If you want your home atta chakki to serve you for a long time, you need to take care of it not when it gets some fault but in a systematic and planned way.
Regular upkeep and maintenance will benefit you and help you save money compared to repairs.
Today, I will explain how to maintain atta chakki at home with little to no investment.
If you are looking for an answer to questions like how do you maintain a domestic flour mill, then this article is a must-read for you.
How To Maintain Atta Chakki At Home?
Maintaining atta chakki is easy and cheap but repairing atta chakki is costly and not easy.
As an electrical engineer, I know the difference between maintenance and repair. Maintenance is a planned thing and costs less, whereas repair is always costly and done in urgency when machines like atta chakki have some problem or fault.
There are a few major factors that you should consider if you want to use your atta chakki for a long time with full efficiency.
The first and most crucial aspect is cleaning. Around 70% of atta chakki problems are due to a lack of cleaning at regular intervals and buying low-quality atta chakki.
Here is my article on the best atta chakki for home in case you want to know which are the best domestic flour mills in India that you should buy online.
1. Perfect Cleaning Of Home Atta Chakki
If you are not cleaning your atta chakki properly after every use, you are inviting unexpected faults. Cleaning is mandatory and necessary for any machine, and atta chakki is also a machine.
You can clean your home atta chakki manually and with appliances like a vacuum cleaner if it is not provided in-built with the latest atta chakki models that come with auto clean technology.
If you want to know in depth about the cleaning of atta chakki, you can read my article on how to clean atta chakki at home and follow the best practices to save time and money.
2. Regular Inspection Of Atta Chakki
You might wonder how you will inspect the atta chakki when it is closed.
I know you are confused, but I am not asking you to inspect the atta chakki(flour mill) by opening it every time.
It is not easy for you if you are not a technical person like me.
My point here is to check the conditions of the atta chakki parts that you can see without opening them, like the feeding hopper, grinding chamber, cutter blades, inlet, outlet air vents, collecting drum, drum cover, cloth, etc.
This practice will help you get an early signal from any probable fault that you can avoid or eliminate at the beginning.
Not only that, but you can also save yourself from potential hazards.
Let me give you an example.
Suppose the cutter blade(inside the grinding chamber) you inspect during cleaning has minor cracks. You will have two options for this situation.
Either you will buy the cutter blade and replace it or call the technician, and he will buy and replace it for you.
Whatever option you choose is all up to you, but you must change the cutter blade.
What if you haven’t inspected the cutter blade?
It might have broken, and in some cases, it could have damaged the motor or chamber as well.
And, what if the cracks of the blades developed more and released iron particles into your flour or atta?
All the metal particles that are released from the cracked cutter blades will mix up with your atta, and you won’t be able to know it until you get some metal particles while you chew rotis, chappatis, bread, or any dishes you have made with your flour.
Unknowingly, you will intake metal particles along with fine atta or wheat flour that is harmful to your health.
You should not ignore the scratches on the grinding chamber blades or walls. You can learn more about the reasons for the scratches on atta chakki grinder chamber.
Important: If you are scared after reading the above probable situation, let me tell you that such abnormalities only happen with cheap atta chakki or cheap domestic flour mills. That is why I highly recommend you buy quality atta chakkis for home.
Similarly, every part of the atta chakki is important, and you should take care of it by inspecting it after every use or during cleaning.
3. Noise Observation
The second best way to predict any abnormality in domestic atta chakki is to observe the noise. You will understand and recognize the noise pattern when you use or operate your home atta chakki for some time.
And when the noise slightly changes, you will be able to track changes in noise and pay attention to know the reason.
If you are observing a significant noise change in your atta chakki during operation, you must stop it immediately and try to find the cause behind the noise.
In most cases, there are specific causes of abnormal noise in a home or domestic atta chakki or flour mill.
- Motor bearing damage
- Looseness of cutter blades inside the grinding chamber
- High vibration
- Grinding chamber door looseness
- Grinding chamber cutter blade broken
- The motor cooling fan bolt loose
- Gear problem
- Jamming problem
- Any nut bolt looseness or missing
Apart from the above, other noises vary from brand to brand and design to design.
