You’ve made a significant investment in a new fitness center and state-of-the-art equipment, is on-going preventative maintenance really necessary?

Without Preventative Maintenance in place, unplanned service costs will occur, and not keeping up with the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance will impact your warranty coverage and product life cycle.

Here are our 5 Reasons to Keep Your Fitness Equipment “Fit” –

#1. Risk Management –

Since managing property risk is a high priority for private and public entities, ensuring a safe and high-quality exercise environment is critical. The last thing you want to experience is for one of your tenants or members to have an accident that could have been avoided with proper care of your equipment.

#2. Increase Equipment Longevity-

Well-maintained equipment lasts longer and runs longer without problems. Equipment that is inspected regularly and supported before problems occur, has a better chance of lasting the life of the gym or its full-estimated lifespan. For example, cardio equipment that has not been maintained on a regular basis will actually fail due to lack of maintenance during the warranty period. Consequently, when the manufacturer’s warranty ends in two-to-three years, you will see operating costs (repairs) escalate for the fitness center. With a PM in place, you will lower the costs and extend the life of the equipment.

#3. Maintaining ROI-

Not only does a pro-active PM program maintaining the equipment’s useful life, but will help ensure fair-market salvage or trade-in values.  Since the equipment is cared for on a regular and continuous basis, the equipment will not only operate more efficiently, but will ultimately result in an enhanced return-on-investment upon resale. Equipment found with excessive wear on key components will produce little to no trade-in value at the end of the useful life of the product.

#4. Create Safe Workout Environment-

An attractive and safe amenity fitness center draws in potential members and helps to insure long-term property values.  For example an apartment complexes require clean, state-of-the-art fitness centers to attract renters and minimize apartment vacancy and turnover.   This goes for almost all properties that utilize amenities to enhance attractiveness.  Many property owners don’t think past the installation of their fitness center and what they need to actually do with equipment for the future.  Relying on the warranty or waiting until something breaks is a common notion.

Every piece of cardio equipment includes electrical circuit boards, drive motors, and moving parts made of degradable materials. Each unit is used by hundreds or thousands of people — all of different weights and capabilities. Additionally, frames are welded, steel parts rotate, and the machines’ stability is dependent on maintaining absolute level surfaces. This intricate dance easily unravels with neglect or improper repairs. Which could result in an unsafe environment for users.

#5. Product Warranty-

As stated in most fitness product manuals, equipment must be regularly maintained and  the neglect of this can and will nullify the product’s warranty. This becomes particularly acute when a treadmill’s major component (like motor and lower board) fails after one year, and it’s determined that the treadmill’s engine compartment had never been cleaned or motor brushes had not been checked or replaced. Consequently, continually having malfunctioning or out of order equipment will make members frustrated and look for other places to do their workouts.

 

What can a preventative maintenance program offer me?

The Pacific Fitness Products Service Department will:

  • Inspect electrical and mechanical equipment for dirty, loose, worn, cracked, or damaged parts.
  • Affordably repair, rebuild or replace expensive parts, such as drive motors and electronic circuit boards.
  • Replace torn and worn pads.
  • Clean, vacuum, and sanitize equipment to reduce corrosion.
  • Reset back-end software and respond to error messages.
  • Check welding, pins, bolts, and more for wear.
  • Use the correct lubricant for each machine.
  • Replace cables and, at times, build them onsite.

Why shouldn’t I maintain my own fitness equipment?

  • You don’t know what you don’t know. You might be missing something big that can result in a serious injury.
  • The equipment is sophisticated. Every computer board has both a front-end display and back-end code. This underlayer of information is where the diagnostic menu lies. A factory-authorized technician will access this tool to test equipment piece by piece.
  • Incorrect maintenance can wear on motors and mechanical parts. For example, underneath each rubber treadmill is a polycotton blend of fabric that holds lubricant. If the fabric pills — even if the equipment is well-oiled — the worn-out fabric creates friction, which eventually degrades the motor.

Committing to servicing equipment on a schedule results in:

  • Lower costs overall
  • Less down equipment
  • Safer environment
  • Sanitized equipment

How often should I have my equipment serviced?

The answer resides in how often the product is used. A reasonable rule of thumb is one service every 1,000 hours of usage. Using that number, an owner can work with a preventative maintenance company to design an effective schedule. Usually, treadmills, bikes and ellipticals need the most attention, and strength equipment runs on a twice-yearly rotation.

As any veteran gym owner knows, cables snap and treadmills smoke. Never a good scene. Yet, avoiding such mini disasters is as simple as investing in a preventative maintenance service plan for your commercial gym equipment.

Contact our service department today to get a free consultation of your fitness equipment !