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Residential Elevators are smaller than commercial elevators. The typical commercial elevator is 5' x 7' & will lift 2,500 pounds. The most common home elevator has a standard load capacity of 750 to 1,000 pounds & is 3' x 4'.

Residential Elevators - Home Elevators have 4 primary components:

1) Lifting machinery or mechanism
2) Controller or control console
3) Guide Rails
4) Cabin, Cab or Car.

A second important part of installing a home elevator is it's hoist way or shaft. The hoist way must be built to exact & dead plumb standards and be structural strong at the rail wall to withstand the horizontal, vertical and sheer forces exerted by the weight of elevator & passengers.

Lifting Mechanism: The means by which a residential elevator and its passengers are lifted from one floor to the next can be categorized four ways:

1) Roped Hydraulic Elevators
2) Pneumatic Vacuum Elevators
3) Traction Drive Elevators
4) Winding Drum / Counter Weight Chain Drive Elevators

Roped Hydraulic Residential Elevators. The lifting power is provided by a hydraulic pump that is connected to a long hydraulic piston with a sheave or pulley on top. The pump is usually installed in a machine closet. The piston is supported on a pedestal and is connected to the hoist way wall with a series of brackets. A pair of steel cables commonly called ropes are anchored to the floor of the shaft and then pass up and over the sheave or pulley and then down to the structural part of the cab which looks like an L and is commonly called a sling. The elevator cabin/cab/car sits on this L or sling.

The cab moves 2' for every 1' the piston moves up or down. The pump can be installed in a closet next to the hoist way or remote to the hoist way. This convenience is due to the nature of hydraulic fluid delivery i.e. a hydraulic hose which can be run through the walls or ceiling like a plumber runs pipe, or an electrician runs wire from one location to another. From a design standpoint that's mighty tough to beat. The ride is smooth relative to most other systems because the system is controlled by a two speed valve that allows the cab to start & end slow but goes fast in between. Faster models are also available with four speed valves.

Pneumatic Vacuum Elevator(s):

PVE's are the new kid on the block. These residential elevators do not require a rope, chain or a piston. The system is unique in that the hoist way is an integral part of the elevator. The system is a cab tube inside a hoist way tube. Fit together at such an exact standard that the atmosphere above the cab is isolated. By reducing the atmospheric pressure above, the cab it rises to fill the void and when the atmosphere pressure is decreased the cab slowly descends. Which is a fancy way to say that (5) 200 vac turbines suck the cabin up the tube and one control valve allows air to return to the space above the cab and therefore the cab literally falls on a cushion of air. An energy miser it only uses significant energy on the way up and very little on the way down.

Winding Drum Home Elevators & Counter Weight Chain Drive Home Elevator Systems:

Winding Drum / Counter Weight Chain Drive Elevator System is the original, old school system, which works like a wynch on a truck or a garden hose reel. An electric motor turns a drum which winds in a rope (cable) to raise the cab and the weight of the cab & its passengers coupled with the controlled release of tension on the drum lowers the cab. The drum and motor can be installed at the top or bottom of the hoist way. The counter weight twist allows the motor to be smaller because the cab weight is counter weighted. The counter weight makes the cab & its sling lighter. The motor then only then needs enough power to transfer cable between the cab and the counter weights instead of being power full enough to simply reel in the required rope to raise the cabin.

The selling point of winding drum or counter weight chain drives is that they are slightly cheaper than roped hydraulic or pneumatic vacuum residential elevators. The down side to this system is that they are noisy, and the ride is not smooth. The exact stopping point may also vary dependent upon variation in the weight or number of people in the car. So the car may sometimes stop a bit above or below the intended floor.

Traction Drive Elevator Systems:

Traction Drive Elevator Systems are seen in the residential space on rare occasion. They are much more typically seen in commercial elevator systems.