A. In order to preserve the working life of your padlocks, we recommend good housekeeping of the product. We do advertise our products as suitable for harsh outdoor working environments, but we also temper this statement by asking the customer to provide regular maintenance by way of cleaning and oiling the lock on a regular basis.
Use a soft cotton cloth to clean affected external areas and spray the keyway monthly with a silicone-based lubricate.
Areas to concentrate on are:
1. Shackle bolt retention hole
2. Shackle bolt entry hole
3. Shackle bolt
4. Combination wheels – Combination locks
5. Press the release button – Combination locks
6. Keys – Keyed locks
7. Cylinder Area (Not just keyhole) – Keyed locks
8. Body area – Both combination and keyed locks
With combination locks, history has shown us that the two areas most likely to seize are the wheels and the press release button. To ease and remove any contamination, spray some lubricant on the wheels and then swiftly turn the wheels with fingers or the recoding tool. This usually gets rid of the contamination and frees the wheels. Then spray the button area and repeatedly press the button until you can feel it move.
With keyed locks, the cylinder area is the essential area to keep clean. Apply a liberal spray of lubricant into the cylinder and on the key. Then enter the key slowly but repeatedly and turn the key repeatedly to flush out any contamination.
For more information, read our article on Lock Maintenance & How To Lubricate Locks.
Learn more about lock maintenance