In any business decision, time, cost, and convenience are among the most significant factors for consideration.
With elevators, it all comes down to a simple question: “What are you moving?”
If you need to move people between floors, then a passenger lift is normally a great option.
However, if you need to move products between floors, then passenger lifts typically aren’t the best solution for your application.
Why? Well, there are a number of reasons, but one of the biggest disadvantages of passenger lifts is actually the doors.
Passenger lift door openings are typically quite narrow, which is often an issue when moving goods. In almost every goods hoist application, you have to be able to load and unload quickly. Cautiously manoeuvring through a narrow opening is just not practical. Goods hoist doors are designed for maximum width openings, and to handle the knocks and bumps that will inevitably come during quick loading and unloading.
Generally, passenger lift doors also close automatically. This is very convenient when moving people, but it is problematic when moving goods. Using passenger lift doors significantly increases the risk of breaking a door, since they often close unexpectedly just as the user has built momentum while manhandling a heavy load into the lift. Replacing the damaged automatic door is inconvenient and costly, but the worst part is that it is normally takes a long time. That’s a major problem for most businesses. Using manually-operated, robust goods hoist doors for this kind of application is far more appropriate.
If you are considering using a passenger lift as a goods hoist, there are a number of details to carefully consider before investing in your lift. If you would like some advice, please feel free to contact our engineers who will happily provide assistance.
