High Temperatures Impact Equipment, Too
As the weather changes and the temperature begins to climb, it’s time to start thinking about preparing your forklift for summer. You want to keep your forklift operators safe when working in the summer heat. The heat can of course affect the health of your employees, but it also affects your equipment. Paying your machinery extra attention can make a huge difference in terms of future productivity.
Avoid Overheating
A common but dangerous problem, overheating is something you want to avoid at all costs. Too much heat can hurt your employees and the equipment they use.
Forklifts are prone to internal damage when overheated. Keeping your cooling system in shape is vital. Consider the following for forklifts with internal combustion:
- Keep coolant fluid levels up to at least the minimum level to prevent engine damage.
- Replace and refill your coolant levels regularly. The liquid can deteriorate and cause damage to your cooling system.
- Check the forklift’s radiator carefully, looking for any damage. Cracked, damaged, or malfunctioning radiators can cause the temperature to drop drastically. This affects your coolant flow and cause overheating and even leaking. Malfunctioning radiators can also cause damage to the forklift’s transmission.
- Examine your radiator hoses for cracks or excessive tightness. Heat will only increase any damage already in the hoses. Replace any cracked or damaged hoses immediately.
- Check your oil and filters regularly.
- If you have an electric forklift, the summer heat can result in evaporation of battery fluid levels. This will reduce your forklift’s lifespan. Make sure you have the proper level of water in your battery cells and that your pH is correct for your battery.
- If you have pneumatic tires, you should keep in mind that heat will raise the pressure in your tires. Check your tire pressure regularly. Consider letting a little bit of air out in the summer.
- Proper tire inflation is extremely important no matter what time of year it is. Check your tires often to prevent a blowout from occurring.
You will want to remember to always perform proper maintenance on your equipment. Neglecting to do so will cost you both time and money in the long run. Perform regular inspections on all of your equipment.
It’s Not Hard!
Preparing your forklift for summer is a fairly easy task if you do all of the above. Proper maintenance and checks will also increase your forklift’s lifespan and increase the productivity of both your employees and your equipment. Finally, always be sure you and your employees inspect a forklift before using it for any task, no matter how small.
Turn to the Experts
Routine inspections performed by your staff are a great way to ensure that everything is running properly, but you should also have experts come in at least once a year. PFlow’s management has more than 100 years of combined VRC experience. We specialize in the safety of our lifts, and are always ready to help keep your employees safe. Reach out today for more information on how we can help.