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What's Killing Your Treadmill?

10/2/2014

0 Comments

 
Or, How to avoid the most costly treadmill repair bills.

   Bottom line up front: Perform routine maintenance and service on your treadmill every 6 months at a minimum, in order  to avoid expensive ($500) repair bills.

   The single biggest cause of major component failure in treadmills, from Full Commercial down to Residential quality machines, is one simple thing: Dirt!

   Back story:  Treadmills and other pieces of fitness equipment have been built to last "forever" in the settings they were built to serve.  That is to say, a full commercial treadmill is built to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for at least the length of the warranty period.  Usually that's from 2-5 years.  Frames and motors are warrantied for life.

   Light Commercial treadmills are designed for up to 6 hours of use per day.  

   Residential treadmills are all over the board, but we can lump them together and say that they are good for "a couple" hours of use per day.

   However, even some of today's new residential rated treadmills have guaranteed for life frames and motors.  It's safe to say that treadmills in particular and fitness equipment in general is built exceedingly well and should provide years and years of faithful service to your runners, guests, and residents.

   But they break, and the repairs are often more than replacement cost for residential models:
Typical motor failure, parts and labor, $500.
Typical board failure, parts and labor, $450.
Typical belt failure, parts and labor, $350.

   Repair bills go up from there.  Repair parts for commercial equipment, especially some of the older models are quite expensive, as they are no longer made new and must be re-manufactured, or are made by aftermarket specialists.  Residential treadmills are usually inexpensive on the front end, but very difficult and expensive to fix in the long run.  Like computer printers, it's usually easier and less expensive to just buy a new one.

    SO back we go to the topic: Why do these "built to last" treadmills break?  It's dirt, more than anything.

   What happens? 

   If the treadmill is not serviced about every 6 months, things start to go bad.  Like a liver, it takes a long time for the abuse to show up, and then when it does, it is catastrophic, usually resulting in major component failure (belt, control board, motor).  Dirt, hair, dust and other contaminants build up between the walking belt and the deck, around the motor, and on the control board, not to mention all over the working parts of the treadmill.

   Increased Friction: Dirt builds up between the walking belt and deck, increasing the friction between these two critical parts.  Sometimes people put in more lube.  Sometimes that helps, but if the belt wasn't cleaned ahead of time, it can hurt.  More dirt gets stuck in there, which increases the friction.  When there is more friction, the motor has to work harder to move the belt at the right speed.  More work draws more power.  More power going through the control board generates excessive heat.  Components start to fail.

  Wicking Lubrication:  What is that?  Modern roller bearings, like those on the front and rear roller of the treadmill, are lubed for life, meaning we never need to get in there and add more grease, and the bearing should last the entire life of the equipment.  But we still see bearing failure caused by dirt.  Hair and fine dust particles actually work there way in to the bearing and start to add friction, which generates heat.  This dirt and hair also starts to wick away the oil in the grease.
(side note:  grease is a compound made of of liquid oil, held in suspension by a soap sponge).  Added  heat brings more oil out of suspension, which means more of it wicks away from the bearing, which increases the heat.. and You see where this is going.  Over a while, we get bearing failure.  Along the way, though, we added to the work the motor had to do in order to keep the belt moving, and hastened along the eventual control board failure.

   Unusual Wear and Tear:  While the walking belt and deck are dirty, they are wearing at an unusual rate.  Too much dirt, and not enough lubrication will cause premature failure of both the deck and the walking belt.

