Our automatic villa gate is getting slow and juddery in the heat — what does gate-motor maintenance actually involve?

Slow, juddery and stopping halfway in this heat is a very typical Dubai gate story, and most of it is environment, not a dying motor — though a proper service will tell you which.

Why they struggle here: - Sand and grit in the track and on the drive rack (sliding gates) — the motor fights the friction, draws more current, overheats and cuts out. This is the #1 cause of "slow and juddery." - Heat on the motor and the control board in an unshaded pillar — electronics and the start capacitor don't love 50°C, and a tired capacitor makes a motor labour and stall on start. - Dusty safety photocells — the beam sensors that stop the gate on an obstruction get coated in dust and misbehave, which can make the gate stop or refuse to move. - A degraded backup battery — many units run partly off a battery that's cooked after a couple of Gulf summers.

What the annual service covers: - Clean and clear the track and rack, then lubricate correctly (the right lube — grease can actually attract sand on some tracks). - Check and realign the safety photocells, clean the lenses. - Check the hinges/rollers and gate alignment — a dragging gate makes the motor work far harder than it should. - Test the manual release so you're not trapped in/out during a power cut. - Check the control board, capacitor and backup battery, and the current the motor's drawing.

When it's a pro job (don't DIY): any grinding/burning smell, a gate that won't reverse when it hits an obstruction (that safety feature must work), or mains-side electrical faults. The motor, board and mains wiring are the domain of a licensed electrician in Dubai or a gate specialist. Motor makers like Somfy also publish service intervals worth following. Nine times out of ten, though, a clean-and-service brings a juddery gate back — get it done before it fails shut in August.