Handicap Stair Lift - Taking You Up and Down Your Stairs

Handicap stair lifts are a blessing to physically handicapped people. They help physically disabled people to move up and down the stairways of their house or office without much effort. Stair chair lifts are available for both indoor and outdoor use.  In the absence of handicap stair lifts, it is a stressful activity for physically handicapped people to climb the steps to carry out their daily needs. Otherwise they have to resort to the help of caretakers to climb the stairs. Stair chair lifts for straight stairways, curved stairways and even complex stairways are now available in the market. Stair lifts are also known as chair lifts or stair gliders.

A handicap stair lift mainly consists of a chair to carry the handicapped person. This chair with arms and footrest is called a carriage.   There will be a rail which is mounted on the steps of the stairways. The carriage will be attached to the rail and the stair lift climbs the stair way by moving along the rail. For rotating the carriage at curves, manual or electrical powered swivels are provided with the seat to rotate at 45 degrees or 90 degrees. Some stairlift chairs can be used as indoor wheelchairs. Outdoor stairlifts are similar to indoor stairlifts but they are provided with better weatherproofing.

Earlier stair lifts had only AC driven motors. The problem with these chair lifts was that they could not be used at the time of power failure. To overcome this drawback modern stair chair lifts are provided with motors that are powered by rechargable batteries which use direct current. The controls of most of the handicap stair lifts are provided at the armrest so that even people with limited mobility can easily control the stairlift.

Now handicap stair lifts with infrared remote control facility are available in the market. Some stairlifts are provided with obstruction sensors to provide maximum safety to the stairlift user. Normal straight stair lifts have a speed ranging from 0.07 m/s to 0.15 m/s. Reliable and branded stairlifts have a life of 20 years.  Considering the requirements of stair lift users, various models of stairlifts with different features have been introduced in the market by stairlift manufacturers. Bruno, ThyssenKrupp Access, and Savaria Concord are some of the leading stairlift manufacturers who provide various models of stairlifts in the world market.