  Routine service is the single best thing we can do to keep that treadmill running right and not need extensive repairs.  Every 6 months, a competent professional should spend an hour taking the machine apart, inspecting, cleaning, and lubricating.  It's like changing the oil in a car:  It's easy and cheap, unless it is not done, and then stuff gets expensive real fast.
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  • Home
    • Contact
    • Synrgys Solutions. About us.
    • Mission.
  • Service.
    • Virtual Service Calls >
      • Virtual Service Call Prep
    • Overall Service Schedule >
      • Schedule Bloomington Normal
      • Schedule Quad Cities
    • Treadmill Repair. >
      • Treadmill Repair Bloomington, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Champaign, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Urbana, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Charleston, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Coal Valley, Il
      • Treadmill Repair Danville, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Decatur, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair East Moline, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Effingham, IL
      • Treadmill Repair Galesburg, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Kankakee, IL
      • Treadmill Repair Mattoon, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Milan, Il
      • Treadmill Repair Moline, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Normal, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Peoria, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Quad Cities
      • Treadmill Repair Rock Island, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Silvis, IL.
      • Treadmill Repair Toledo,OH.
      • Treadmill Repair Dayton,OH.
      • Treadmill Repair Upper Arlington,OH.
      • Treadmill Repair Perrysburg,OH.
      • Treadmill Repair Fort Lauderdale, FL
      • Treadmill Repair Jacksonville, FL
      • Treadmill Repair St. Augustine, FL
    • Synrgys Solutions Service Reviews & Treadmill Repair Forum.
    • Treadmill Movers. Installation. Assembly.
  • Marine
    • Marine Sweden
  • Products
    • Residential Fitness Equipment
    • SportsArt Equipment >
      • SportsArt ECO-NATURAL™ >
        • What is ECO-NATURAL™?
        • ECO-NATURAL™ Line >
          • OL C576R
          • OL T656
          • OL N685
          • OL V886
          • OL C576U
          • OL E876
      • SportsArt ECO-POWR™ >
        • What is ECO-POWR™?
        • ECO-POWR™ Line >
          • OL G690
          • OL G886
          • OL G576U
          • OL G876
          • OL G576R
          • OL G510
      • SportsArt SENZA™ >
        • What is SENZA™?
        • SENZA™ Line >
          • Status SENZA™ >
            • OL C576R-16
            • OL T656-19
            • OL V886-16
            • OL C576U-16
            • OL E876-16
          • Other SENZA™ >
            • SportsArt T655L-19
            • SportsArt E845S Elliptical Trainer
            • Product T645
            • SportsArt E875-19
            • Product T645 LED
            • SportsArt T645 Treadmill
      • SportsArt Lineup >
        • SportsArt C510
        • SportsArt G845 Elliptical Trainer
        • SportsArt A991 Adjustable Bench FID
        • SportsArt DF205 Dual Bicep Tricep
        • SportsArt C535R Recumbent Bike
        • SportsArt DS972 Functional Trainer
        • SportsArt G545R Eco Powr Recumbent Bike
        • SportsArt A983 Smith Machine
        • SportsArt A995 Crunch Bench
        • SportsArt A993 Hyperextension
        • SportsArt A994 VKR Chin Dip
    • LifeSpan Fitness equipment >
      • Workplace Fitness Equipment >
        • Product E2i
        • LifeSpan Fitness TR5000i Treadmill
        • Product TR5500i
        • Product TR6000i >
          • Product TR6000iTEST
        • Product TR4000i
      • Body Solid Fitness Equipment >
        • Body Solid Olympic Rubber Bumper Plate Set
        • Body Solid Olympic Cast Iron Weight Plates
      • Fitness Accessories
    • Treadmills
    • G-Plates >
      • G Plate Vibration Plate.G Mini.
      • G Plate Vibration Plates. >
        • G Plate Home & Light Commercial Whole Body Vibration Equipment. >
          • G Mini Home Whole Body Vibration Equipment.
    • Helix Lateral Trainer. >
      • Helix Lateral Trainer. HLT3000.
      • Helix Lateral Trainer. HLT3500.
      • Helix Lateral Trainer. Quote Request.
    • Hotels and Hospitality
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    • Fitness. Cardio.
  • Service Request.
  • Request a Quote
  • FAQs
  • Warranty
    • Return Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Synrgys Speak
  • Subscribe to Synrgys Podcasts. Free Loot For You.
  • Free Custom Layout & Design Service.
    • Multi-Family Fitness Room Refit
  • LifeFitness Center Trial SportsArt C510
  • Lifespan
    • OL LifeSpan Treadmill Mat
    • OL LifeSpan C3-DT5 Bike Desk
    • OL LifeSpan CT-DT3 Under Bike Desk w/ Console
    • OL LifeSpan Unity Junior Pedal Desk
    • OL LifeSpan TR5000-DT7 Treadmill Desk
    • OL LifeSpan TR5000-DT5 Treadmill Desk
    • OL LifeSpan TR5000-DT3 Under Desk Treadmill
    • OL LifeSpan TR1200-DT7 Treadmill Desk
    • OL LifeSpan TR1200-DT5 Treadmill Desk
    • OL LifeSpan TR1200-DT3 Under Desk Treadmill w/ Bluetooth
    • OL LifeSpan Solo Under Desk Bike
    • OL LifeSpan Airsoft Standing Board
    • OL LifeSpan PD1000 MyStride Activity Monitor
    • OL LifeSpan BPM 1000i Blood Pressure Motor
    • OL LifeSpan Treadmill Belt Lubricant
    • OL LifeSpan SP1000 Stretch Partner
    • OL LifeSpan Unity Bike Desk
    • OL LifeSpan C5i Upright Bike
  • Consent to receive SMS Form
  • Service. Spring Clean Up 2025
  • The Abs Company