Importance of routine maintenance

Importance of routine maintenance

Proper care and cleaning of your Gambino landscape lighting fixtures will keep them looking and performing their best.

By Michael Gambino

Perhaps it’s just Landscape lighting in Los Angeles with our mild climate, but always during the holiday season a flush of calls come from clients (mostly from those who do not have us service their systems on a regular basis) seeking last minute bulb changes or general maintenance of their landscape lighting systems.

Christmas eve day, myself and my crew were out working until 6PM to get most of those last minute requests satisfied. No kidding, a call came into the office December 24th at 3:30PM asking us to please come out to replace some bulbs before their company arrived at 7PM . That task could not be completed although we did get them serviced before New Years eve.

On the left is a brand new bulb on the right a wornout one. A worn bulb can lose 50% of it's output and efficiency and should be replaced when early signs of wear show whether capsule is still burning or not.

This rush for last minute service need not be. We offer after installation maintenance care and repair service for the lifetime of all of our systems. At this time 50% of our clients are set up on a normal service of 4-6 month intervals. 30% on a loose or unstructured plan basically as needed or as the client deems necessary and the other 20% will only call when there is a problem and the lights won’t turn on.

Burned out bulbs are not the only component that needs regular attention. Plants are constantly in growth and are in competition for space in your garden as they develop and mature. Plant leaves and branches allowed to grow into the path of light beams will create unsightly hot spots that detract from your systems effectiveness. Also lamp brightness, beam spreads and performance are greatly reduced.

cable that has not been attended to has been "pulled" into tree and has caused damage to both tree and cable

Tree mounted fixtures should have their mounts checked on a regular basis and cables loosened to provide for tree growth. Neglect results in both damage to tree and power cable.

Lenses can and do get dirty and significantly reduce light output, light color quality and general overall effectiveness of lamp.

Lenses can get crusted with mineral deposits and crud greatly reducing light output, color quality and performance.

It’s not always easy cleaning tempered glass lenses that have been neglected. We use straight razor blades, a moistened towel and a lot of elbow grease. We take off shrouds, grease o-ring seals, check for any signs of moisture intrusion and mitigate if need be, inspect bulb capsule and reflector for wear and replace as needed. This attention to detail keeps our systems looking their best and our clients happy.

Clean lens after all sprinkler residue and debris has been thoroughly removed from it.

The results are dramatic. Clients often report a huge gain in light output after installing fresh bulbs and a thorough lens cleaning. The system is brought back to its original condition and it looks as good as it did the day we installed it. Most times even better as plant materials have had a chance to grow and mature.

The longer a system has been neglected the longer it takes to perform a proper maintenance service. Maintenance service is charged on a time and materials basis so it never behooves a property owner to defer normal service intervals of their lighting system. Not only is their no financial advantage in doing so but the system goes without looking its best in the interim. There was an old advertising saying regarding automobile service. You can pay me now or pay me later. This same adage is true of landscape lighting systems no matter who manufactured the products and who designed and installed the system. Even with the advent and use of LED bulbs which are purported to last several years.

Landscape lighting systems will always need regular care to look their best. The more things change the more they stay the same. Mother nature will not stop her assault on your system by way of environmental conditions and weather. Gardeners and pets will not ease up on knocking fixtures around and out of aim. Plants and trees will continue to grow and mature. And lenses will continue to crust over and cut down on light output and diminish system effectiveness. Even Gambino landscape lighting systems are not immune to this.

Make system maintenance a scheduled event. It will protect your investment and keep it looking like it should.

This landscape lighting blog is published by Mike Gambino of Gambino landscape lighting inc. all rights reserved. Mike is a professional landscape lighting system designer/ builder and has been designing, installing and maintaining landscape lighting systems for more than 20 years. Mike resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife and 2 sons. To visit his website go to www.gambinolighting.com . To inquire about hiring Mike please click here .

Blog articles may be published with permission on other websites without editing or removing links.



3 Comments
  • Being a responsible Landscape Lighting System owner | Gambino Landscape Lighting
    Posted at 16:42h, 28 August Reply

    […] these routine maintenance services we also open each fixture clean and inspect, grease o-ring seals or replace as needed and touch up […]

  • Mark Carlson
    Posted at 16:21h, 08 October Reply

    Mike….you are definitely one of the leaders in our industry and your writings are very professional, informative, and offer much to all levels in this industry. Thank you for taking the time to provide this information. Great job!

  • Landscape Lighting Maintenance-Original installer? Handyman? Do-it-yourself? | Gambino Landscape Lighting
    Posted at 18:18h, 09 October Reply

    […] A proper scheduled maintenance service is not just changing light bulbs only. Timers are adjusted, glass lenses are cleaned, fixtures are properly adjusted or relocated as needed, o-rings are greased, foliage pruned away and readings are taken at the transformer to make sure everything is balanced and working electrically as it should be like we left it after the original installation. […]

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