When it comes to industrial lifting equipment, the electrical equipment hoist is considered the king of the hill. It’s a versatile piece of material handling equipment that can be used in a wide range of industries including warehouses, factories, construction sites, shop floors, cleaning, etc. Basically, if something heavy needs to be moved from one place to another within the same facility – the hoist is probably the best piece of equipment to do it with. However, as is the case with most industrial equipment, hoist models differ in terms of what kind of application they can be used for.
First and foremost, you need to know the typical weight of items you’ll be lifting with it. Once you’ve figured that out, round it up to the nearest flat number, like 500kg, a ton, etc. Always go slightly above the necessary capacity, just to be on the safe side. So if the heaviest items the hoist will be picking up weigh 400kg, buy an equipment hoist with 500kg lifting capacity.
Then, you have to determine the lift that your application requires. In order to do that, you need to determine the place where the hoist will hang from, and where the items that need to be lifted are located. So for instance, if the items that need to be picked up are located on the floor, and the beam of the hoist sits at about 5 metres, you need a hoist with at least 5 metres of lift. Again, you can add a metre or two just to be on the safe side. Contrary to what many people think, you can’t add extra chain onto the existing one, although chains can be sold separately.
Furthermore, you need to consider the speed of the lift. This can be a tough decision to make, but traditional speeds can vary between just a few metres per minute to up to 10-15 metres per minute, while modern air hoists can go up to about 50 metres per minute. Safety is a crucial factor to consider when choosing the speed at which the hoist can lift, and some other things to consider are the items that will be lifted, how fragile they are, and whether they can break if picked up from the ground too quickly.
Lastly, you have to consider the power source for the hoist. You need to ensure that the hoist is plugged into a power supply that has the appropriate voltage, otherwise, you risk frying your new hoist and damaging the items that need to be lifted in the meantime. This can cost you a lot of money without using the hoist even once.
