What is a stairlift?
Stair lifts sometimes known as stairs lift, Chair lift, Mobility lift,is a device that takes a person from the ground floor to the 1 st floor.
A stair lift is not fixed to the wall and therefore does not need a solid or structural wall to fix it to. A straight stair lift or chairlift is used for a straight flight of stairs. A stair lift consists of 3 main parts 1 the rail 2 the carriage or motor and 3 the seat. The rail is made from extruded alumimium and a gear rack fixed to the aluminium rail. Next is the carriage which comprises of a 24 volt dc motor a circuit board and a gear box this is very small and compact weighing typically about 15 kg last of all is the seat and footplate sometimes as one item or sometimes 2 seperate pieces which is mounted to the carriage.
There are then 2 types of seats available 1 which is a manual swivel and the other is a powered swivel the first as the name suggests has a manual seat which means that the user must unlock the seat by means of a lever on either side of the chair and rotate the seat manually to get off the stairlift the second as the name also suggests has a powered swivel which has a motor under the seat and after the stair lift stops at the top the seat will then automatically rotate 90 degrees making it safer for the user to get off the chair lift safely.The power is supplied by 2 12 volt 7 ah batteries which are constantly charged when the lift is not in use.
A retractable seat belt also makes using the chair lift safer should a stairlift have 2 users remote controls are also supplied enabling others to call or send the lift to either floor should there be a door near the bottom of the stairs there is also a powered hinge available which enables the user to send the lift away from the door and part of the rail to fold away enabling the door to be used freely.