Congratulations - that quietness is key to your enjoyment and the continuing proper functioning of the treadmill, and why I really like recommending the Smooth to people who really want a fold-up treadmill, since they're built so strongly to overcome the usual creakiness that develops after a year or two of steady use of lesser fold-up treadmills.
To people like myself with an engineering mindset, a well-designed machine is a thing of beauty.
I didn't know you were in Texas, I really enjoyed the year I spent there, the women are beautiful, the people are really nice, (startlingly so for someone from helL.A. ;-) ) but I know what you mean about the heat. If not for that and the winter, I would probably have moved there.
Some things that will help your machine last longer are;
1. Stand on the side rails when starting the belt moving. standing on the walk belt before it starts moving causes the machine to pull more current to overcome your (lack of) inertia and will gradually (over a long series of uses) burn the commutator in the electric drive motor. If you're unlucky and it happens to the same spot many times, you can ruin the commutator to the point that it will need to be heavily resurfaced or even replaced.
2. Use a surge protector, but even more importantly, cut the connection by unplugging the unit completely or via a switch that controls that wall plug.
Since you're in Texas and have real weather compared to the breezes we get here in CA, you may already know this, but a lot of people don't understand that a power surge can travel past a surge protector even before the breaker or fuse cuts the circuit and can damage the circuit boards inside your treadmill, even if the treadmill is turned off and powered down.
And as your treadmill gets older and the supply of circuit boards gets smaller, they also get more expensive.
The cheapest circuit boards will run you at least $100, on up to a really old machine (a Trotter, 20 years old) I worked on once that the manufacturer quoted me $1000 to replace. The reason it cost so much is because they would have had ONE made to order, (zero in stock) instead of benefiting from an economy of scale when the machine was first manufactured and they had the circuit board design company make a thousand of them or whatever. (No treadmill manufacturers make their own circuit boards, all contract with companies to have them made.)
It was a shame, because it was a great old machine, drive motor bigger than anything I had seen before that, overbuilt to the point of ridiculousness. The thing was a tank. But even if I had made a circuit board for it myself, (and I wasn't allowed to do that by the company I worked for a the time) all the replacement parts were discontinued, so I had to advise the owner that he was really better off just buying a new one despite my enthusiasm for it, and disagreement with our society's throw-it-away-and-get-a-new-one predisposition.
3. Keep it Clean. When you're not using it, covering it with a dust cover is an excellent idea, especially if it's stored in a dusty area. The walk belt is impregnated with lubrication, and dust will adhere to it, causing more drag than it should have, which will cause it to pull more current from the wall to compensate for the extra drag, which will cause the wires carrying the current to heat up, which will slowly damage the circuit board, and in extreme cases will also damage the drive motor, heating and de-magnetizing the magnets in the motor. When vacuuming in the same room as the treadmill, ALWAYS cover the treadmill to keep dust from getting inside the treadmill.
4. Never use any type of cleaning fluid on the walk belt. If the walk belt becomes discolored or gets dirty, use only a wet rag to clean it, as cleaning fluids, soap, etc, will dry out the belt and interfere with the lubrication built into the walk belt.
Wow, I do get going, don't I? Well, I'm also going to post these tips to my website, ExeRepair.com
Enjoy! Eric
