HySecurity SlideDriver 15 in Sunrise: Gate Stuck Open Four Days

Cause, fix and prevention

What caused it: The silicone layer on the rollers broke down and spread in pieces through the operator housing, mixed with dirt and debris.

How we fixed it: Cleared the debris first, fitted two new rollers, confirmed the motor ran clean, then vacuumed and wiped the interior before closing it up. Under two hours from arrival to a working gate.

How to prevent it: Have the rollers checked on a maintenance visit before the silicone starts peeling. If a roller does shed, the housing has to be cleaned out before new rollers go in, because leftover pieces ruin the new ones.

Why was the commercial gate stuck open for four days?

The call was short. Their gate was not working and they wanted it fixed today. No model, no history, no description of what the operator was doing. Just urgency, and a good reason for it. The gate had been stuck open for four days and the property had been paying for a security guard overnight to cover an entrance that would not close. Their regular vendor had been called and had not come out.

We were on site twenty minutes after that call.

What was inside the HySecurity SlideDriver 15?

The operator was a HySecurity SlideDriver 15, model 222 SS ST, a hydraulic slide gate operator rated for gates up to 1,500 lb. When the cover came off, the inside was full of silicone fragments mixed with dirt and debris. Not a film, not residue. Loose pieces spread through the housing.

The rollers are metal wheels with a silicone layer around them, the way a tire sits on a rim. That layer had broken down and come apart inside the machine, and the pieces were everywhere.

The plate on this unit reads November 2018. The manager said it went in about three years ago, which means it sat somewhere before it ever moved a gate. Silicone does not wait for you to start using the machine.

Why not just replace the rollers?

Running the motor in that condition was not an option.

So the sequence was: clear the debris out first, fit two new rollers, confirm the motor was running clean, then vacuum the interior and wipe it down properly before closing it up.

Did the cleanout cost extra?

The cleaning was not billed. It took real time, and it was not the reason they called. It went on the invoice as nothing because it was the difference between a repair that holds and a repair that fails on its own leftovers.

When the cover went back on, the customer looked at the inside of the machine and said it was shining. Four days of a paid guard, closed out in an afternoon.

Why does the housing have to be cleaned before new rollers go in?

Anyone can drop two new rollers in. The part that gets skipped is what is already sitting in the housing. Leave one piece of that old silicone behind and it finds its way into a new roller and ruins it, and the gate is down again in a few weeks. Now the customer has paid twice for the same failure. That is why the motor gets cleaned out before anything new goes in, and why that part is not on the invoice. It is not extra work. It is the work.

Why do silicone gate rollers break down in South Florida?

Silicone that holds up fine in a mild climate does not get a mild climate here. Once that layer starts to peel off the roller it tears apart fast, and the pieces end up loose inside a machine that is still running.

Commercial gate stuck open in Sunrise?

Gate stuck open, motor running rough, or a vendor who stopped answering? Call Gate Core Automation at 954-310-6669. We service commercial gates across Broward and Palm Beach.