It is true that safe locks are generally forgotten about until the lock fails. And like the buttered side of freshly toasted bread seems to always land on the floor butter side down, the failed safe lock happens when the door is closed and securely locked. Getting your safe locks serviced regularly will save time, money, and aggravation.
The question is one of frequency. How often does the lock benefit from being serviced? The answer is the old adage; It depends.
It depends on where the safe is located. Temperature and humidity levels will affect the special lubrication used in the safe lock. Lubricants dry out over time and loose the ability to keep the parts moving smoothly.
It depends on how often it is used. Safes that are installed in commercial locations are subject to much use and abuse. Chemicals and vapors from those chemicals that are used on location will eventually find a way into the safe and the lock. Damage occurs to the dial from wheeled carts and product dollies.
These and other factors will cause the mechanical safe lock to fail at some point. Even safes located in less problematic locations will need servicing, although not as often.
The lock shown in the photo here is an example of a high use safe lock that never was serviced since its date of manufacture. Note the large deposit of brass shavings at the bottom of the lock case. This lock was near catastrophic failure.
We got to it before it could fail completely. The parts were worn beyond a simple cleaning and lubrication. The dial spindle bearings (not shown) were worn down enough that the dial was becoming hard to rotate. A few more weeks, maybe months, it would have failed completely. Our technician replaced the lock with a new unit, checked, cleaned, and applied fresh lubricant to the bolt mechanism. It is back in service. Our customer will be calling us out once a year to change the combination and to clean it each time.
Give ApexAccess a call to schedule a safe service check on your safe soon. Our phone number and shop hours are shown on our home page.