The post When is it time for new construction machinery parts? appeared first on UK Construction Blog.

The adage that prevention is better than cure is well known in healthcare settings, but it has surprising relevance in a range of other areas as well. One concept where it has surprisingly similar applicability is in machinery maintenance.

Working out when is the best time to replace construction machinery parts can be a difficult process, one with often serious implications. Here, we take a look at some of the main things to keep in mind when deciding on how long to wait between replacements.

Usage

While in some cases, the easiest thing to do is to set a time limit on how long you’ll use a specific part, in many cases how long you set that time limit will depend on usage. 

For example, if the machine is used literally every day, for 8 or 12 hours at a time, the maintenance schedule will look very different to a similar machine that’s only used once or twice a month.

Check with the manufacturer

In many cases, manufacturers will provide clear instructions on how frequently specific parts need replacing. This will often be based on the results of extensive testing.

Of course, don’t take this figure for the gospel in all cases – if you have a company mechanic who knows that certain parts are prone to wearing out faster or slower, take their word for it. But the manufacturer and machine handbook are definitely a good place to start.

Always be preventive

While with some parts, if it goes wrong there won’t be any further implications at all, this is relatively rare. 

The timing chain or belt in an engine is a prime example; if you keep on running it until it actually breaks, you can do massive amounts of damage to the rest of the engine in the process. 

With parts such as these, it’s paramount that you take a preventative approach to maintenance, replacing the part long before it actually breaks. Having reliable access to these parts from a supplier such as EPD Parts can be critical to ensuring you experience minimal downtime.

Carry out inspections

While you can generally predict how quickly different parts will wear out, with critical components whose breakage could result in safety concerns, you should carry out regular inspections as well.

Whether this is checking tyres for gashes or looking for issues with gas tanks and linkages, inspections can have a significant positive effect on both the safety and the efficacy of your approach to maintenance.

While we’re unable to provide you with a totally straightforward answer as to a specific timeline, we hope you understand why that’s practically impossible. Working out when it’s time to replace construction machinery parts is based on a number of factors, some of the most important of which we’ve listed above.

In general, it’s better to replace parts sooner rather than later. Not only will you help to maintain a safe work site, but you’ll often also ensure that small issues don’t bloom into something far more expensive and severe.