Freight elevators, also known as goods lifts, are designed to move goods and materials between floors in a building. Compared to passenger lifts, freight elevators travel at lower speeds but carry much heavier loads and can withstand tougher working conditions. Freight elevators come in various sizes, from small dumbwaiters with a rated load of 25 kilos to large car elevators that can lift several tonnes.

While many freight elevators have doors that open vertically, others have normal swing doors that open horizontally. Most goods or freight lifts have wider doors than passenger lifts to make it easier to load and unload. It is also common for freight or cargo elevators to include features that make them extra resistant to wear and tear, such as extra sturdy lift cars, aluminium chequer plate flooring, or kick-plates to protect the lift doors.

Can freight elevators carry passengers?

Even if freight elevators are designed to carry goods, some also allow passengers. Freight lifts that can also take passengers are very versatile. Sometimes called “goods lifts with attendant” such lifts often also work well as stretcher lifts or wheelchair lifts.

Platform lift Kalea A4 Mille is a platform lift approved for both goods and passenger transport with a rated load of 1000 kg.

Yes, in most countries you will need planning permission to install a lift, regardless of whether it is placed in a public or commercial building or in your home. To get help and guidance, contact the local authority that grants planning permissions, or talk to your Kalea dealer.

In most countries, you would not be allowed to replace your stairs with a lift, and that is because of very valid safety reasons:

• If the elevator is out of service, you would be blocked on one floor.
• If you or someone else needs to be evacuated on a stretcher most lifts are too small for that.
• If there is a fire, you should never use the elevator to evacuate.

Even high-quality lifts can break down and if that happens, you will need the staircase not to be stranded on one floor. There may be exceptions, of course. For example, if your building has several staircases linking all floors, and you just want to replace one of them with a lift. But in general, we strongly advise against replacing your stairs with an elevator.

If you are wondering if a lift can replace your staircase because you do not think you have space for both, please know that there are better and much safer solutions. In many cases, it is possible to install our lifts at the centre of your staircase, or just beside it. Our smallest lift size fits in just 1 m2 (explore lift models Kalea Kosmos and Kalea Mini). It is also possible to place either the staircase or the elevator on the outside of the building (check out our outdoor lift).

There are many different types of elevators, such as traction lifts, hydraulic lifts, belt-driven lifts, vacuum lifts, and screw-driven lifts.

All lift types have their pros and cons. Below we have listed a few examples:

• Traction lifts can travel fast, from 0.6 metres to several metres per second, but also need a lot of room, given that they require a deep lift pit, a lot of headroom, and often also a separate machine room.
• Hydraulic lifts are not as fast as traction lifts, but can still reach a speed of about 1 metre per second. This lift type generally has a deep pit but requires less headroom than traction lifts. Some hydraulic elevators also need a large, external hydraulic tank.
• Vacuum lifts, on the other hand, have a speed of about 0.2 metres per second. Vacuum lifts are space-efficient, but the technology is expensive, and their lifting capacity is limited.
• Screw-driven lifts travel at a speed of 0.15 metres per second but take up a lot less room than conventional hydraulic lifts and traction lifts. There are screw-driven lifts with a lifting capacity from about 300 kg, up to 1000 kg.

Kalea’s screw-driven lifts can be installed without a pit and have a top height (the height of the lift on the top floor) of only 2.25-2.35 metres. In addition, the machinery is compact enough to fit inside the lift shaft, making the whole construction very space-efficient compared to conventional lifts.

To learn more about different types of lifts, click here.

Elevators have 2 main types of buttons

1. The landing controls, or Landing Operation Panel (LOP) to call on the lift. The Landing Operation Panel is also often called “call button”.
2. The buttons inside the lift, or Car Operating Panel (COP). Inside the lift, you find buttons such as floor selection buttons to make the lift travel and safety functions like the alarm button and the emergency stop button. The buttons inside the lift are also often called platform controls or cabin/lift cab controls.

Kalea platform lifts have the following lift buttons:

Landing controls

• Call buttons operated by automatic drive (you press the button once).

Platform controls

• Floor selection buttons to travel up/down. According to European Standards, the floor selection buttons are operated by hold-to-run (you need to keep pressure on the button to travel).
• An alarm button that emits a sound signal and opens the line to the emergency telephone.
• An emergency stop button that immediately stops the lift when pushed. To travel again, you need to twist and release the button.

Kalea cabin lifts have the following elevator buttons:

Landing controls

• Call buttons with automatic drive (one-touch operation).

