When you are looking into buying an electric stairlift, you will find there are loads of terms used to describe features of the electric stair lift. To select the best electric stairlift, i will breakdown some of the most commonly used stairlift terms.

The salesman should talk to you about the stair lift drive system, the stairlift rail and fpm of the electric stair lift. The stairlift drive system is all about the type of technology used by the electric stair lift. The most commonly used drive system uses rack and pinion, which is quite similar to the system of trains and railways. The rail is of course the path or track on which the stair lift runs on. The stairlift rail should be long enough to fit your staircase at home. The stair lift rail should also conform to your type of staircase, either straight stairlift, curved stairlift, or spiral stairlift. The FPM stands for feet per minute. It refers to the speed of the stair lift as it goes up and down the staircase. The speed of the stairlift should not be too fast, or too slow for the person who is going to use the stair lift.

Many electric stair lifts have a BOS and call send but vary in operator controls. BOS means a battery operated system. Check out the type of battery used in your stairlift and determine if it is readily available in your area so that you can easily obtain a replacement if the present battery wears out. call send is the stair lifts remote control that will enable a user at the top of the stairs to call or send the electric stair lift to go up or down. Operator controls may be different with each stair lift. Some stairlifts may use buttons, others use joysticks, and still others have pendant controls.