How to Choose Best Electric Winch for Your Business

Posted by Bishop Lifting Services on May 17th, 2017

An electric winch makes the lifting tasks easier by horizontally pulling a heavy load over a slightly inclined surface. A simple winch, like for say a manual one, composed of a rope or cable wrapped around a drum and barrel. The industrial winches, like electric winches, are used to pull devices like automobiles, boats or to help move pieces of heavy equipment.

Winches are basically used to wind a cable or rope

Is Your Electric Winch Correct?

  1. The electric winches are rated by the maximum load quantity they can pull, where bottom layer of rope is on the drum.
  2. The winch size needed for a particular task depends on several factors like mobility, surface level and weight.
  3. The minimum size of a winch can be calculated by targeting the gross weight of the heaviest object and multiply it by 1.5.

How to Maintain an Electric Winch


Winches must be properly maintained if you want safe results at your workplace.  Managing general guidelines and maintenance instructions are important for the safe operation.

  1. An electric winch must be inspected before and after each use.
  2. If the wire rope seems damaged or kinked, it’s advised to replace it right away.
  3. It is a good habit to keep the winch, remote control and wire rope clean. If required, winch should be unwound completely.
  4. A clean rag can be used to remove any dirt or debris.
  5. When you are using a vehicle-mounted winch, ensure to check and maintain your vehicle battery and its cables. Winch operation for long periods of time puts extra strain on the battery.
  6. Ensure through regular maintenance that your device is in proper working condition.
  7. Routine load testing is a good practice to check how much weight a lifting device can handle.


Types of Gear


There are 3 basic types of gear drivetrain that are found most often in electric winches-

  1. Worm Gear- They are ideally suited for industrial applications like tow trucks with basic specialties like load holding and lowering. They pull slower on downside when compared to other winch types.
  2. Spur Gear- With traditional design, it delivers reliable winching and a speedily line speed. On the other side, they are less stable to hold loads and demands a solid functional brake.
  3. Planetary Gear- It can be considered as a hybrid mix of Worm and Spur gear in terms of delivering features of both. They are compact and light in weight that makes them most suitable for use with electric winches.

It is mandatory to use a quality and most-suited electric winch for a particular application. While a durable device will work long, the correct device when used in any lifting practice results in better and safe results. Moreover, proper inspections and correct usage as per the load carrying capacity is the key to success in lifting industry.

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Bishop Lifting Services
Joined: May 17th, 2017
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