Blog (News)

Things are changing at LTM We are appointing distributors all over the UK & Europe, many of whom are holding stock. We've sold over 600 winches since January and here we have another pallet of 100 winches being sent out to a distributor!

If you're interested in becoming a stocking dealer, get in touch!

Why use a winch?

Using a winch to raise & lower your clothes line can be a great help for those with mobility problems or even those with lots of washing to do!

So in order to help you to select a winch we have put together the following information to guide you through some of the things that you will need to know before you can choose a winch and how to find out that information.

What you will need to know in order to select a winch:

The Lifting Capacity

Or put another way, you need to know how much weight  you will be hanging from the line. Each winch is rated to lift a certain capacity, like 50Kg or 80Kg. Most washing lines shouldnt need this much capacity, just make sure that the winch you get is sufficient for your needs. Also bear in mind that if your average dry load is 10Kg then when it is wet it will weigh more than that.

The Winch Drum Capacity

Or how much rope is being wound onto the drum of the Winch. This is easiest to do if you already have an existing line, but it can also be worked out using a tape measure. Using the following diagram, measure lines A, B & C as shown in the diagram.

Line A is your ‘Loading position’ for attaching the washing to the line.
Line B is your ‘drying position’.
Line C is the distance between the pulley and the winch.

A–B+C=the length of rope to be wound onto the drum

A NOTE ABOUT LAYERING: If you have a lot of rope to wind onto the inch, then as the rope winds onto the drum, the rope winds around, layering on top of each other. There is a maximum amount of rope that can be wound onto the first layer, so if you have more rope than the first layer will take, you will start using the second layer, which means that the loading capacity for the winch will be reduced. This is normally not a problem for washing lines, which do not have very high load ratings, but if you are planning to hang a lot of weight from your line, then you need to make sure that this capacity is not exceded.

Things you will need to install your winch

A winch

Most importantly, you will need a winch designed for a lifting application. These winches are designed for lifting rather than pulling and have a higher factor of safety built in than a winch designed for pulling. At LTM We always supply them with a self sustaining brake so that when you turn/ wind the handle in either direction the brake automatically engages and holds the load – so you can’t accidentally drop your line full of washing on the floor. 

Pulleys

Rope should always come straight out of the winch and not be at an angle, so often times you will need a pulley to divert the rope up away from the winch and raise the height of the line. (See point X on the above diagram.) You should make sure that the pulleys you choose are suitable for outdoor use and that they are also rated to the required lifting capacity (see "The Lifting Capacity" above).

We offer a Zinc Plated rope pulley (code PTM-125G ) with a rated load of 125kg and a Polyamide (plastic type) pulley wheel for 2- 4mm diameter wire rope. This can be bolted to a post or a wall using 2 bolts (not supplied).

Rope

It's important to note here that normal washing line does not work with winches. The plastic covered fibre ropes that you can buy at the supermarket do not have a rated lifting capacity, so they are not guaranteed to hold the load.  This means that they may not be able to hold your load without sagging and if over tightened they could snap.

Lifting winches use steel wire rope that is designed for lifting. In order to prevent rusting and staining of clothes, we reccomend using plastic coated steel wire rope, this can be purchased by the metre, so you can order exactly the amount of rope that you need. This is important because unlike washing line rope, you will likely be unable to shorten this rope yourself without specialist tools, so it is important that you measure the amount that you need correctly.

You can work out how much rope you will need using the above diagram and the following formula:

A + C + 1m 

Why 1 metre? Well in truth, it's not 1 metre, the formula is actually A + C + one turn of the drum. That is, 1 length of rope that measures the circumference of the drum should always be left on the drum. In the case of most winches used for this application, 1m should be sufficient to ensure this.

Connectors

As the rope is steel, you will need to decide what connection you want on the end of the rope that attaches to your wall or post. There are a few options:

Thimble Eye - This is a solid looped end at the end of the rope. If you already have a hook installed onto your wall, you can just get this as a connection and have clip the hook into the thimble.

Hook - If you have a solid fixing point on your wall, then you will need a hook on the end of your rope, this is attached with a thimble eye, as shown in the picture. A stainless steel option is advisable if the hook will be exposed.

What if my winch is outdoors?

Make sure that the winch you are buying is corrosion resistant, this should help prevent the winch from rusting to easily. If the winch is likely to be outside for long periods of time or exposed to particularly harsh weather, you should consider getting zinc plated, galvanised or even stainless steel winches. These are less likely to rust, however they are more expensive than a standard winch. You need to decide where the winch will be placed, how protected it will be from the elements and whether or not you need the extra benefit of a weather-proofed winch.

Your legal responsibilities

It is important to remember that a winch is a lifting item and as such the use of winches for lifting applications comes under the BS: EN 13157 Regulations. This means that you have certain obligations when installing your winches in or around people. This is especially important if you are installing your winch in a public area such as a hospital or school where people may walk under the winch. Winches need to be inspected yearly and you may be required to install a secondary safety system to stop the load from falling in the event of a winch failure.