Cabin Controls

• Floor selection buttons to make the elevator travel up or down.
• The floor selection buttons are operated by automatic drive (one-touch operation).
• An alarm button emitting a sound signal, when activated. The alarm button also opens the line to the emergency telephone.
• An open/close door button, to open or close the sliding doors when the lift is on a landing.
• Cabin controls also include an integrated level indicator (indicating the floor of the lift car and the direction of travel).

How much energy an elevator consumes depends on the drive system and capacity of the elevator as well as on how often it is used. While large, high-speed passenger lifts in high-rise buildings can consume as much as 30 – 40 000 kWh per year, a home lift will consume considerably less.

Our screw-driven lifts with standard drive carry Energy Label B when operating, and Energy Label A when idle. Given that screw-driven are not designed to be used as often as conventional passenger elevators, the energy consumption is comparatively low, even with our standard drive.

To give you an example a 2-stop Kalea platform lift with a standard drive, performing 20 travels per day, has an energy consumption of approximately 480  kWh/year.

If you want an even more energy-efficient lift, our optimised EcoSilent drive system requires 45% less energy than the standard drive and has a yearly consumption of approximately 215 kWh/year.

A prefabricated lift is a lift system made of ready-made elements or modules. All lift solutions by Kalea are prefabricated and delivered in ready-made elements. Thanks to our wide range of lift sizes and design options we can tailor the lift configuration and design to fit the requirements of your building and your sense of style.

Advantages of prefabricated lifts

Our preassembled elevators have several advantages, such as:

• Thanks to the prefabricated elements, the manufacturing process is fast. Just 3-4 weeks can be enough to make some lift models in a standard configuration.
• The lift is delivered with everything you need for installation. Most lift models even include a ready-made lift shaft, eliminating the need to build a concrete or masonry shaft enclosure.
• The fact that your lift is delivered as an all-inclusive concept, makes lift installation fast and easy. In fact, a 2-stop platform lift by Kalea is possible to install in as little as 2-3 days.
• The prefabricated construction of our lifts also makes upgrading and modernising your lift fast and easy.

 

The answer is yes, all lifts make some noise, but if properly maintained they operate quietly enough to blend in with the sounds of everyday life. You can compare it to other household appliances, such as dishwashers, fridges, or ventilation systems. They also generate sounds, but you just do not think about it.

To offer you a quiet ride most recent platform lift models by Kalea come with optimised drive systems as standard and for the majority of our older models, an optimised drive is available as an option. But what is quiet? To give you an example, a few metres from the lift, the Kalea EcoSilent drive system only generates a sound of about 40 dB or the equivalent of the sound level inside a quiet library.

Today, most modern elevators have safety systems that ensure that the lift can be lowered to the closest floor so you can evacuate, in case of a power cut. However, there are still lifts without this safety feature in the market, so it is always best to check with the lift manufacturer.

All Kalea lift models are equipped with a battery backup for emergency lowering as standard. This feature ensures that you do not get trapped inside the lift in case of a power outage.

What happens to a Kalea lift in case of a power outage?

This is what happens to your Kalea lift if the power goes out while you are inside:

1. The lift stops travelling.
2. The battery backup kicks in.*
3. Press any destination button to lower the lift to the closest floor.
4. The door unlocks so that you can exit the lift.

*For lifts with a level indicator on the platform, the display will say “Battery mode”. For lifts without a level indicator, the buttons of the control panel will start to flash to show that the battery mode is activated.

The mechanics of a screw-driven elevator are simple and ingenious: The platform or cabin of the lift is attached to a drive nut moving up and down the screw, powered by an electric motor. When the motor turns one way, the drive nut makes the lift go up, and when the motor turns the other way, the drive nut makes the lift go down.

Benefits of screw-driven lifts

• The screw and nut drive system is very safe and reliable. Thanks to its simplicity and the limited number of moving parts, there is very little that can go wrong.
• While hydraulic lifts are sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity, the robust mechanics of screw-driven lifts will continue to function.
• In addition, the screw-driven system is compact enough to fit inside the lift shaft, which is why this type of lift requires no separate machine room, nor extra headroom.
• Another advantage is that most lifts with screw and nut drive do not need a lift pit.
• Screw-driven lifts have a long lifespan (25-30 years with proper maintenance).

Low-maintenance drive system

The screw and nut system requires less maintenance than hydraulic, belt-driven or traction lifts. However, the frequency of maintenance is determined by how often the lift is used and lubrication is key to keeping the system in good health. That is why our lifts are equipped with an automated lubrication system for the screw as standard.