4. Electrical Check Points
Please do not try this point on your own unless you are from the electrical domain or are an electrical expert. You should periodically check the quality of the power supply to your atta chakki.
The single-phase voltage must be within the permissible limit mentioned by the manufacturer. Usually, all domestic atta chakkis are single-phase ac powered, and the voltage should be as close as 230 volts.
If your home’s supply voltage (mains supply) is too high or too low, get it corrected with a voltage regulator to avoid damage to your atta chakki.
The second protection is overload protection. Any branded atta chakki comes with inbuilt overload protection to protect the atta chakki motor and other electronic components from accidental damage due to voltage fluctuation or other electrical surges or faults.
Ensure that overload protection is provided if you plan to buy a new flour mill or atta chakki for your home.
The third protection is leakage protection or earth leakage protection. It is a crucial lifesaver. When your atta chakki gets earthed ( live wire touches the body of the atta chakki), you will get an electrical shock, and If you have earth fault protection, you will save yourself.
Always use RCCB in the mains supply and use a three-point plug that is adequately earthed in the system.
Home atta chakki or domestic flour mill has many electronic components and you will not be able to test them without tools therefore expert and skilled technician required.
5. Vibration Level Observation
When operating, any machine creates vibrations due to rotating parts like motors or gears. Domestic flour mill or atta chakki also creates some vibration during operation.
The vibration level of atta chakki is very low and mostly below the normal level. You should not worry about it.
If you have been operating an atta chakki for a long, you have a fair idea of the normal vibration level of your atta chakki.
You do not need any special vibration sensor to measure the vibration. You can feel the same by touching the atta chakki during the operation.
However, when some abnormality occurs, the vibration level changes, and you will observe the same immediately.
The most common cause I found in my research is the missing or broken nylon wheel to move the atta chakki smoothly from one location to another.
You can quickly check and replace the wheel if broken or worn out.
Another cause of vibration is unbalancing of the cutter blades. A good quality atta chakki will always have balanced cutter blades.
In simple language, if the cutter blades have four blades, all four blades will have the same weight. If the weight is not kept identical, it will damage the motor and draw a higher current.
When you buy cheap atta chakki, the manufacturer uses low-quality cutter blades, which are not precisely balanced.
Due to the unbalancing of blades, the atta chakki will have more vibration than usual.
Practically, you will not be able to check the dynamic balancing of blades, but if you want to try, you can do this.
- Open the grinding chamber and mark any cutter blade with a marker pen or simply paste a piece of paper with glue.
- Then rotate the blade with your hands and wait until the blade stops rotating.
- Check the position of where the marked blade and then do this two to three times.
If the marked blade is repeatedly coming at the same position, the blades are not dynamically balanced, and you should not buy that atta chakki.
To eliminate the cause, either replace the cutter blade with a genuine one and balanced cutter blades or buy a good quality atta chakki for home.
6. Heat Observation
Heating is also a common issue with older atta chakki, but it can also be with new atta chakki for a few reasons.
Mainly heating occurs inside the grinding chamber because it is where the actual milling process occurs.
Due to the friction between the grains, blades, and grinding chamber walls, heat is produced typically. You don’t need to worry about the heated grinding chamber walls when you touch them.
But, when you feel that the heat generation is excessive, you must identify the cause and rectify it.
The most common causes of excessive heat generation are,
- Excess material feeding in the hopper
- Grains jammed in the grinding chamber
- Wet or moisture wheat or grains
- The motor is having a speed issue
- Poor or blocked air circulation
- The motor cooling fan missing or broken
- Use of atta chakki in a confined space or non-ventilated room
Identifying and removing the cause will help your atta chakki run under normal temperature.
You can rectify some of the causes by yourself, and in some cases, you need to have expert technicians or a service team.
7. Eliminating Water Entry Or Too Much Humid Environment
This situation is rare, but you should always keep your atta chakki in a place where there is no chance of any water ingress or moisture absorption.
