Winter Is Coming Today, Are You Ready

Winter is here today, Do I need to service anything on my swing gate.

• Yes, I think you should check a few things. So lets start, Get yourself a can of silicon grease from the hardware shop. Spray everything. accept the control board I mean.. The swing motor has a sliding stainless shaft, the one that is telescopic in and out. Clean it and get the summer dust off it, and apply a good spray of silicon grease all over. This will make it slide well and keep any rain water off the metal.  

Brackets, Hinges etc.

• Yes again, people forget things like this. You use the swing gate all year then forget to apply grease to the gate hinges and all the moving parts. I tell people to spray everything with the silicon spray. All the metal brackets, nuts and bolts, Screws etc, everything metal, get a coat on it for the winter weather, it will look good for years. 

Don't forget the solar panel needs a clean.

• I run my house off grid with 40 large solar panels and 20kva of batteries, and I thought everything was running fine, but we had an Italian backpacker here for two weeks and he was a bit of a fussy tech type and he said to me that solar panels need cleaning every year. I thought about it and we have a 200m gravel drive that can sometimes get a little dusty in the summer,  so maybe they get a film on them, and then add a sprinkle of rain it could get messy. So I gave him a ladder and told him to clean them if he wants lunch in 2 hours. Italians like their food so up the ladder he went and spent 3 hours scrubbing the solar panels with white vinegar and water and a hard brush.  He made lots of noise and grunting noises on the roof and yelled at his girl partner a few times, but he got the job done. and when he came down, we checked the inverter and we got an extra 800watts of power from the clean. So there you go, Every year a job for the back packers.. And well worth the food.. So Clean your solar panels before the rain starts. 

What about my sliding gate.

• Well same thing applies. Clean your track from stones, pebbles, etc . Lube your gate wheels and top rollers. Check the condition of your gear rack for wear. And don't forget to clean your solar panel.

cheers Graeme