controls. If the door does not respond when you hit the button, take a step closer to see if the door responds to your commands in case the remote is ...
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Electrical systems will present potential problems during winter that are not present during other seasons. Winter brings cold and wet weather and shorter days, and when you are busy during peak times or when the warehouse is operating at full capacity, the last thing you need is for your electrical systems to fail.

Finishing this before winter problems materialize makes sense. Being proactive with some inspections and maintenance during October or November can save you expensive service calls during winter when everything seems to fail.

Inspection of Heating Systems

Even though the heat source for many commercial heating systems is an oil or gas, many of the systems are electrically powered. Boilers need electrical power for their pumps, controls, and ignition systems. Air source heat pumps are completely powered electrically. Warehouse heaters use a lot of power when they're running all day.

The problem is that heating systems sit for the calender summer and then are ...
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Installing an electric door and gate isn’t something you just do with a screwdriver and a Youtube video. There are a lot of electrical work that will need to be done to ensure that all of the work meets the legal and safety guidelines. If the work is done incorrectly, it can be a hazard and very costly. Additionally, it can cause others to be hurt and even cause problems that will make your insurance void.

Here is a brief overview of the electrical work needed for the automatic control and electric doors and gates and instances that will need a certified electrician.

Electrical Requirements for Automated Doors

Remote control and automatic access systems like electric gates and garage doors need to have a reliable electrically accessible main power supply. The motor units usually run off of 230V, like your home electrical systems, but in some cases like with big commercial systems, they can use three-phase power.

The supply needs to be enough for the motor load. Do...
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Electric gates and automated doors work great until something in the electrics goes wrong. Then the units become a liability for the business. Water gets into connections, cables become damaged, and all of a sudden, you've got an outdoor installation with mains voltage running through it while people walk by all day.

Safety reulations and accross the board standard safety practices are in place due to previous accidents that have happened. An untended piece of maintence on a control board, a gate becomes posotioned down on a person and traps them because the safety features are programmed wrong, a motor has a thermal runaway due to the wiring being out of standard and a fire is present. Addressing and executing safety modifications to these machines is crucial to safety.

RCD Protection Requirements

RCDs are the breaker switches in your consumer unit that go off when they detect a fault. They monitor the current flowing through a circuit and if some of it is leaking whe...
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