What you need to know about the maintenance of vacuum lifters
To ensure that vacuum lifters are sufficiently safe, they should be serviced at least once a year. This will be obvious to anyone who has ever stood next to such a suspended load. But what should be done during this maintenance? How do you ensure that you really have a safely functioning vacuum lifter afterwards? Do you know the requirements? And do you know how to check them?
Oh, you have an external service provider who checks this. Is the service provider doing a good job? After all, it may be your health that is affected if the vacuum lifter fails. I would at least want to see for myself whether he is doing this with the appropriate care. To do this, it is important to know what should be done. You can find out now.
This should definitely be carried out during maintenance
- Visual inspection of the weld seams! Are the weld seams in order? Are there cracks in the paint or rust formation in lines on the weld seam? If this is the case, the weld seam is no longer OK and should be checked by a welding specialist.
- Check the function of the control elements! Do all mechanical locks engage automatically? Are all power-operated drives still able to move the rated load? If not, the faults must be rectified.
- Function test of the dirt filter! Please not only carry out a visual inspection, but also a flow test, preferably with compressed air when the filter is removed. The malfunction of some filters cannot be recognised. If the filter is not permeable, the necessary vacuum cannot be built up on the suction cup. This is usually not recognised by the vacuum monitoring system.
- Is there a two-stage release function? The release function may only be carried out in two independent steps. So, pressing only one button and turning a valve lever does not provide sufficient safety for the operator. Such devices must be retrofitted.
- Vacuum control okay? In addition to a control vacuum gauge, with labelling of the danger and working area, an acoustic and / or visual warning device is required. And this is required for each vacuum circuit if the appliance has more than one vacuum circuit. If this is not the case, the appliance must be retrofitted.
- Suction cup damaged? Suction cups that are damaged must be replaced. To prevent asymmetrical loading of the suction cups, we recommend replacing all suction cups. This avoids overloading an individual suction cup. However, this only applies if the teats are more than 6 months old.
- Does the vacuum build-up occur quickly and stably? If this is not the case, the fault should be rectified as soon as possible. This could be due to a compressed hose, for example. Or the diaphragm of the pump may be torn or the carbon separator slides of the vacuum pump may be worn or just jammed.
- Leak test, but how? The appliance should be able to hold the vacuum in the working area for at least 5 minutes. To do this, place the appliance with the suction cups on an air-impermeable plate and apply suction. Then switch off the appliance and wait 5 minutes. The danger zone should not be reached during this time. If it does, the leak should be repaired immediately. In the case of multi-circuit vacuum lifters, each vacuum circuit should be tested separately so that mutual interference can be recognised.
- Load test, but how? The load capacity of the suction cups cannot be tested visually. This is only possible with the load test. Suction cups should generally be replaced every 24 months for vertical use. In the case of single-circuit vacuum lifters for internal use, the suction cups or the device must be able to bear twice the nominal load. For 2-circuit vacuum lifters for construction site use, the suction cups of one vacuum circuit, or the device with only one active vacuum circuit, must be able to bear twice the nominal load. In the case of 4-circuit vacuum lifters for construction site use, the suction cups of three vacuum circuits, or the device with only three active vacuum circuits, must be able to bear twice the nominal load. If this is not the case, it must be assumed that the suction cups have lost their load-bearing capacity. The suction cups must therefore be replaced.
You can watch a short video about maintenance here. Perhaps you will then understand why Your safety and the safety of others is so important to test the vacuum lifters extensively during maintenance.
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How can damage be avoided when using vacuum lifters?
The load test must be carried out in every position and expansion stage. In the case of an unknown appliance, this should always be carried out during the first test. If the weak points are known, it is always sufficient to test only the most unfavourable case.
- Example on a Kappel vacuum lifter DSZ2/12V
Why is the load test so important during maintenance?
- Example on a Kappel vacuum lifter DSZ2/12V
Here you can also look at individual tests with teats of different ages, perhaps you will then understand why it is so important for Your safety and the safety of others is so important to replace the suction cups from time to time.
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Tensile test with a new suction cup 388
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Tensile test with a suction cup 388 that is 5 years old
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Tensile test with a suction cup 388 that is 10 years old