Routine cleaning and maintenance

Almost every expensive vending machine failure is a cheap maintenance job that was skipped for a year.

At every restock

• Wipe the screen and the glass. A smeared screen costs you sales in a way that is invisible in your reports.
• Clear the delivery bin and check the flap moves freely.
• Wipe down the card reader and the keypad.
• Look along each lane from the side for anything leaning or double-loaded.
• Check the cabinet exterior — a scuffed, fingerprinted machine reads as abandoned.

Monthly

• Clean the condenser coils and filter if the machine is refrigerated. This is the single most important maintenance item on any refrigerated machine.
• Check the door seal for damage and that it closes evenly all the way round.
• Test the note and coin acceptors with real money, and clean their paths.
• Test-vend a few lanes across different trays.
• Check the levelling feet are still solid — machines walk slightly over time.

Why the condenser matters so much

A refrigerated machine rejects heat through its condenser coils. When those coils are blanketed in dust, the compressor runs longer and hotter to hold the same temperature. That raises the power bill immediately, shortens the compressor's life substantially, and eventually the machine simply cannot hold temperature on a hot day — which is exactly when you least want to lose it.

Cleaning coils takes a few minutes with a brush and a vacuum. Replacing a compressor does not.

Quarterly

• Inspect coils for bends and wear, and replace any that are visibly distorted.
• Check all cable connections for anything that has worked loose through vibration.
• Verify the machine's time and time zone are still correct.
• Review your jam and failed-vend log by lane, and act on anything that repeats.
• Do a full physical stock count against the platform.
• Confirm the machine's software is current.

Keep a log

Record what you did, when, and to which machine. It takes seconds and it pays for itself twice: you can see which machines are becoming expensive, and it is evidence when a warranty claim depends on the machine having been maintained.