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Why is a Preventative Maintenance Contract So Important?

In this blog Why is a Preventative Maintenance Contract So Important? we cover the essentials of a PM contract and why it is so important for you in order to have your equipment performing optimally and therefore preventing downtime.

A PM Contract should live up to its name and do much more. If it is done comprehensively, it will prevent potential problems that could escalate and cause future downtime.

The PM Contract

The typical things a service engineer looks out for when starting a PM job is to observe the equipment for:

Motor noise or vibration
Heater insulation problems
Solenoid valve problems
Compressor issues
Control board problems
Sensor and connector issues
Water reservoirs for cleanliness

An effective Preventative Maintenance Contract will identify these and allow the customer to discuss and agree on their preferred plan of action. This will be decided on information from the service engineer as to the severity of the issue, it’s effect on the chamber performance, when it is likely to cause downtime and the cost of repair.

DACTEC’s PM Contract

DACTEC is an OEM Service Provider (Original Equipment Manufacturer) in that we are trained by Weiss Technik and have the full support of their service department.

We usually will have the spare parts required with us and can replace them immediately with the first hour labour free of charge.

Our Preventative Maintenance Contract does all of the above and more, such as:

We check the heating and cooling system
The humidification and dehumidification performance as necessary
Safety devices are checked as well as wiring, control boards and power supplies
The test space, door, seals, lights, welds etc are checked for issues
Additionally, we perform a refrigerant leak check and supply or update a gas log
We also check the calibration accuracy with a traceably calibrated standard

DACTEC’s final Job Sheet has all the details of a dedicated calibration certificate which can be used as a calibration cert in conjunction with the certificate of the standard that was used.

We advise the Customer on any maintenance they could do on an ongoing basis or better ways they could use their chamber as we have more than 30 years-experience working on these machines.

Typically, a PM Contract is performed annually and this will reduce downtime during the following year. If a breakdown does occur during the contract period and a repair is required, DACTEC give a 17% discount on the labour rate.

Other Service Providers

Some third-party maintenance contractors or service providers offer contracts on Weiss machines despite a lack of training, spare parts and factory backup. For these reasons these suppliers are cheaper and although they satisfy an auditor in for example, the Pharmaceutical Industry where a maintenance contract is required, they do not do a comprehensive job and often these customers come back to us asking us to repair chambers the other service provider couldn’t fix so in the long run the customer has to pay twice where one visit from DACTEC could have sorted it out.

We Also Offer

For Customers who want a pared back, minimum type of service we can offer a cut down PM Contract which is competitive with these service providers but much better because if there is a potential issue that could happen in the future DACTEC is more likely to see it and can warn the customer of the potential problem and the customer can then decide what they want to do about it.

Conclusion

The reason an annual preventative maintenance contract is so important from a reliable, trained service provider is that potential issues which could cause the machine to breakdown can be anticipated and prevented which in the long run will save a company money.

We also covered what a DACTEC Preventative Maintenance Contact gives you and the benefits of having one.