Tips to Maintaining Your Stairlift

Your stairlift is your lifeline; it makes it possible for you to live comfortably at home and enjoy your entire home, upstairs and down. With the help of your chair lift, you can move freely and independently, knowing you’re safe from injury and pain.

Louisiana Stairlifts is all about keeping our customers moving. We provide quality mobility solutions such as wheelchair ramps, stairlifts, residential elevators, platform lifts, van lifts, and more. We also care for our customers by providing exceptional service, maintenance, and repair. We want to help you take good care of your mobility equipment to continue to get where you want and need to go.

Here are five essential tips for maintaining your stairlift system:

Read the Instructions

Always, always, always read the owner’s manual. If Louisiana Stairlifts installed your chair lift, a member of our team went through the manual carefully with you and explained how to use and care for your lift. Before attempting to do anything to your stairlift, consult your manual, as it provides critical troubleshooting tips and guidance on tasks you can and should not do yourself. Some things will void the warranty, so you never want to assume that what you’re doing is OK.

Keep it Clean

Pet hair, carpet fibers, and dust can get under the carriage, clog up the works, and cause damage; regularly wiping down the rails will prevent this. Dust build-up can, over time, lead to mechanical problems. Your manual will instruct you on how to clean your unit properly, but in general, a weekly wipe down of the rails and seat with a damp cloth should be sufficient to save you from any trouble. And always keep your stairs free from items that might interfere with the safe movement of the chair.

Don’t use solvents, bleach, or other harsh cleaning agents on your stairlift system. Using these might void your warranty and interfere with the useful life of your system. You only need a damp cloth to remove the dust. You also don’t want to touch the teeth or the rack while cleaning, as these surfaces require lubrication to keep the chair moving smoothly.

Again, read the instructions. They will tell you how to clean your stairlift system properly.

Lubricate the Track

Aside from gentle cleaning, the most significant maintenance task you need to perform regularly is lubricating the track. Keeping the track oiled ensures that the chair will be able to roll smoothly. You don’t want the track to be so oily that the chair slips or slides. This is another reason it’s imperative to read the owner’s manual; you’ll find the manufacturer’s recommendations for lubrication. You want to be careful to lubricate as instructed, using the right amount of oil in suitable locations.

Many stairlift owners opt to have lubrication done during regular service visits rather than attempting to complete the task on their own. Adding lubricant can require steadiness of hand, so be sure to ask for help if you struggle with joint pain, trembling, or poor vision. And never oil the chain.

We can’t emphasize this enough: read the instructions before touching anything.

Check the Batteries

Your stairlift operates using battery power from a rechargeable battery that is recharged every time the chair sits in its charge point. Battery power is a critical safety feature; with a fully charged battery, you’ll never get stuck upstairs, downstairs, or – heaven forbid – in between on the stairs if the power goes out.

To make sure your battery is healthy, do the following:

● Normal usage – 6-10 times per day – is perfect for keeping that battery topped off.

● If you’ve used the lift more than usual, leave the lift charging for at least 2 hours before riding again to give the battery time to recover fully.

● It’s wise to use the lift at least once a day to keep the battery from going flat.

● Your battery should provide about three days of a charge for normal usage. Keep that in mind if the power goes out and conserve trips accordingly.

● Remember, if the battery goes flat or cannot be recharged, it will need to be replaced, a cost that is not included in your warranty.

And don’t forget the batteries for your remote. Make sure to store batteries for the remote on the floor where you keep the remote; otherwise, you’ll be in a pickle if you can’t call your chair to take you to get the new batteries because your remote is dead.

Schedule Regular Service and Maintenance

We highly recommend you take advantage of the service plans offered to you when you purchased your stairlift system. Louisiana Stairlifts provides exceptional home mobility service to our stairlift customers. We’ll inspect your unit as often as the manufacturer suggests (hint: read the manual to find a recommended service schedule) and make sure your lift stays in tip-top shape. Stairlift systems are straightforward, but some maintenance is required like any mechanized equipment. It’s far wiser to prevent problems than to have to suffer the consequences of expensive repairs and to have to function without your lift.

Louisiana Stairlifts Will Keep You Moving

Our stairlift team has extensive experience with servicing and maintaining stairlifts. We care for curved stairlifts, straight stairlifts, and lifts from every manufacturer. Call us today to discuss what we can do to keep you moving safely and comfortably in your home.