An ounce of prevention, anyone?

Friday, September 11, 2009 by Jae Jin Park

Let me ask you a question: Do you regularly change the oil in your car? How about the air filter? Rotate your tires? I’m guessing many of you would answer “yes, of course” to these questions because you recognize these to be simple ways to protect your investment and extend the life of your vehicle.
So let me ask you another question: Do you regularly clean the air filter of your projector? Give your amplifiers a good scrubbing? How often do you clean your console? If you’re now asking yourself, “Do I really have to do that?”, then please stop reading this blog and give me a call. We need to talk. The answer, of course, is a resounding Yes.

Maintenance on your audio, video and lighting gear can be easily overlooked, but it’s a critical factor in the performance and life expectancy of your equipment. For example, if you don’t clean the air filters of your projector, it will run over the normal operating temperature, constantly kick on the cooling fan, and will eventually shut down. (I’ve even seen lamps burst once the projector is turned back on after a shut down. It’s no fun cleaning out a projector from 25ft above the auditorium.) Granted, some products today are intelligent enough to power down to prevent further collateral damage. That’s great for the equipment, but not so great when this happens in the middle of a baptism video or at the beginning of your video pastor’s message. An ounce of prevention is much better than a “pound” from your lead pastor.  Recently, I had the opportunity to service one of our client’s consoles. The fader was sticking (as if it were sliding on sand) and didn’t go to its proper place when a scene was recalled. When all was said and done, I had to replace multiple faders which, unfortunately, cost our client money – money not budgeted for repair costs. An ounce of prevention would have saved more than a pound of cure; it would have saved time and money. As it is with vehicle maintenance, if you are consistently running in a severe condition, you’re going to perform maintenance often.
So spend a little to save a lot. Treating the cause before the symptoms appear will not only improve the health of your equipment but of your bank account as well.