The colder months are almost upon us, which means we’ll soon be seeing fewer of those beautiful sunny days and more rainy, windy, and chilly ones. If you are someone who depends on a mobility scooter to get around, the prospect of spending the upcoming winter months indoors may not be ideal.
But with a little foresight and planning now, you can help to avoid or reduce any potential risks that come with using your mobility scooter in freezing temperatures and plan ahead to keep your mobility scooter safe.
Aside from a range of mobility scooter accessories that we talked about last month, what do you need to know about protecting your mobility scooter from winter? Keep reading to find out!
1. Inspect and Maintain Your Mobility Scooter
To keep your mobility scooter safe, you’ll first need to make sure that your scooter is in proper working order. You may even want to have your mobility scooter serviced before the weather turns cold. We can help with that. Doing so will ensure that your scooter is ready to go when the winter weather hits. Additionally, if you notice any damage, you’ll want to get it repaired as soon as possible.
2. Find Safe Shelter
Storing your mobility scooter in a dry area is key. Maybe that’s in your house or in the shed. Keeping it dry will prevent the components from rusting because colder temperatures can affect your battery performance. You can use a protective cover for this.
3. Check Tyres
Regularly checking your tyres for any cracks, punctures or damage is important. We would recommend doing this on a monthly basis.
You will also have to make sure that the tyres have the right pressure— PSI is shown on the side wall of a tyre — as low tyre pressure can cause the battery to drain down very fast and can also put extra pressure on the motor.
4. Fully Charge the Battery
When looking for batteries for scooters and powered wheelchairs, a deep-cycle, sealed gel or AGM design is best. Every time you use the scooter, the battery should be fully charged, so that the performance doesn’t degrade over time. We recommend charging it overnight every night as the battery needs a minimum of 8 hours to perform a full charge.
For added protection from cold temperatures, you may want to cover the batteries with a blanket.
5. Additional Safety Precautions
Aside from storing your scooter in a dry place, charging batteries, servicing your scooter and checking tyres and using a cover to protect it from the elements, you should also specifically protect the control panel on a scooter to prevent moisture from going in.
You can also invest in a cupholder for your mobility scooter to carry a hot cup of coffee on the go this winter!
Conclusion
Winter can be a challenging time to use a mobility scooter, but there are a few ways you can help protect your scooter from the elements. You can start by inspecting your scooter, making sure everything is in working order and then specifically checking tyres, fully charging the battery and storing your mobility scooter in a dry area with a cover on it. Beyond this, you can also increase protection from the cold by using a blanket to cover up the batteries. And don’t forget to take extra safety precautions to help protect yourself and others from falling ice, snow, and low temperatures.
Check out our range of mobility scooter accessories here.
