When you get that long-overdue promotion, what do you do? You take the stairs two at a time! But there are a number of people who just can’t take the stairs at all. Unassisted, that is. If they happen to live in a multi-floor accommodation, then their woes are multiplied many times over. They may even consider moving to a single-floor accommodation just to avoid navigating stairways. Of all the means available to traverse stairs, the wheelchair stair lift is the most affordable and the simplest to install.

The wheelchair stair lift is the most affordable device to navigate between floors. It is installed with the existing stairway. It does not require a separate well, nor does it obstruct the normal stairway usage.

Price for a straight-running rack-and-pinion wheelchair stair lift is less than $5000. A curved stairway will lift that price to $15000. Other types of wheelchair stair lift will bring the price to $25000. Even so the price is appreciably less than that of a cage elevator for a single person, mainly because you don’t need to reconstruct anything.

All modern wheelchair stair lifts are driven by electric motors, which can be light-duty for individual use or heavy-duty for institutional use, and mains powered or battery powered. There are four types of drives that are commonly found on wheelchair stair lifts. The most popular one for individual use in a residential environment is the rack-and-pinion drive system.

A cable-winched wheelchair stair lift uses a strong steel cable to move the wheelchair stair lift up and down the stairway. This tends to be a little jerky, but improvements are expected soon.

Chain driven wheelchair stair lifts are meant for heavy duty use, but their noise is a definite vote against in residential environments.

The fourth type of wheelchair stair lift uses an Archimedean screw to traverse the floors. This type of wheelchair stair lift is powered by its own battery which can be recharged. This too is a heavy duty system which is used in large institutes and not so much in residential environments.

Most wheelchair stair lifts found in residential environments for individual use are of the rack-and-pinion type. These are reliable, maintenance-free, and quiet. The platform is mounted on pinions which engage racks set into the walls on either side of the stairway.

A variation on the theme is the wheelchair stair lift that runs on tracks that are laid along the run of the stairs, on either side.

Mains powered wheelchair stair lifts are going out of fashion, the reliability and safety of rechargeable batteries making them more popular by the day. Wheelchair stair lifts require official clearance before they can be installed or put to use.

The user can choose between a wheelchair stair lift that allows the chair to be turned at right angle to the axis of the stairway, and one that allows the chair to be turned right around. Modern electronic technology ensures that these systems are able to “self-diagnose” themselves, and warn the user about potential problems. This eliminates big maintenance bills for the user.

Wheelchair stair lifts are doubtlessly a big boon for people like us who have a problem in navigating stairways by ourselves. The wheelchair stair lift is an example of a positive application of technology. Now we are no longer limited to moving about on a single floor. Nor is it necessary to move to a single-storied house just because of our disability to navigate stairways on our own.

There are a lot of other ways to increase the mobility of those confined to a wheel chair. Go to www.WheelchairLiftsOnline.com to read information on wheel chair ramps, and also find out what features you should consider when looking for the best lift chair for your situation.

Tags: Disabilities, health, wheel chair, wheel chairs