When are reconditioned stairlifts not suitable? If you’re considering a stairlift, we often recommend our reconditioned stairlifts for our customers. They save you money and we offer a 2 year warranty with our reconditioned stairlifts. It’s one of the best ways of saving money while maintaining your peace of mind. Our reconditioned lifts are carefully chosen lifts which have been professionally refurbished to a very high standard.
See also 8 ways to save money on a stairlift.
However, in certain circumstances, a reconditioned stairlift is either not suitable or not available for your particular circumstances.
This might be because we either don’t have one in stock which is suitable for your stairs (typically with very narrow/awkward stairs), or we wouldn’t use a reconditioned stairlift for safety reasons. This would happen when it comes to heavy duty stairlifts and outdoor stairlifts.
When Are Reconditioned Stairlifts Not Suitable – Very Narrow Stairs
Most of our reconditioned models are able to cope with narrow and awkward staircases. In certain circumstances, a specialist stairlift might be required, however. This is often the Flow X, or a similar, earlier model because these stairlifts are superb at dealing with stairs when other models struggle.
We occasionally have these models in stock in our reconditioned range, but not always. So if you have an unusual staircase layout, or if the obstacles make a standard model impossible to fit, you’ll require one of these specialist models.
Here’s a couple of examples of staircases which presented a problem for standard models. As a result, specialist lifts were required. For most households this isn’t a problem, only for very awkward or difficult staircases which present an obstacle or two.
Heavy Duty Stairlifts
Heavy duty stairlifts are stairlifts which have a much higher weight capacity than standard models. With a heavy duty stairlift, the stairlift and rail are taking much higher loads. When it comes to steep rails too, this puts extras strain on the motors and power.
With a reconditioned stairlift the history of the stairlift can never always be fully known. So for safety reasons, we always recommend brand new stairlifts if you require a heavy duty model. Most models will have a weight capacity of up to 19 stone, with certain brands carrying up to 25 stone. Heavy duty models such as the Platinum Ultimate and the Bruno carry up to 25 and 30 stone respectively.
Here you can see the Platinum (left) and the Bruno (right).
The Bruno is the heaviest capacity of stairlift that we use (30 stone). The Platinum is an option for curved staircases and is more nimble than the Bruno. So we would choose this model for a customer who needs a higher weight capacity but also who has a narrow, curved staircase.
The Bruno is definitely more cumbersome than the Platinum, but we sometimes require the higher weight capacity. This can be restrictive on narrow/awkward stairs. See also our post on stairlifts for narrow stairs.
When Are Reconditioned Stairlifts Not Suitable – Outdoor Stairlifts
The other instance where heavy duty stairlifts are unsuitable is when you require an outdoor stairlift. Outdoor stairlifts take on considerable corrosion and damage of their parts despite having extra weather protection. Again, similarly to the heavy weight stairlift, we cannot know the history of a pre-used outdoor stairlift.
An outdoor stairlift that has been pre-used is much more likely to have problems – so for this reason we prefer to choose brand new stairlifts when it comes to an outdoor installation.
Summary
We are proud to offer reconditioned stairlifts in most cases for our customers. However, in a few circumstances a brand new lift is needed. This is either because of low reconditioned stock, safety reasons or quality control. The stairlifts we will typically recommend to buy brand new are:
- For very narrow staircases when a specialist stairlift is required but we don’t have reconditioned models in stock which will accommodate your staircase dimensions
- When you need a heavy duty stairlift which has a higher weight capacity than most standard lifts – for safety reasons and quality control
- If you need an outdoor stairlift we will always recommend a brand new model for quality control.
If you require a stairlift give us a call and we can recommend a stairlift suitable for your home and your budget. Call 0800 046 3438 or visit our contact page here.
You can also see some of our installations and removals on our YouTube channel here.