- This topic has 13 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by
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Brooks Superglide 120
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We bought this model about 10 years ago for my Father in Law when he came to live us. Since he died the stair lift has only been used infrequently. Unfortunately when we tried to use it last week when we had a friend with MS visiting it failed (if had been successfully used a few months before on her previous visit).
Basically when it started to move (I was testing it unloaded) it moved slowly and made a squeaky whirring sound, and left dry black debris on the top of one of the shoulders (rubber?). However, after removing that I tried again and it moved ok (if a little slowly) with no further debris.
When our friend sat on it, it would not move at all, making whirring noises like something was rotating but without getting grip, and thus unable to elevate the load up the track.
Obviously I need to get this sorted out before her next visit (or we get older and need it ourselves!) so I wondered if anybody had any ideas what it might be. I am going to have to ring round to find somebody to repair it (if possible) and I usually find that I am likely to get a more accurate estimate/quote if I can give a better idea of the problem.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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Could be terminal I fear. 10 years old might be better replacing as it sounds like a motor gearbox failure but it will be worth getting a local stairlift engineer to asses it for you
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Thank you for your response. I would have thought though that if it was a gearbox fail then it would not be able to go up or down at all. I wondered if there might be some sort of rubber friction wheel which had perished (hence the black rubbery stuff). However, apart from assuming a rack and pinion, I have no idea what else is in the mechanism that allows the successful run up the track.
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The black stuff will probably just be aluminium oxide and house dust which will have been coating the nylon rollers, a few runs up and down with a wipe down with a damp cloth between runs will sort that out.
And the other problem sounds very much like you need some new batteries.
The drive mechanism is simply rack and pinion, the lift being clamped to the track by eight egg timer shaped rollers, four on top and four below. -
+1 for batteries
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Thank you very much for your input. I must admit I did wonder about the batteries (due to infrequent use, we do not keep it permanently on/charging) as when I first tried using it they appeared to have been completely drained (usually they retain as least some charge). Is there any further check I can do to confirm it is a battery problem before calling somebody out to supply/fit them please? (or is it a case or replacing them and hoping for the best? 🙂 ).
Thank you once again for your suggestions – Best Regards
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No not really, just tell the company you suspect batteries need changing so they bring a set with them
20 minute job to fit and then the engineer will test, simple straightforward job
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That is great! Many thanks all for your help as I was feeling a bit perplexed by this problem. I will contact the original supplier in the first instance to see if they will come out and have a look/supply and fit battery if required, plus test to see if any other problems. Thanks once again 🙂
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Why would it make a whirring noise and not move . If it was batteries it would not make any noise if it was not moving
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Not sure about the whirring noise myself. Carriage did move up and down the track carrying its own weight, but would not move with a load (person) on. To a certain extent I would have thought that if it was just the battery then it would not move and also be silent under load, so not sure what the whirring noise in this instance could be (slippage between the motor and the pinion?)
I do not know by what method the motor drives the pinion gear, as the whirring would possible suggest a fault there.
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Ian sometimes when the batteries are low you will hear the motor turning very slowly, not enough to move the lift percectably but the motor is turning. If you’ve dealt with bison 50’s you’ll know the sound I mean
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Bison 50’s virtually screamed when low on battery power
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Thought I would post the conclusion to the saga – as well as thanks to all contributors…
A guy came out at lunchtime bearing two batteries – 10 minute job and the 120 was running again quite happily. I could have done it myself, but glad I did not as getting the cover back on seemed to be a bit tricky/fiddly (he did not remove the seat first, which might have made it easier!).
£40 call out and £38 for the two batteries – fortunately as a diabetic I was exempted VAT on top of that. Thanks Guys 🙂
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That’s a good price for that job mate you done well 🙂
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