We offer this advice as a guide. It is the responsibility of the user and/or owner of the winch to ensure that they are in compliance with all regulations when installing and/or using a winch, so if you are in any in doubt about installing and maintaing a winch, you should consult with a qualified lifting engineer for advice.

Ordering your winch online

We recommend the following LTM winches for this type of use, all of which are available to buy online:

Rope and connectors can not be ordered via our website, so once you've seleceted your winch, get in touch to talk to us about your rope and connector options.

As always, if you have any questions or need any additional information, don't hesitate to contact us.

This is an exciting time here at LTM and everyone in the office is thrilled about this new appointment. When we first saw the Ableforge range we new it would compliment our existing range and most importantly for us and our customers, it provides real value for money solutions within the manual handling market. The feedback we've recieved so far has been excellent and we see further possibilities outside of the UK market. In fact we already have a first few dealers from Europe signed up, with more companies approaching us every day. 

Don't forget we also have our Demo Area set up in out Bromborough warehouse, so if you are keen to check out the range for yourself, then come along and take a look. We're also looking for dealers in the UK and now in Europe too, so if you are interested in becoming a dealer or want further information on the range, then get in touch with James Porter on +44 (0)151 649 0467.

The past few weeks have been crazy-busy at LTM following on from the launch of our range of Ableforge manual lifting products at LiftEx 2011. We've been getting so many enquiries from people wanting to try out the products for themselves that it became obvious that we needed to set up an in-house demonstration area to cope with the demand, so that's what we did!

We're pleased to announce that we've dedicated an area of our warehouse so that customers can drop in and try out the products for themselves. We're thrilled with the quality and durability of this range and we want our customers to see this too, so if you're in the area feel free to drop by and check out our Ableforge range (as well as the ever popular GIS range) which are now permanently on display at our new HQ in Bromborough, Wirral.

We already have several meetings set up with clients from around the UK and Ireland, so we're expecting the demonstration area  will be getting a lot of use over the coming weeks (not to mention the strain on the kettle and the LTM biscuit tin!) so be sure to stop by over the next few months and we'll sort you out with a cup of tea and a hoist to play with!

If you're interested in the Ableforge range, be sure to check out our pricelist HERE!

As one of the biggest GIS dealers in Europe, you can imagine we get a lot of calls from customers looking for us to help them identify the part they need for their hoist. We happily do this when asked, but at busier times, we might not be able to get back to you right away.  That's why we created the GIS spares online store.  

The design was the brainchild of our very own, David King. For years he's had the idea that "wouldn't it just be easier if I could see the parts list online, click on the part I want and then be able to order it online there and then?". Well yes, it would. So we asked our web development company to see what they could come up with and www.gisspares.com was born. The site has interactive part diagrams for all models of GIS GCH Electric Chain Hoists and EM Electric chain hoists, that allow you not only to see exactly what part you need using the part diagram, but order it instantly too.

Furthermore, our existing trade customers can apply for a resale account that will give them a better discount online than they will get over the phone. (The site saves us money, so we pass the savings onto you).

This is ideal when perhaps an engineer has inspected a hoist and you need parts prices after hours. So if you often buy GIS electric chain hoist spares and would like to benefit from the savings available by buying online, get in touch and ask about a reseller discount.

We have just got back from the Prolight & Sound Exhibition where we showed in Hall 9.0, alongside us were the guys from Cow our German Company who have developed over many years a range of BGVC1 Electric Chain Hoists & Winches, the BGVC1 Hoist uses the Loadguard ® hoist that we sell in various configurations generally for higher spec applications- lifting loads above people or supporting loads above people, we used the rings again that we had at Plaza with a Hoist above and below each ring so that we could pull the rings either up or down showing loadings on the system and running programme queues.
We had a great 4 days with lots of enquiries from new and existing clients including some we had lost along the way, a great few days.

Here's a recent  interesting anecdote that made us all smile with amazement...

We manufactured two GIS electric chain hoists and fitted radio control systems to them to help the client in operation. We also fortunately fitted an auxiliary unit which allows a pendant hand control station to be used instead of the radio unit- perhaps if the batteries were flat. We always do this as standard with any radio control system we supply (belt and braces).

Our customer reported that on site one of these hoists worked perfectly with the radio control, the other one worked fine with the hoist end cover off but when the cover was refitted the radio control stopped working. This was the first time we have seen this problem, so we checked this out a few times and then found a problem that made us think. The end cover has a wiring diagram on the inside of the cover held by a small blob of glue, the diagram was removed leaving the glue blob which was contacting the relay on the radio control system switching it off. It took us a while but we found it in the end…. So much for over 200 man years of lifting experience. Just goes to show you never stop learning!