If you are considering buying a stair lift, or an electric chair lift and are wondering what kind of maintenance you will be looking at after the purchase, you are in the right place here. You will learn about the three tips to make sure that your stair lift is properly maintained, saving you money on repairs, and lasting you many years to come. The three stairlift maintenance tips are: Battery maintenance tip, Rail or track maintenance tip, and the Seat and the car maintenance tip. Let’s look at them individually.
Battery maintenance tips
Most of today’s stair lifts are electric motor and battery powered. There is really not much maintenance on batteries with modern types of electric stair lifts. The batteries are sealed up. A couple of things you want to pay attention to: Batteries are on the “continuous recharge” program, meaning, whenever the stairlift docks upstairs or downstairs, the battery starts to charge itself. Pay attention to any audible or visual signal from your control display when landing. It could mean that the battery has not begun charging for some reason. Surely, you can not allow that to happen as the battery will eventually run out of power. When you make sure that the battery is on the “continuous recharge” program, you will maximize the life time of the battery, and in case of the AC power failure, your stair lift will still be operating for dozens of trips.
Rail maintenance
This is fairly easy. Keep the rail clean. Be sure that, once a month, you vacuum the rail. There can be dust, particles, solids, that could clog the wheel pathways. So make sure that does not happen and vacuum once a month. For outdoor stairlifts, removing of dirt is even more important to do, and you’ll want to vacuum or sweep the rail several times a month.
Chair lift seat and car maintenance
There is really not much to do here. Dust and wipe the seat just like any other seat in the house. The car, in which the electric motor mechanism is stored, similarly requires little or no maintenance. The only part where you might want to have a professional inspection done once a year, is the drive/lift mechanism. The rack and pinion, or cable, regardless. These are the most vulnerable, mechanical parts of the stair lift. Due to friction, and depending on the carrying weight, and frequency of operation, these mechanical parts may wear out. So once a year professional inspection could prevent any future surprises or failures of worn out parts in the drive/lift mechanism. If you are so inclined, you could arrange for a stairlift maintenance contract with a local distributor or dealer to perform annual stair lift maintenance service for your stairlift.