Vacuum lifter guides, calculators and standards for buyers and EHS staff
These vacuum lifter guides are written for the people who buy, specify or check manual handling equipment: purchasing, EHS staff and distributors. They are grouped by the question you arrive with: which lifter and at what price, what the law allows a person to lift, which standard and inspection applies, and two calculators that turn a load and a site into numbers. Each guide is compiled from public standards and manufacturers' published data, and each ends where it should, at the request a quote form if you want the figures for your own load.
Choosing and pricing a vacuum tube lifter
Start here if you are comparing lifters or quotations: how to size one, what it costs, how it works, why porous sacks lose capacity, and how to read the vacuum figures on a data sheet.
| Guide | What it answers | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Selection guide | The questions a quotation needs answered, in order: load, packaging, cycle, reach, site | Vacuum lifter selection guide |
| Price guide | What drives the price of a tube lifter and its crane, and what a budget line should include | Vacuum lifter price guide |
| How it works | Lower, grip, lift, hold and release, the parts of the system, and what happens when the power fails | How a vacuum tube lifter works |
| Porous sacks | Why paper and woven sacks lose capacity, planning derating by sack type, and the sample test | Porous paper and woven sacks |
| Vacuum units | Gauge against absolute vacuum, converting kPa, mbar and inHg, and reading the gauge and alarm on a lifter | Vacuum pressure and units explained |
Manual handling limits and the law
Start here if the question is whether a person may lift the load at all, how to show an inspector you assessed it, and which mechanical aids the regulators have in mind.
| Guide | What it answers | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Weight limits by country | The lifting limits and guidance values in the markets we ship to, and how they are read | Manual handling weight limits by country |
| OSHA lifting limit | Whether OSHA sets a maximum weight, and what the General Duty Clause and the NIOSH equation mean for a plant | OSHA lifting weight limit |
| Risk assessment example | A worked assessment of a sack station, with the template to fill in for your own | Manual handling risk assessment example |
| Mechanical aids | The families of lifting aids regulators expect, and where a vacuum tube lifter sits among them | Mechanical aids for manual handling |
| Manual palletizing | The injury pattern of hand palletizing and how a lifter under a jib crane changes the station | Manual palletizing |
Standards and upkeep
Start here if you must say which standard a lifter is built to, what documents to ask a supplier for, and what to check before each shift.
| Guide | What it answers | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Standards | EN 13155, ASME B30.20 and BTH-1, which market asks for which, and what a supplier's documents should show | Standards for vacuum lifting devices |
| Maintenance checklist | The daily pre-use and weekly checks, wear parts, and the printable sheet | Maintenance checklist |
Calculators
Two tools that turn a load and a site into figures you can put in an enquiry. Both are estimates; the manufacturer's rating and the sample test decide.
| Tool | What it gives you | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity calculator | Theoretical lifting mass from tube diameter and working vacuum, derated for porosity and altitude, with the pad area check | Vacuum lifter capacity calculator |
| NIOSH lifting calculator | The recommended weight limit and lifting index for a manual lift, to show whether a station needs an aid | NIOSH lifting calculator |
send the load, the packaging and the site, and we size the lifter for you.
What this section does not cover
These pages are not legal advice and do not replace the text of a standard or regulation; glass and stone vacuum lifters and loads above the range of this site are outside it.
Cowest Machinery designs and manufactures vacuum tube lifters at its factory in Qingyuan, Guangdong, China.