It’s perfectly reasonable after you’ve made the investment in a scale system to ask the question how long do industrial weighing scales last? The answer can vary but there are numerous things you can do to prolong the life of your industrial scale.
How Long Do Industrial Scales Last?
The best way to prolong the life of your electronic weighing scale is to take care of it. Seems pretty simple but you’d be surprised how many folks purchase a scale and immediately throw the box away. Now transporting the scale can be a problem. If they need to ship the scale to the factory under warranty repair they have no box to ship the scale. Always keep the box for at least several months.
To answer your question, a good quality industrial scale should last for many years. However, there are multiple factors involved that can lengthen or shorten this lifespan. I can’t help but remember the old Mettler Toledo 8433 retail scale. We used to sell those scales to local farmers and produce sellers every year. We were always impressed with how well those performed. In fact, I still see a 8433 in use at a strawberry farm near my home.
However, with pressure to keep prices low, the quality doesn’t seem to be as good these days on many products, not just imported scales. So, if you’re looking to buy a heavy duty industrial floor scale with the idea of it lasting for decades, we suggest you contact our sales department so we can assist you with making a quality purchase.
Price is certainly one point worth mentioning. If you are looking to purchase your scales mostly due to low prices online, you are probably going to be disappointed in the long term usefulness of your weighing equipment. Often, there are multiple corners being cut in order to build an “industrial scale” that is priced hundreds of dollars less than the reputable brands. Some online buyers figure this out early on but unfortunately many other buyers don’t learn about this until it’s too late.
Getting back on topic of how to take care of your scales… Make sure you keep your scale clean. You’d be surprised how often folks don’t clean around their floor scales or truck scales. Then all of the sudden you have buildup that gets wedged under the scale platform and your weights are now incorrect. It’s a good idea to check for this periodically.
It’s also a good idea to protect the area around your scales. If you have a truck scale, use poles or guardrails to make sure drivers don’t hit the side of your scale or drive off your scale. We actually addressed truck scale lifespan previously as well. If you have floor scales, put some angle iron or bumpers down to protect the platform scale from overzealous forklift drivers who try to make your warehouse into a speedway.
Another idea that often helps warehouses or recycling centers is to protect your homerun cables that are connected between your digital weight indicators and your floor scales. These 20 foot long cables are very important and they are notorious for getting damaged somehow. It could be a cut, getting crushed, someone trips over the cable and rips it (and the digital weight indicator) off the desk, etc… There are various ways to protect the cable. One way to do that is to use a cable armor which provides a hard shell around the cable.
It’s also a good idea to have your scales checked regularly by your local scale company. For those of you around central North Carolina, that would be Central Carolina Scale (919) 776-7737. These regular scale checks can sometimes bring things like slightly cut homerun cables or scale buildup to your attention. If scale downtime is a big deal for your business, you might want to discuss having spare parts on hand with your scale company, particularly if they don’t stock parts for your particular scale(s).
I hope this how long do industrial scales last entry has helped you. It has kind of rambled into various directions but the intent was to help you prolong the life of your industrial scale that you purchased. Whether it’s a crane scale or a truck scale or a platform scale. Be sure to contact our sales department if you need some product recommendations. We have over forty years worth of experience selling, calibrating, and repairing digital scales.