110 or 220 volt on four post lift?

[rick in colorado]

I'm in the process of scoping out a lift for my garage. The main use will be for vehicle parking expansion with an occasional oil change thrown in. Many lifts offer the choice of 110 or 220 volts. Is the only advantage to 220 a quicker lift time? Given the cost of running 220 into my garage, that may be a deciding factor. Speaking of cost, I have a mud room with a 220 volt dryer adjacent to the garage. How much should I expect to spend wiring the lift for 220? Also I have a high ceiling (15'), but a standard clearance setup currently. What might I expect to spend to have a pro lengthen the rails and relocate the coils springs upward by 40"?

Thanks,
Rick

 

[JohnZ]

The only difference between 110V and 220V is lifting speed - hardly worth spending a lot of money for 220V; mine is 110V and takes about 30-40 seconds to go from full down to full up.

My garage door guy charged me about $375 to convert the 18x8 sectional door in my lift bay from the standard setup to a "high-lift", including the extra track, an additional dummy upper panel added to the door, relocating the tracks, opener, torsion rod and springs, etc. I have a 12' ceiling - the horizontal tracks are now about 8" from the ceiling, and the opener track is about 2". I can now open the door all the way with a car at full working height on the lift.

 

[Gummi Bear]

It won't even necessarily net you a faster lifting speed (most motors of that variety run at the same RPM)

Most of the vehicle lifts that I've hooked up over the years are 20A @ 208/240V. I've only hooked up a few 120V, and did one dealership (60 bays) that had 480V 3ph motors.


You looking at a rotary style, or a hydraulic? (just curious)

 

[rick in colorado]

I've been reading forums and bookmarking sites/manufacturers/threads of interest for about six months. I'm getting serious now and I'm leaning toward a Rotary 4 post. While price is a consideration, quality is more so. Should I think about their residential model (Revolution?) or their commercial?

Any thoughts?

 

[Gummi Bear]

How heavy of a vehicle do you think you'll ever work on?

For me, I'd be pushing the limits of a 10k lift, and maintain much of a margin of safety. My truck empty (dry) weighs 6500 lbs, with all the junk I keep in it, and full of fuel and fluids, I'd imagine that 7000 would be pretty conservative.

If you're into micro European cars, whatever's clever will do.


You need to consider a couple of things: How frequently will you be using it, and how heavy of a vehicle do you see yourself ever having?


Personally, I don't do anything residential grade. I'd look at the different lifts, and then get on the horn with a local lift repairman. Buy him a beer and get some suggestions on what to look for, and what to avoid. If you don't know one, ask a trusted mechanic who he uses for lift repair/maintenance. Ask him about durability, what sees service, what needs regular maintenance, and so on. Also ask if parts for the lift you're interested in are readily available. Difficult to find parts can be a deal breaker for even the most exotic lift the first time you need to have it serviced. He may even be able to steer you into a good used one.

 

[Ign]

If you're near a local vo-tech swing in. They'll likely be glad to show you around, most colleges want to stay on good terms w the community in general. And they'll certainly have some input on which lifts are worth a darn.

I did just this and my local Vo-tech showed me some single post lifts that would handle two vehicles - one on either side. They said they were made by a company in Canada who has since gone bankrupt. The hydraulics on these models sucked and the college has had to retrofit better hydraulics at a reported expense of about $4k per unit. I remarked that that was rather steep, to which they replied yes, but they're apparently quite reliable once upgraded, and since it's two lifts in one it's not as expensive as it initially sounds, plus it saves valuable shop space as it takes up MUCH less than TWO 2 post lifts. The rest of their two post lifts were Challengers (go figure).

Oh and personally I'd run 220 - what is the claimed amp draw of the 110 models??

EDIT: and if you're around Denver have you been watching Craigslist? They come up ALL THE TIME. I've had to pass on several good deals just 'cause I couldn't get up there in time.

 

[mikeyr]

I ordered my lift in 110 so that in a emergency I could still lower the car on the lift with my portable generator, I figured I could live with slow lift time when working on the car and in a emergency if the power was off (fire,earthquake) I could still get the car off and save it.

The manufacturer messed up and shipped me 220, so I never got to test my silly theory.

 

[Tscott]

The truth is that the only real difference will be the amp draw on the motors. A 220 VAC motor is going to pull approx. 1/2 the amps of a 120 VAC for a given power level. What does this mean for you? Absolutely nothing. Depending on the HP rating of the motor, you will never draw enough amps to trip a single pole 15amp breaker. I would guess the motors on the lifts are 1hp or below. a 220 VAC 1HP motor pulls 3-4 amps. so a 120 VAC will pull 6-8 amps. As long as you dont have a huge lighting load or another motor on the same circuit and running at the same time as the lift, you will be ok.

Tom

 

[Junkman]

I prefer 220 volt motors for garage use, since they don't have to be on a ground fault circuit. The Code requires all 110 garage circuits to be on a ground fault system, and usually these are limited to 15 amps in most homes. Rarely are garages wired with 20 amp outlets. While the lift motor will not draw a lot of amps, you have to consider what else is on the circuit. I would use a 220 volt twist lock receptacle and plug for this application.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Tom Scott has it right...it doesn't make any difference if it's 120vac or 240vac, it should run the same either way. I have a Stinger brand four post lift in my garage; it's simply plugged into a 15 amp, 120vac GFCI outlet and it works just fine.

 

[CobraKramer]

Rick in CO,

If for some reason you are near Denver, ping me. I was dead set on the rotary line, specifically the revolution...but after a lot of research and reviewing the models, I chose to go with Backyard buddy. The BYB is more expensive, but a lift is forever and I didn't want to ever think twice about is performance.

Kramer (also in CO)