Are you sick and tired of being forced to get out of your vehicle so as to open your gates, particularly in rainy or chilly weather? With an automatic gate, getting out of your vehicle will be a thing of the past. 

There are many types of automatic gates to choose from. Some of the commonly used types include the slide gate, swing gate, cantilever gate, vertical lift gate, barrier-arm gate and bi-folding gate. So what are the considerations when selecting an automatic gate?

Space availability: the amount of availability of space on each side bordering the gate will determine the type of automatic gate you select. For a facility situated in rural areas where there's a lot of space, almost any type of automatic gate may be used. For facilities situated in congested urban areas where space is limited, you may be restricted to only a few choices for automatic gates.

Opening and shutting speed: Diverse applications call for different opening and shutting speeds. Although slow opening speeds may be good enough in residential and some business applications, they are completely undesirable in high-traffic industrial applications, for example at an airport of distribution warehouse. Slow opening speeds may result in traffic backups as well as user frustration. What's more, slow closing speeds may also promote tailgating as well as other security breaches.

Duty Cycle: How many times will be gate be opened and shut every day? This is another important consideration to take into account when picking an automatic gate. A number of gate operators configured for residential use can only be opened and shut a dozen times each day or even less. If you install these types of gates in an industrial setting where the gate is cycled countless times everyday, you will see them fail quickly.

Gate construction: Basically incorporating an automatic gate operator to an existing gate that was initially configured for manual operation may be a big mistake. In other words, ensure your gate is specifically configured for automatic operation. Please note that certain types of bearings, rollers and other hardware are normally required to make an existing gate function reliably using an automatic gate operator.

If you are unsure what type of automatic gate to use, you can engage the services of a professional security consultant or engineer like Greg James Garage Doors to help you evaluate your requirements and to choose the correct product.

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