Maintenance Of Stair Lifts
Once you have purchased a new stair lift, the authorized dealer or the manufacturing company (especially if it is a major manufacturer) will offer a one-year service guarantee or warranty for the mobility device. Such a guarantee includes an inspection of the parts, particularly those involved in the lift mechanism, every six months. The whole stair lift is then serviced, an overall scrutiny, correction, and restoration, after one year. This means that the guarantee entitles the owner two inspections and one service. Aside from this, many companies have set up an “emergency call-out facility”, which is open for twenty-four hours and seven days a week.. This provides unscheduled service and repair to owners of stair lifts.
When the guarantee expires, you may be asked by the authorized company or the manufacturer whether you wanted to continue the guarantee or not for another year. If you do choose to continue with the guarantee, you will have to pay a certain amount for it. Check exactly how much you are supposed to pay and determine if your budget can still afford it.
If you do not choose to continue the guarantee, you may run the risk of spending too much on repairs and services. Of course, if the manufacturer of the stair lift has a reputation for quality, this risk could be negligible. But one drawback in not having a warranty from the original manufacturer is that some of these manufacturers do not sell or supply the parts of a stair lift to other repair engineers. These parts are exclusively available from their own outlets.
Besides, the lift mechanism involved in the stair lift is subject to friction. Friction means that, eventually, the parts will deteriorate due to heavy wear and tear. Thus, maintenance is needed, along with inspections every six months. Every half-year, a knowledgeable and licensed engineer should analyze the condition and test the functions of the stair lift. This means that you do need a guarantee after all.
The service and maintenance of a stair lift must be carried out only by a fully trained lift engineer. Not all engineers are familiar with the way the lift mechanism works and you may just put the user of the lift in jeopardy if you had the stair lift fixed by someone who is not experienced and qualified. Related to this, check the people who provide repair and maintenance service in the company’s twenty-four-hour emergency call-out facility. They should be engineers and not mere technicians. You do not want to put the life of your loved one on incapable hands.
Tags: Concord, Handicapped, Electric, Bruno, A1, Elderly, Stairlift, Chair Stairlift, Disabled, Stair Lifts
on July 18th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
I have repaired a number of these chairs for friends and family members. I have found them to be rather simple in design, but the service companies that will repair these lifts are charging entirely too much. I first serviced my grandmother’s after a company came out and charged a minimum $250 to walk in the door. The chair was inoperative in 2 weeks, and they wanted another $250 to come back out. As far as only an “Engineer” working on these, I wouldn’t need to tap into my Engineering expertise to figure these systems out. An experienced electronic/mechanical technician would be totally competent of performing maintenance on these chairs. Let’s be honest, nobody with an engineering degree is out fixing chair lifts. If the company states that they employ “Engineers”, then ask for the credentials.
on August 18th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
In reply to the post by “Biomedical Engineer”. I find the comment regarding the types of people repairing stairlifts quite offensive. I am a Diploma Certified Engineer in the UK and before moving into management I used to repair lifting platforms and stairlifts for a living. All my engineers are qualified in there own rights before joining the company and I spend a lot of time and energy ensuring that we give the highest standard of service. Product training is highly important. It only takes one mistake by someone like you who think they are better the trained engineers. The next thing you know a member of the public is lying at the bottom of the stairs because some idiot is messing around with a piece of machinery they know nothing about. There are many different diciplines of engineering. Get it out of your head that you cannot be an engineer and repair stairlifts.