"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
I want to buy a second-hand stair lift for someone. These things are about
4 metres long, and quite heavy. Has anyone experience of them, and whether
or not they can be dismantled? What's a good way of transporting one of
these, can that length be handled by arsel farce or someone? Could I stick
it in an Estate car & drive with a length sticking out of the back with a
red rag on it? Ideas?

John Rumm picked a Minivator up from me a few months ago. I had to take the
chair off the transport carriage, which then had to be taken off at the top
of the track. Decide how you will take it apart and where the carriage needs
to be before you start to dismantle it. Moving mine with the hand wheel was
very laborious when compared to using the electric motor, although I did
have to unwind the last bit of chain from it that way.

Make sure that you take careful records of where all the wiring goes. There
will be lots of safety interlocks and lots of wires to go with them. You
should also find one that locks the chair to the track if the drive fails. I
had to tie a spring-loaded jockey wheel back to be able to move the
carriage. John put the track on top of an estate car and the bits inside. He
can probably tell you more about the actual problems of transporting and
installing it. You will only need a long load marker if it overhangs the
rear by more than 1 metre, but then it should be a proper triangular symbol,
rather than just a piece of rag.

Colin Bignell