Floor scales are heavy-duty weighing instruments that are used to measure the weight of large objects or items in bulk. They are commonly found in industries such as agriculture, transportation, and manufacturing, logistics or where accurate and reliable weight measurements are critical.
To ensure that your floor scale is providing accurate measurements, it's important to regularly maintain and care for it. Neglecting to properly maintain your floor scale will result in inaccurate measurements, intermittent operation, and all out failure. This article will focus on how to properly care for your floor scale to keep it running for a long time to come.
Keeping your scale calibrated
One of the most important aspects of floor scale maintenance is regular calibration. Calibration is the process of adjusting a scale to ensure that it is providing accurate measurements within its specified tolerance. Most floor scales should be calibrated at regular intervals, typically every six months to a year. If you are unsure of how to calibrate your floor scale, consult the manual or contact the manufacturer for guidance. Some manufacturers will have different parameters when it comes to calibration.
When it comes to how often you should calibrate your scale, you first need to consider how often your scale is being used. For example if you are operating a floor scale that takes multiple measurements per day. It may be a good idea to have your scale calibrated every quarter or four times per year. As mentioned above, if you aren’t using your scale as often as aforementioned, then getting your scale calibrated twice per year should be sufficient.
Good Housekeeping
In addition to regular calibration, it's important to keep your floor scale clean. Dust, debris, and other contaminants can interfere with the accuracy of the scale, so it's important to regularly clean the platform and display. Use a soft, damp cloth to wipe down the scale, and avoid using any harsh cleaners or abrasives. Some chemicals can actually be harmful to your scale. Consult the manual to see which cleaners are safe to use for your scale.
Keeping a clean floor scale is even more prevalent when you are working in an area that requires washing down of the scales. You usually find these sort of environments in food processing plants and meat packing plants. The reasoning is because with the handling of food, there is a good chance that bacteria can build if the scale is not washed down regularly. This in turn can contaminate the products being weighed, thus potentially affecting others as the products are shipped to their destinations.
A good way to ensure a clean floor scale is by having a daily, weekly and monthly cleaning and maintenance schedule. For example, if you have your scale set to be cleaned at the beginning and end of each work day, this can help minimize bigger cleaning tasks that would be done weekly or monthly.
Extreme Environments
Another important aspect of floor scale maintenance is protecting the scale from extreme temperatures. Extreme temperatures can affect the accuracy of a scale, so it's important to avoid exposing the scale to temperatures outside of its specified operating range. Be sure to store the scale in a cool, dry place when not in use.
If you are working in areas like a steel mill, or other places that have extreme high or low temperatures, then most likely you have a scale and indicator with an IP69 rating. The IP rating will ensure that your scale and indicator can handle extreme temperatures, as well as high powered washing.
Keeping a schedule
Finally, it's a good idea to regularly check your floor scale for errors or incorrect readings. Even with regular maintenance and proper use, scales can sometimes experience errors or provide incorrect readings. To help detect and troubleshoot these issues, it's a good idea to regularly check your floor scale for errors or incorrect readings.
Keeping a cleaning and maintenance schedule/log is the best way to accomplish this. A good cleaning schedule should have a checklist as well as certain tasks that should be completed in daily, weekly and monthly increments. Keeping a notebook or an online spreadsheet to keep track of when you perform cleaning and maintenance duties is an easy way to ensure that you don’t miss a cleaning or important maintenance.
Closing Words
In conclusion, regular maintenance is an important part of ensuring that your floor scale continues to provide accurate and reliable weight measurements. By performing regular calibration, cleaning, and checks, you can help to maximize the performance of your floor scale and ensure that it continues to provide accurate data.
At American Scale we strive to bring you informed and useful content on all things scale systems related, including products from the top scale manufacturers. Be sure to check out our truck scale articles about truck scale foundation or how much do truck scales cost. We even have a guide to warranties. To learn more about bench scales, it would be good to check out our other articles such as “Bench Scale Basics'' and “How Much Does A Bench Scale Cost?”. These articles will help with the basics of bench scale ownership. Also, take a look at our “Common Problems With Bench Scales'', to help prolong the lifespan on your scale.