For example, if you keep and operate your atta chakki near the kitchen sink or near the bathroom, there is a high chance of moisture absorption inside the atta chakki.
And, once the moisture enters inside the atta chakki, you will have lots of issues like fungus or germs development, cabinet wear, motor failure, microcontroller malfunctioning or damage, etc.
Don’t believe my words?
Suppose you keep and run your atta chakki near your kitchen sink or wash basin.
You also operate it on that location only.
The moisture will enter inside the atta chakki.
How?
By condensation principle.
I am not going into a deep explanation of this scientific principle, but in short, the temperature inside the atta chakki will attract cool or normal air from outside and form water vapor inside that will further develop water deposition.
So keeping your atta chakki in a dry place will help you avoid such problems. Always have a good quality atta chakki cover for overall protection from dust, dirt, moisture and contamination.
I think there is no need to mention that you should never use water to clean any parts of your flour mill. Not even a wet cloth. Always use a dry and clean cloth for manual cleaning.
However, the atta collecting drum or vessel is an exception but make sure you use it once it dries well after washing and cleaning outside.
8. Avoid Human Errors Or Experiments
A human error means the opposite of normal operation. For example, if your atta chakki is designed only for specified grains like wheat, bajra, etc., and you are using it for hard grains like turmeric.
It is like your atta chakki is designed for dry grinding, and you are using it for wet grinding. Never try to do any experiments with your flour mill or atta chakki. It will cost you higher than you can think!
Read the operating manual of your atta chakki and follow the instructions. I have seen many people who never read the operating manual and experiment, and as a result, they got some problems and tried to claim the warranty from the atta chakki supplier or manufacturer.
But as per the warranty terms and conditions, you do not fulfill the terms and conditions, and you have to pay for the repair or replacement.
9. Scheduled Servicing
Schedule servicing is essential. I repeat, schedule servicing is necessary and essential for the efficient and uninterruptable long-life operation of your domestic atta chakki or domestic flour mill.
When you buy any atta chakki, If the manufacturer is genuine and produces quality atta chakki, they will always give you the servicing schedule along with the contact numbers of authorized service partners or service centers.
If you don’t want to do anything from the above points, the best answers to your question, How to maintain atta chakki at home is, timely service by authorized service centers.
Why should you get your atta chakki serviced as per schedule?
There are some reasons behind it: you feel useless at first instant. For example, you have a question: Why should you get your atta chakki serviced when it runs absolutely fine?
Logically, you are correct, but practically, the atta chakki needs maintenance after certain hours of operation or age, as per the manufacturer’s recommendation.
If you are not a technical person like me ( I am an electrical engineer ), you will not be able to physically check or inspect many parts of the atta chakki.
Even if you open the atta chakki, except cleaning, you cannot predict any abnormalities without proper testing of the atta chakki parts.
And, if you can’t predict the abnormalities or understand what your machine (atta chakki) needs, like maintenance or repair at an early stage, how will you save it from futuristic problems?
Most people ignore the scheduled servicing, and they spend more than double the money to get it repaired afterward.
Servicing or planned maintenance is always cheaper than repair, just like your bike, scooter, or car.
So follow the servicing schedule and always seek expert assistance for planned servicing as per the service schedule and enjoy the benefits of longer life and economical operation of your atta chakki.
It is not necessary to get your flour mill serviced by authorized service partners. You can also take the help of skilled and experienced technicians if you know someone. However, authorized service partners or service centers highly recommend the first few services.
Wrap up
So we are at the end of the article, How to maintain atta chakki at home, and I am sure you have learned something new and useful.
Getting the long life of your atta chakkis is easy and 100% possible if you understand how to maintain atta chakki at home.
Maintaining your flour mill at home is cheap and easy. It will not take much time of yours if you do it properly after every use.
You can easily maintain your home atta chakki or domestic flour mill with or without any tools or machines. It is all up to you.
I hope by this article, you have learned to keep your atta chakki free from any problems and use it with full performance for a longer duration.