Check your equipment during winter times

It's winter season and many parts of the northern hemisphere experience below-zero temperatures. People are not the only ones who need to be prepared for winter times, we should also protect heavy machinery from freezing. Extremely cold weather can damage your equipment, causing downtime and budget cuts. There have been many record temperatures both in summer and winter during recent years so you should be prepared for the worst temperatures possible and not the average.

How cold temperatures affect machines

Below-zero temperatures can take a toll on belts, hoses, fittings, and other hardware. Tires and tracks are also heavily affected by cold temperatures and must be monitored for weather-related issues.

Extremely cold weather can affect fluids and fuel, which can lead to increased wear and potential failure of the engine. Cold weather also affects batteries. Make sure all your batteries are fully charged and all connections and cables are free of corrosion to prevent an effect on your electronics.

The operator should clean the undercarriage to remove dirt, snow, salt, and ice. Also, don't rush; let your machines warm up before starting work. Running a vehicle cold can cause costly machine failure and downtime.

How to prepare your equipment for a cold winter

Basics

Check your batteries,winter oil, winter grease

Check pumps, hoses, and other components that could fail in winter conditions.

Check for any components that's approaching end of the life cycle. It's way cheaper to replace a defective part in the shop rather that fixing it on an ice road far away from a  service center.

Your main value is not machinery but people, you must supply operators with warm clothes and heaters in case their vehicle will fail in the middle of nowhere.

You can also improve performance by switching to winter tires and tracks.

Daily routine

Operator must check for loose parts, low tire pressure, debris, cracking or any sight of damage every working day

Warm up vehicles before usage

Check if battery is fully charged

Storing equipment during winter

If your equipment is parked indoors for the winter season, you can save the routine items for the spring and check batteries, fluids and do the overall inspection then. Use this time to check the maintenance of all your machines and their parts, including GETs

Indoor storage is the best and it is preferred to use unheated stores to minimize condensation and temperature swings. If such unheated spaces are not available, try storing equipment in a place with minimal temperature changes. Take care of your batteries. If you can't use a trickle charge or "tender" the battery should be disconnected with a switch or by removing the ground cable. Most equipment electronics are designed with extended periods of non-use in mind and memory loss, or other issues should not result from disconnecting the battery for winter.

Take care of your machinery during winter times and order GETs on our website to not get stuck in a downtime, and replace your old tools in advance.