MANUAL CHAIN HOISTS | Q&A


QR Tiger Lifting says that it has thousands of hours of evidence of its manual chain hoists withstanding harsh, offshore environments, which also include subsea and multi-immersion applications (© AquaTerra Group)


IN WHAT ENVIRONMENTS IS IT BETTER TO USE A MANUAL CHAIN HOIST?


PS: With electric, of course, you can’t use that in areas where there’s any risk of spark, whereas with hand chain hoists you don’t have the same risk.


AI: They can be used in environments that might not be suitable for other types of hoists, or when no electrical power nor air supply are readily available at the operation site. Spark-resistant chain blocks and lever hoists [a type of manual chain hoist] are built for use in potentially dangerous areas – environments which may be explosive or highly volatile, where an electric chain hoist wouldn’t be suitable. At Tiger Lifting we have a full range of hoisting and lifting equipment that meets the requirements of the ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU, with third- party verification. This includes upgrades to hooks, internal components and chain where required to minimise the potential for explosion. Using hoists specifically engineered for extreme environments is a key benefit of these types of manual hoists.


AW: Where there is a shutdown on a major industrial site – say, a petrochemical site – they would want something that they would be able to bring in for short or long-term rental. We would obviously have serviced it, examined it, supplied it with all the current paperwork and legislation that it would need on that particular site. The company


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can go out and use the equipment – take valves out, gearboxes, whatever it may be, for refurbishment. They can then take the chain block down from where it’s hung and take it to another part of the plant to do another piece of work with it etc., and at the end of the shutdown send it back up to us, and we do all the refurbishments on the equipment, making it safe to use on the next rental. It’s very much ‘get it in, use it, put it


away, send it back, and [repeat for] the next shutdown’. The company would bring in a brand new set of chain blocks – nice and fresh – and start all over again.


AI: In an offshore environment, Tiger Lifting Specialist manual hoists have thousands of hours of evidence of comfortably withstanding the harshest of environments including subsea and multi-immersion applications. We have a history of hoists that have been working in marine environments for more than ten years that are still in the field today and performing to the highest of standards. It is very much dependant on the manufacturing quality and finish of a manual hoist as to how it will stand up in a demanding environment.


WHAT ARE THE DISADVANTAGES OF A MANUAL CHAIN HOIST?


PS: Blinking hard work! Every user would obviously prefer the powered option – we all want the easy way of life, don’t we? They’re labour-intensive and


obviously quite slow as well. Because of the way the gearbox works with the mechanical advantage [a measure of the force amplification achieved], there’s a lot of pulling the chain around to move the load a small distance. It’s quite a strenuous process.


AI: An electric or pneumatic hoist will generally lift a load much more quickly than a manual hoist, and at the press of a button, whereas the manual hoist requires human effort. So speed and human fatigue may be considered to be the negatives of using manual hoists.


AW: If you had to do the same lift four, five, six times during the course of a day, you wouldn’t want to have a hand chain block because it’s slow. The manpower that you would need to use it would be getting tired and no doubt ratty. You’d obviously have to look then for a powered option. Repetition is the key: if you’re doing the same lift day in and day out, hour in hour out, then you want to be looking at a powered option. But as for disadvantages, it’s a very short list because you can do so much else with chain blocks. There are many more pros than cons.


PS: Another point is the excess chain can get in the way. What you traditionally find with most powered hoists, particularly electric, is they have a chain collecting bag. And although they are available on manual hoists, you don’t see them very often, so


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