Degausser Maintenance Guide

1. Recommended maintenance schedule

2. Daily and weekly checks in detail

Daily, before the first batch:

• Run a cycle with a known test medium and confirm the LCD reports success and, on the T-1.2, T-1.5, T-4 and T-5, the expected field strength.
• Note the reading in the destruction register. A drifting baseline is the earliest warning you will get.
• Check the drawer or slot closes cleanly and the interlock engages without forcing.
• Confirm nothing is blocking the ventilation openings.

Weekly:

• Clean media dust and metal particles from the drawer and the entry slot — metal swarf near a high-field coil is worth keeping out.
• Check the cycle counter has incremented as expected for the volume processed.
• Inspect the power lead, plug and any extension for heat discolouration.
• Confirm the machine's location is still controlled — access to a degausser is access to a sanitisation capability.

3. Quarterly tasks

• Capacitor charging test. Confirm the bank reaches and holds its rated voltage under load. A slow charge or a voltage that sags quickly is an early capacitor failure.
• Interlock function test. Confirm the machine will not pulse with the drawer open or the slot obstructed.
• Cooling. Clean filters and fan housings. In Indian ambient conditions this is the most common preventable fault.
• Environment check. Log the room temperature and humidity. The datasheet limits matter, and Indian summers are unforgiving in a non-air-conditioned store room.
• Register review. Sample the destruction register against the asset register. Gaps in the sequence are what auditors find first.
• Spares. Confirm you hold the consumables and spares recommended for your model.

4. Annual service and verification

The annual visit is the one that produces your audit evidence. It should include:

1. Full mechanical and electrical service per the manufacturer's guidance.
2. Field-strength verification with a calibrated instrument, with the reading recorded against the machine's specification.
3. A signed verification / test certificate for your records.
4. Capacitor bank health assessment, with a recommendation on remaining life.
5. Interlock and safety function re-verification.
6. Operator refresher training, with training records issued.
7. A written report with findings, and a quotation for anything needing replacement.

Keep the certificate. It is the document that lets you answer "how do you know your degausser is still effective?" — a question that is being asked more often every year, particularly in banking and government environments.

5. Common failure modes

6. Storage, transport and environment

• Room. Dry, ventilated, within the datasheet's temperature and humidity range, and access-controlled. A non-conditioned store room in an Indian summer is the most common environment-related cause of capacitor and cooling faults.
• Dust and metal. Keep the media path clean. Metal swarf near a high-field coil is a genuine hazard.
• Power. Dedicated earthed circuit. Avoid long daisy-chained extensions. Consider running the machine on the same conditioned supply as your server room rather than an unstable branch.
• Moving the machine. Capacitor banks can retain charge. Transport should be by a service engineer. After any relocation, field-strength verification is required before the machine returns to service — this is a condition of warranty on most models.
• Deployment cases. The rugged wheeled cases for the T-1, T-1.2, T-1.5, T-4 and T-5 are for transport and field use. Verify field strength after transit.

7. Maintenance records to keep for audit

• Machine make, model and serial number
• Date of every service visit and the engineer involved
• Field-strength verification readings and the specification they were checked against
• Test / calibration certificate issued
• Parts replaced, with part numbers
• Operator training records with dates
• The destruction register, showing per-cycle verification values
• Any incident where the machine was out of service, with the period affected