5 Important Points To Look Out For In Your Stair Lift

The stair lift is a marvelous invention that has helped countless elderly people regain their mobility across different level floors of their homes. The idea is simple enough. You install a rail to the side of the stairwell that can have a chair attached to it. The chair can be driven by electric motor to ride from the bottom to the top or vice versa. Anyone sitting in the chair will be transported comfortably and safely from one floor to another.

The stair lift mechanism is not overly complicated, but there are a number of moving parts and important points that you need to be aware of to maintain your stair lift in the very best order possible. Other points to note are important when buying your chair lift. Some of them involve safety and some simply make your life a lot easier. Here then are 5 important points to look out for in your stair lift.

1. The brakes on your chair lift are an important feature. It how you stop moving should you need to for any reason. The brakes should be well made and made from materials of high quality. Stair lift brakes can be either electronic of mechanical. The best lifts have both installed. This will give you a valuable backup should one system fail for any reason.

2. Knowing how you will stop is important, but you do have to be able to move too. The controller is the device that enables the stair lift to climb the stairs. Controllors can be remote controls and can be mounted at the foot and top of the stairwell. They can also be mounted on the lift itself, which is probably the best solution. If your controller is a remote control device, check the condition of the batteries regularly to ensure  continuous working.

3. A good stair lift should have a seat belt. Falling out of the seat halfway up the stairs is not an experience that anyone wants. Seat belts should come supplied with the unit, but if not they can be purchased separately. Be sure to make certain that the belt is fitted securely to the seat and that it fits properly around you.

4. The chair part if the lift should be moveable and capable of swivelling in such a way that access to the chair for both mounting and dismounting is as smooth and easy as possible. Of course, the chair should not swivel while in motion, so be sure that it can lock in position too.

5. A good stair lift should have sensors to be aware of any obstruction that may be encountered in the stairwell. Should the lift encounter and obstruction as it moves up the stairwell, it should slowly come to a halt. It will not be able to proceed until the obstruction is removed, though it will of course be able to reverse its direction to return to where it started from.