Stairlifts can be dust magnets what is the best method and products to use to clean your stairlift. Cleaning your stair lift should be a simple straight forward job. A quick dust down twice a week with a cloth duster or feather duster should be more than adequate.

Avoid using water or cleaning solvents at all costs. For straight stairlifts with aluminium tracks/rails can be wiped over with a damp cloth (Damp Not Wet) Then buff dry with a clean cloth.

The chair seat/carriage can be cleaned using standard house polish! Spray the house polish onto the cleaning cloth then rub and buff to a shine. (Never spray the polish directly onto the chair/carriage)

Spraying house polish directly onto the carriage may well cause damage to components and circuit boards. If too much polish is applied it can find its way (Drip) through air vents and gaps etc. Causing S/C Short Circuits or corrode delicate components on the PCB printed circuit board.

Curved stairlift rails/tracks should never be cleaned with any type of solvents. Avoid house polish and DWD (Engineering oils) like the plague. Curved stairlifts use a system where the speed of the stairlift is monitored using an RMU! A roller sits on the rail and as your stairlift moves this roller rolls along the rail sending pulse information to the operating system.

Cleaning the curved rail with solvents will cause the roller to lose friction and skid. This action causes the stair lift to receive wrong pulses and the stair lift will stop/shutdown. Typical symptoms intermittent stop starting! The stairlift will travel a few inches then stop. This symptom could also be caused through flat batteries.

If you have to remove marks from the rail a good rub with a damp cloth should remove most marks. For stubborn marks a light rub with wire wool or light gauge emery paper is all that is required. The rail should appear matt/ dull not a shiny gloss colour.

Cleaning of your stair lift and rail should be undertaken by qualified engineers who should clean and lubricate the stairlift following the manufacturer's specification and guidelines on its annual service inspection.

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As we get older it is only natural that our bodies start to slow down. Unfortunately this means that simple tasks such as climbing the stairs can become more of a challenge. There is no need to struggle however. The installation of a stairlift can make day-to-day life a lot easier and give any elderly person a much needed sense of freedom.

For many elderly people deciding to install a stairlift may not come easily. Installing such equipment can be an admission that they are now old. That is why family can play a very important role in ensuring they improve their life with the necessary facilities.

If someone you know is elderly try to think forward about what they need in advance. The stairlift is often bought too late, after months of physical discomfort for the potential user. If you do not know whether a friend or family member needs a stairlift installed within their home, remember that there are benefits that they could enjoy instantly.

The tempo of your life decreases with old age, but this does not mean that your complete lifestyle must be adapted in general. Keeping routine and normality for your elderly friends and family can be achieved with the installation of a stair lift. Simple acts such as sleeping in their own bed on the first floor and using the main upstairs bathroom can be accomplished with ease. A stairlift can help ensure that the money you would usually spend making home improvement will be saved. It will not be necessary to build a ground floor bedroom for example.

Also when you install a stairlift your elderly relatives can continue with household chores that may have otherwise been a struggle. A stairlift could also be used to transport a basket of washing or a heavy hoover from floor-to-floor. Elderly relatives could also benefit from something as seemingly trivial as making breakfast and being able to take it upstairs to bed to enjoy!

Many families use stairlifts to improve the lives of their relatives

categories: stairlifts, family, elderly healthcare, health, mobility

If you have problems with mobility and let's face it! If you own a stairlift then good chance you're not the fastest thing on two legs. The stairlift will glide you up and down stairs with no effort at all but a major concern with stairlifts is the mounting and dismounting from the stairlift chair.

All modern stairlifts come with a Seat Swivel option. Manual seat swivel or Powered seat swivel. The manual seat swivel requires the user to have some amount of strength in their lower legs to allow them to push shuffle the chair seat round into the swivel position.

Not such a good idea for someone with limited mobility issues. The automatic seat swivel chair is motorised and once the chairlift travels to the top of the stairs the seat will automatically swivel round into the correct position for easy dismount.

Another advantage of the seat swivel option! Once in the swivel position it now acts as a safeguard barrier and it is virtually impossible for the user to fall down the steep staircase. Ideal for people with balance disorders and elderly frail users who are not to steady on their legs.

Once the stairlift is in the seat swivel mode the electrical circuits are isolated hence the chairlift will not be able to function until the chair has been reset into its safe travelling position.

The powered seat swivel option is an extra addition and therefore may cost a little extra but is good money well spent. If you feel your mobility issues could get worse in time and you may need the powered swivel option in the future ensure the model you buy can be easily adapted to accommodate the motorised seat swivel mechanism.

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