Rolling steel doors are just one product that we carry that will help make your business run more smoothly. They offer a number of benefits—they’re low-maintenance, quick, and easy to use.
Rolling steel doors are made up of small horizontal interlocking metal slats that are guided by a track, allowing the user to move the door up and down, which then coils from the tracks into an overhead drum.
Today, we’re talking rolling steel door maintenance and safety.
Maintenance 101
In terms of maintenance, a rolling steel door is a fairly simple product due to its design. With a minimal amount of moving parts, rolling steel doors are a great choice for easy maintenance.
The only real kind of maintenance you have to worry about is torsion spring adjustments, which aid in the opening and closing of the door. Over time, the springs inside the barrel will become worn out and eventually break. These springs can be replaced and it’s best to have the springs replaced by a qualified technician since it’s dangerous. Fortunately, Omaha Door & Window has these qualified technicians ready to repair your door.
Aside from that, every once in a while, you will have to lube the guides and a couple of bearings, but not much more. A big part of the beauty of rolling steel doors is their minimal maintenance.
Rolling Steel Door Safety
Photo eyes are an important part of safety for rolling steel doors. Safety photo eyes are meant to detect any object or person in and around the door when it is being opened. There are two basic types of sensors to look for:
- Safety photo eyes. The most common of the two is a safety photo eye that will reverse the motor, so if the eyes detect something underneath, it will automatically raise the door back up to keep it from closing on the person or object.
- Light curtain. The light curtain is a sensor that runs from the bottom of the door to around 6 feet, covering the whole door with criss-crossing infrared light. This covers anything that goes through the opening that the photo eye might not see, and is technically a safer system.
Other general safety tips are fairly straightforward:
- Avoid standing underneath the door when the door is in motion so you don’t get hit.
- Avoid placing hands or limbs near or on the guides or slats when door is in motion as you could possibly get caught in the door.
- If the door is electrically operated and will not open automatically, please call a technician before opening/closing the door manually yourself, because it is possible that you have a broken spring and the door will be heavy.
How often you’ll need to perform routine maintenance depends on how often you use the door. If you use the door daily, we recommend a service interval of roughly every three months.
For lighter use (less than daily), servicing every year is generally fine. Maintenance involves checking balance and bearings, and lightly lubricating. We also inspect the door to make sure it’s operating as intended, extending the life of your investment.
While you may have to invest more up-front for a rolling steel door, that investment pays for itself over time because these doors are so low-maintenance. Interested in a rolling steel door? Contact us today for more information!
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Photo credit: My Door Pro