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List of Advantages of the Closet Rods with Motors over the manual pull down closet rods
LIFTING CAPACITY – The closets rods that are motor driven are clearly more powerful than the pull down closet rods. Most pull down lifts have a capacity of lifting only about 30 pounds. This is stated clearly in there specifications. With only a spring assist there is just so much weight that an average person can handle with these manual lifts. This means that often the clothes rail can not even be fully loaded and often has much unused space on the rod. The clothes rails or automated wardrobe lifts that are powered by motor can lift up to 75 pounds. This is a huge advantage and allows the customer to get much more usefulness from his lift.
VERTICAL LIFTING DISTANCE – Pull down closet rods can only rotate 90 degrees and normally only have a vertical lifting distance of about 30 inches. The motor driven wardrobe lifts can lift this distance as well BUT there are also models available that can lift a distance that is MUCH greater. This means that automated wardrobe lifts that have a motor can be used in closets with ceilings that are much higher than the ceilings where a pull-down lift was installed. The Extended Automated Wardrobe Lift from StorageMotion can lift hanging clothes 50 inches and if it is customized it can raise or lower hanging clothes up to 90 inches. This is done by having the arms designed so that the clothes rail can release from the end of the arms and continue to lower once the rotating arms have reached a 90 degrees angle. The Wood Automated Wardrobe Lift from StorageMotion can raise and lower hanging clothes 44 inches. The clothes rail remains intact with the arms with this lift but it has very long rotating arms that can go past 90 degrees as they rotate and thus give a significant vertical lifting distance over the pull down lifts. A manual pull down lift with the same design would be impossible to raise and lower without the assistance of an electric motor.
OPERATION – Pull down closet rods are spring loaded and operated by hand, hence they at times can be difficult to control. For example, if there are only a few clothes on the clothes rail the arms can require a great deal of force to bring down as there is no benefit of the clothes weight to help lower the rail. Many people do not have the strength to operate a pull down clothes rod in this condition. Also if the clothes rail has a great many hanging clothes or is possibly overloaded and the rail is brought down by the user it can be too heavy to control and it can come down too fast and actually break the unit. The motor driven clothes rails do not have any of these issues. They work just as well if underloaded or properly loaded. In the case of an overload the worse that can happen is that the motor will not lift the clothes rail and will automatically shut off until some weight is removed NOTE: This rarely happens as it is usually impossible to place enough clothes on the rail due to space limitations to overload it for a motor driven lift.
RACKING – Motor driven clothes rails have rotating arms that are lifted at the ends of each of the arms by a lifting strap. This means that the clothes rail is lifted at each end and that if the clothes are pushed to one side of the rail the lift still operates effectively. Pull down clothes rails on the other hand have only a pole in the middle of the clothes rail in order to lift and lower the unit. So if the clothes are not evenly spread on the clothes rail the unit will rack and be difficult to raise and lower. The fact that motor driven lifts are engineered to raise and lower at the best physical points makes the lifting operation effortless and keeps the clothes from moving back and forth on the rail as the unit is used.
APPEARANCE – The manual pull down closet rods must include an internal spring loaded mechanism in the rotating arms to work. Hence, they are usually made of plastic and metal which is fine BUT limits any attempt to make the product look high end. The motor driven closet rods do not have to include an internal spring. The Wood Automated Wardrobe Lift from StorageMotion Inc has rotating arms that are made entirely of wood and can be painted to match the rest of the closet. This gives an upscale look that cannot be achieved with the pulldown closet rods.
SPACE CONSTRAINTS – Pull down closet rods are either up or down. Meaning they can only be in two positions, fully raised or fully lowered. The motor driven closet rod or rail can be set to start or stop at any position in their range of travel. For example if the closet has tight space and there is not much room for the user to get around when the lift is in the full 90 degree down position, it can be set to only come down 75 degrees and give the user more space to manuever and acesss his or her closet. This is a big advantage that allows the motor driven closet rod to be used in a design where the pull down closet rod would not be effective or helpful.
CONTROL – Motorized closet rods or rails are controlled with a switch that is mounted on the inside of the cabinet. To make the unit operate, all that is required is the press of a button! Pulldown closet rods on the other hand require access to a pole that is located at the center of the closet rod. The user must take this pole with both hands and push or pull the unit down. If the user does not have full mobility OR uses a wheel chair this can be difficult or impossible. Many times at storage motion we have received calls from cabinet companies that have installed the pulldown closet rods only to find that the client cannot use them. They then have to take them out and have our Automated Wardrobe Lifts installed where activating the unit is much easier.
Conclusion
Motor driven closet rods are by far the superior way to access hanging clothes that are at the top of a high ceiling. The advantages are many and there is little down side to making the investment. They are more expensive then the pull downs but they are definitely worth the increased price. Even if the motor goes bad and wears out over time this problem is easily solved as the motor comes out of the drive tube easily and can be changed to a new motor if necessary. Motor driven closet rods OR as they are also called Automated Wardrobe Lifts are the future of hanging clothes rods that are placed up high in a closet. Everyone wants to be able to access all the space in there closet so this is a need that is not likely to go away. Ceilings have been rising for some time and are not likely to come down in the high end housing market. Much like motor driven garage door openers replaced the manual doors AND much like motor driven shades are often now used to replace manual shades in the home, the motor driven closet rod OR automated wardrobe lift will replace the manual pull down closet rod.