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What is a stairlift service?
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A stairlift service is an annual (or bi-annual) test that a professional should carry out on your stairlift to ensure that it is in good working order. By having your stairlift serviced, you can benefit from the peace of mind that:
- It is safe for you to use and is working as it should.
- Any preventative maintenance that could cause a future breakdown has been identified. This could reduce unnecessary callouts and inconvenience down the line.
- You’re prolonging the lifespan of your product.
A service will normally take around an hour to do. Our friendly, knowledgeable engineers will visit your home and carry out a detailed service. We have a 25-point checklist that we go through as approved by British Safety Standards to make sure your lift is serviced correctly.
We also service lifts that we didn’t originally install and can service most makes and models.
Why should you service your stairlift?
Colin Major is a qualified stairlift engineer as well as a Managing Director here at 1st Choice Stairlifts. Here are his 6 Top Tips – Why you should have your Stairlift Serviced:
1) It is recommended in the British Safety Standards
The recommendation for an annual service is specifically written into the Safety Standards for stairlifts*, not something that manufacturers or dealers created to make more money.
There is a 24-point checklist which all stairlift engineers should adhere to as detailed in the standards which we use on every service. Additionally we also check batteries too – so in our case it’s a 25-point checklist!
If your stairlift has heavy usage or is under contract with a housing association, it may need to be serviced twice a year.
2) To make sure it’s ‘stairworthy’
In the same way that you would service a car to make sure it’s roadworthy for your and others’ safety, you would service a stairlift to ensure it is ‘stairworthy’. Through normal wear and tear working stairlift parts can wear and bolts may not be as tight as they were on the day of your installation. During a service, the seat bolts are checked as are the fixings to your stairs and re-tightened where necessary.
3) To make sure the safety features work correctly
All stairlifts are fitted with safety circuits, in a service we check that they are working correctly. We also check the safety edges that are fitted to the carriage (the part that attaches to your rail and the seat is fixed on to) and footrest. By testing these safety edges work correctly, we make sure that the lift is free from any crushing or trapping hazards. Your seatbelt will also be checked to make sure it is working correctly.
4) Preventative maintenance and inconvenience
Sometimes it’s possible on a service that a fault can be identified that you didn’t even know about. Left unchecked, this could cause the inconvenience of having a breakdown and being without your lift for a short period of time.
For example, whilst there are still some old mains-only operated lifts out there, most stairlifts these days are battery operated. When you have your stairlift serviced by us, we do an additional check of the carriage battery voltages. If we identify that the batteries are running low, we would recommend they were replaced then and there. This would avoid the batteries going totally flat in the future and having to wait for an engineer to come out to replace them. This will come with additional cost of having a callout if you’re not under a contract.
5) It may prolong the lifespan of your lift
How you treat your stairlift reflects how long it will last. If your stairlift is regularly cleaned, serviced and maintained it is likely to last longer. It’s important to keep your lift clean; if dust and dirt builds up, it can leave black marks on your rail (particularly noticeable if you have a light cream rail). The black marks are compacted dust which the carriage rollers gather up as they go up and down your stairs. Because of this the rollers can deteriorate quicker over time.
As well as dust, if you have pets their hairs can also go on the rail and transfer onto the rollers and clog up your machine.
A weekly light dusting of your lift (whilst it’s not in operation) is recommended. We also undertake an annual clean as part of your service. Our engineers have a stock of the cleaner we use on their vans, which is available to purchase if you wanted to use the same cleaner. For more details on how to clean your model, visit our article and see our instructional video here.
6) Have it done professionally
We’ve heard reports of some engineers servicing a stairlift with a clipboard – i.e. just a checklist and no tools. When having your stairlift serviced it should really be opened up to have a thorough check over.
We’ve also seen customers try and maintain their own stairlifts applying substances such as WD-40, oil and grease to their stairlift. This is not needed and can make your lift worse. By having your lift serviced by a professional, you can ensure that your lift is going to last and continue to work as it should.
Booking your annual service
When we book in your service, you are automatically added to our service schedule for subsequent years so there’s no need to worry about keeping track of your services, we do it for you. You will receive a call or a letter from us inviting you to make an appointment, we can then book in a convenient time for our engineer to do your service.
Contact us
To enquire about or book in your service, please call us on 01249 814528 and one of our friendly team will be happy to help you. Routine servicing is usually done in office hours from 8.30am to 5pm. You can also email us on [email protected].
Your model will need to be in working order for us to complete the service. If your lift is not working, or has developed a fault, you should organise a repair rather than a service. For more details about our repairs, visit our dedicated page here. Our aftercare team can take care of all your servicing and maintenance needs so please don’t hesitate to give us a call.
Areas we cover
We cover all of Wiltshire, Bath, Bristol and Swindon as well as parts of Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Berkshire. For a full map of our coverage areas please click here.
Upgrading your lift
If your model is beyond repair or is over 10 years old, you might want to consider upgrading it. You can see the wide range of products we offer on our dedicated pages:
If you can no longer manage transferring onto your stairlift due to a worsening health condition, you may benefit from a homelift or through the floor lift.
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*The British Safety Standards for stairlifts were BS5776:Powered Stairlifts, which have now been replaced by the European Standard EN81-40
