This is, of course, entirely up to you. But before you make the call, let us explain what is involved with the maintenance of Rolldown Hurricane Shutter Systems. Salt and dirt are the natural enemies of shutter systems. Over time, as the salt and dirt begin to accumulate in the tracts and roller mechanisms, shutter performance will deteriorate, often to the point of stopping a shutter in its tracks. The motor gears must be lubricated, the motors are a sealed unit and cannot be opened. There are 2 points on shutters that must be lubricated at all times. First is the tracks where the slats contact inside on each side. Everyone who has Hurricane Shutters should have this spot lubricated once or twice a year. The other point is what is called a split bracket bearing, this exists only on shutters where two or more sections are operated by one motor. The purpose of this bearing is to support the weight of the reel, otherwise there would be too much flex. This part should be lubricated once every 1 to 2 years, with white lithium grease. As you can see maintenance is must living here in Florida. When you have Hurricane Shutters on every opening or just a few of your house, it should be done every year. So unless you are unwilling or unable to do it yourself, just give us a call and we will always make sure that you and your family will always be shutter safe in extreme weather conditions.

This is one more way that a Tubular Motor can malfunction. Primarily we have seen it happen with Somfy brand motors which are 1996 and older. These motors (manual override type) are equipped with push button limit switches that have a tendency to fail. The limit switches, put simply, are just what the name implies. They are an electronic switch built into the motor that actually “counts” the revolutions the motor travels until it reaches the limit that was set for the other direction. While they can be reset, we have found that once they start to malfunction, they will continue to malfunction. It may work for years more, or it may stop working the next day. At best it is a crap shoot. If you do find yourself in this situation DO NOT EVER try to get it back down by running the switch. We have seen many customers absolutely tear their Storm Shutters apart by doing this.

You more than likely have PVC shutter slat (slat is the term we use for each individual horizontal piece of the main curtain of your shutters). PVC, when installed new, was a very nice working, quiet and smooth product. Over time, it becomes weak and brittle, due mostly to the fact that it is formulated from petroleum and loses it’s elasticity to the environment. The thinnest part of the slat is called the “J” Hook, this is the part that “hooks” into the next slat above it and is the part of the slat that pulls all the weight. This is why, mainly, the slat at the top of the shutter will break. It is just a matter of time before anyone with this type of slat will suffer what we call a separation, which simply means the slat weakened and broke off.

Your Tubular Electric Motor has burned out it’s Capacitor. It will never work again without replacing it. While it’s possible to take the motor out and replace the the faulty part, this generally happens to motors that are over 10 – 12 years old (this is what we estimate to be the average life span of Tubular Motors installed in Hurricane Roll Down Shutters, of course some will last longer and others will fail sooner), we do not rebuild or offer rebuilt motors due to the fact that replacing the faulty part and re-installing the motor, the customer still has an old motor that can be prone to a host of other problems and there is no way for us to offer a warranty. We have replaced failed motors that customers have purchased as rebuilt and sad to say, sometimes purchased from companies advertising as a “new” motor, in fact, turned out to be over 10 years old. Many of these Customers who knowingly purchased a rebuilt motor, paid in the $300 to $600 range for an old, worn out motor.

There are several possibilities. The first thing to check is that your electricity is on and it is live at the switch that controls your shutter. Many times these switches are installed on circuits which contain a GFCI (this is one of those outlets that have a little reset button on them and are designed to keep you from getting electrocuted near water). While this may seem silly, we have actually had service calls where this was the only problem. Another scenario is that your electric switch may be bad, it has to be checked to make sure it is functioning properly and that there are no loose wires inside the outlet box. If these all check out, it has to be a problem at the unit itself. The shutter hood will have to be opened up and checked to see that all connections to the motor are good. One problem we have seen over the years is what we call a slat shift. Every other slat in a non-endcap shutter system (and even on endcap systems that do not have safety plates installed) should have a slat lock installed on both ends. These slat locks can be pulled off the slat or sometimes were never installed at all. This is most critical at the top slat because it is usually the only one that is out of the track. When the slat shifts too far toward the motor end, the motor wire itself can be cut by the slat. Finally if all of this checks out as not being the problem, you simply have a dead motor.

Once your Roll Down Hurricane Shutter contacts an object that you inadvertently placed underneath it, you are almost 99% sure to have caused it to malfunction. You’re Hurricane Shutter has no way to tell that you have let it down on something, so it will try to keep running until it reaches the point that it is set to stop at. This causes what we refer to as a “wrap”, the Shutter will keep running and expand into the hood. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for someone not trained, to repair this type of mishap and it can also severely damage your shutter slat. The best way to avoid this situation is to always watch you’re Shutters as you operate them. If this does happen to you, here are the steps to avoid possible damage to your Shutter and maybe a service call.