Lighting Maintenance and Storage

Lighting towers require the most attention for maintenance and need more storage space than nearly all other types of lighting equipment. Since they are often the most expensive lighting option, you’ll want to establish regular checks and maintenance procedures to ensure they work as intended.

Always make sure to consult your manual and follow the directions of the manufacturer for specific inspections and maintenance guidelines.

Establishing Regular Inspections

Light towers are often used daily and then are stored until they are needed again on a jobsite. To better maintain your towers, you should implement a consistent maintenance and inspection schedule.

Establish the following checklist with signatures so that it’s easy to verify that each of these tasks were completed.

Daily Inspections

Daily inspections should be conducted when the light tower is turned off and cooled down from use. Often this means the inspections are done prior to use instead of after a long day on the job. These inspections should include the following tasks:

• Check fluid levels, including coolant, fuel, and oil
• Verify there are no leaks
• Check that the electrical wiring is secure, with no exposed wires
• Conduct a brief mechanical check of the hardware and individual components
• Verify there are no chips around bolt heads and that there is nothing loose on the tower
• Clean each lens and reflector

Once a tower is set up, do a quick check to ensure everything is running properly, including listening for any sounds that indicate there is a problem.

If you hear anything unusual, it could be a sign that there is something wrong and the tower needs a closer inspection to find the problem causing the noise.

Weekly, Monthly, and Annual Inspections

Light towers can be put through similar inspections as vehicles, making it fairly straightforward to complete. Depending on how often they are used, you can conduct inspections weekly or monthly.

Plan to inspect the battery based on the manual’s recommendations, but you should replace it every two or three years to ensure it doesn’t die when you need it to be fully functional.

Weather Checks

Both hot and cold conditions can create additional problems. Be aware if weather conditions necessitate additional maintenance to the light towers. A special winter fuel is required when working in cold weather. You can use coolant heaters to help keep the machine warm during colder conditions.

At the other extreme, when conditions are particularly hot, you will want to keep dirt and dust away from the radiator. You can establish a schedule to clean the radiator a couple of times a week.

General Maintenance

A majority of light towers have internal diesel or gasoline powered generators, so those power sources will need the same kind of care and maintenance that is dedicated to vehicles. You should also ensure regular cleaning of the fuel cap so that pressure isn’t lost during use.

The light bulbs are the other important component that require regular maintenance. The types of bulbs you use will determine some aspects of the maintenance. For example, metal-halide lamps require bulb replacements more often than LED lights.

Maintaining and Storing Other Lights

Other types of lighting will require their own checks and maintenance. Typically, you can follow the maintenance recommendations by the manufacturers, and include regular daily and storage checks. You don’t want your workers to be using a headlamp, floodlight, or flashlight when the lights die. Usually, it will be a minor inconvenience, but you will still lose time and productivity while the workers replace bulbs, batteries, and other components. It’s an easy problem to avoid by simply conducting regular inspections of the lenses and replacing other components after so many hours of use or a set length of time (whether or not they are used).

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