Stairlifts - Different Types and What They Do

Stairlifts are brilliant inventions which started being sold around the 1930s and have been sold ever since, constantly improving and helping people more. A stairlift is a device that allows somebody to be transported from floor to floor on a chair that is built onto the wall or staircase. These lifts are really so helpful for people that suffer from diseases such as polio. Any kind of injury or illness that causes you pain when climbing stairs can be helped by the use of stairlifts.

These devices are produced so that you don’t have to put up with the pain of walking up and down stairs, they are also produced so that you can access all areas of your home or other building. There are a couple of different types of stairlifts but it shouldn’t be too hard to identify which type you need. The 2 types are Straight stairlifts and curved stairlifts.

Straight stairlifts are fitted onto staircases that are straight and contain no bends. The chairs are fitted onto straight rail tracks that are fitted to the steps, which allow the stairlift to glide up and down the stairs along the rail. These types of stairlifts are the cheapest and easiest to install.

Curved stairlifts are quite a bit different from the ordinary straight ones. These are a lot more expensive and also take a lot longer to install. These kinds of stairlifts take a lot longer to install because of the fact that they need to be custom built to meet the needs of the staircase. If you need your stairlift to go around curves and corners then you are likely to need one of these. All curved stairlifts are different because each persons stairs and requirements are different so the stairlift needs to be manufactured to fit. A few other stairlift types are wheelchair platform stairlifts, outdoor stairlifts and pre-owned stairlifts.

You may wonder “how reliable are these stairlifts?” which is definitely what you should be thinking because if you are paying however much money to get one installed you will need to know that it is going to last. Also you don’t really want anything to happen whilst you or anyone else is on the stairlift. These taken into consideration good stairlifts can survive up to 20 years plus.

The good thing about most stairlifts is that they come fitted with a cut-out switch which will stop the stairlift from moving if anything seems to be going wrong with it, also some stairlifts come with special sensors fitted which can tell if something is in the way of the lift, if there is something in the way the chair will stop, meaning you will not have a collision.

Another thing you must consider when getting a stairlift is what type of power supply you wish to have. You can run them from the mains or from batteries. There are a few disadvantages to running your stairlifts from the main power supply because if there is ever a power cut your lift will not be able to operate until power is restored, you can get round this by getting a backup battery supply installed into your stairlift which will help but can be more expensive. The disadvantage to running your stairlifts completely off of a battery is that the batteries are expensive if a new one is required. Therefore you need to decide which kind of power supply you will need carefully and take all the advantages and disadvantages into consideration.

I hope this article has helped you a bit on deciding which stairlifts will suit you best.