Getting a 200kg woodburning stove up a flight of stairs

[steveo3002]

what about a farmer ..should have something that will stand on the cambered road and lift it for some beers

 

[casement]

I was thinking of wheeling the engine hoist out on to the balcony, with the jib at full extension, attaching a block and tackle to the hoist and pulling the stove up like that. But I had visions of hoist, block, tackle and stove all crashing to earth with a very expensive crash...

Rope can be your friend. Secure the engine hoist from tipping outwards by tying it off to something suitable inside the house, raise the stove, then push or pull the hoist into the house. I use small bits of angle iron to chock hoist casters. Works very well.

I mount simple pulleys on the ends of my engine hoists, and use a "comealong" (tirfor winches are nicer) instead of a hook on the boom itself. Much more convenient way to pull engines and doesn't take up the space of a block-and-tackle.

Once you solve the "raising heavy stuff to the second floor" problem you can do the same again in future. Handy for furniture, fat girls, whatever...

 

[Norm]

Once you solve the "raising heavy stuff to the second floor" problem you can do the same again in future. Handy for furniture, fat girls, whatever...

 

[Mikey D]

Genie lift straight up to the balcony (have one for sale btw )


cheers Mike

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

Sounds like you need a Manitou, something like this....



Ask the local farmers or see if you can hire one from somewhere

 

[brightspark]

just put a few scaffolding planks up the stairs. tie some rope round the fire 2 blokes at the bottom and 2 pulling the rope from the top will pi./././ss it . i hauled a safe out of a cellar heavier than that with 3 people

 

[CTB]

Agree with the manual option. By the time you mess around finding anchor points for ropes or what not, a couple of burly French peasants will have that thing up the steps and a fire going while you were wondering what all the fuss was about.

 

[dannyp]

loader would be the first option imo

failing that pick it up and carry it

 

[wobblemonster]

Go to your local builders merchants and order a pallet of blocks, they always deliver them with a Hiab wagon, slip the driver a nice bottle of Red wine and he will crane it up for you, we get our local Point P to do this for us quite often, bonne chance

 

[mangocrazy]

Certainly a Hiab or Manitou (or similar) would be favourite. I'll probably ring some of the other Brits in the village over the weekend and see if they know of anyone with suitable machinery. The only thing that gets farmed in our area is vines (no complaints from me on that score) so I doubt if crop-sprayers or grape-picking machines would be much use...

I think it's going to come down to bodies, scaffold planks and rope, to be honest. A tirfor sounds like a nice idea, but it's a question of what to tie it off to. In the end I think simple wins every time.

 

[madkayaker]

A thick plank across the top of the stairs often works well or across a door frame or the like

 

[astro_al]

I bet it'll weigh 150 kg by the time you take the grill out etc. between 5 of you that's 30 kg each...

?

Al

 

[shirazman]

As the thread title indicates, I have a small quandary; well, a quandary that weighs around 200kg to be precise....

I'm planning on installing a woodburning boiler stove in my gaff in the South of France. The living room (where the stove is going) is on the first floor, with a garage directly underneath. There are two possible access routes to the first floor - the staircase from the ground floor or the balcony on the first floor, leading to the living room via a sliding French window. The balcony is about 2.5m wide by about 1.5m deep.

I can unload the woodburning stove from my van using an engine hoist, which can also be used to lift the stove into place on the plinth in the living room that the previous occupier had thoughtfully provided. But the big problem is getting the stove from the ground floor to the first floor.

Is this just a case of organising half a dozen burly chaps and mauling the stove up the stairs (it will be delivered palleted, for convenience sake), or is there an easier, smarter way to do this? The stairs are spacious enough to do this, but the idea of 200kg sliding back down towards the poor ******s at the back end of the lifting action doesn't really inspire me with confidence.

I had thought of hiring a forklift to lift the stove up to the first floor balcony, but the road outside is steeply cambered side to side and the house is also on a steep incline, which would make using a forklift a tad precarious.

I'm also at a loss to think of anywhere solid enough that I could attach a block and tackle to. I suppose some kind of crane hire is a possibility, but finding somewhere to get that from in rural France (along with the language difficulty) could be interesting.

Any ideas (off the wall or otherwise) gratefully accepted...

Can I ask what make of stove it is? Only asking because we have just made and sold a 200kg stove to a customer in France and he has exactly the same problem.. could it be you? Dowling Stove by any chance?
I have made many boilers and fitted a few heavier than 200kg and for stairs we sometimes use a sturdy sack barrow.. its amazing the weight they can take. ! man pulling and the other at the bottom pushing. Other ways were a winch at the top, stove on rollers on scaffold battens

 

[KemppiFrog]

Most builders in France have load-alls. Failing that or the 'winch up the stairs on boards', some wooden beams and props to rough up a hoist to the first floor balcony. I bought a 1tonne chain hoist for 50 euro from one of the van sellers. I wouldn't use for a tonne, but it has done a load (oh!) of work. The problem with four burly guys is getting a good lift and then going up the stairs, no room. (I have tried that)Potential for nasty injuries.
Look at www.shopix.fr for hoists and ratchet tirfors.
I think I would pull it up the stairs, more controllable (safe) the planks will always come in useful for something else.
KF

 

[Feanor]

He's probably done it by now but............

I took a woodburner downstairs (I'm in an upstairs flat) about 2 years ago. It's an Esse and probably weighs about 100kg (doors stripped, grate bars, ash pan etc). I did it on my own via 2 scaffold-type planks - actually they were a bit thicker, say 7" x 2" apiece and just to help they were quite oily on one side and so a bit slippy (previous toilings). Some rope, double-lashed round the burner that I manipulated slowly, with a spare safety rope tied to.....something (can't remember), cut to such a length that if something went wrong the burner couldn't crash all the way to the bottom. I can't remember how I got it UP the stairs about 20 years ago, but there were two of us and we were young and capable. A step at a time! I would always try to never have someone 'downwind' of the article and those above pulling or lowering, braced in such a way that it isn't going to snatch you downstairs. At the worst you let go of your rope and rely on the safety rope.

Ages ago I took a Mini engine up those stairs, though split down into crankcase and gearbox with all possible ancillaries off. Just carried each portion. I then rebuilt the engine (in the spare bedroom ) after re-con and renewal of main parts, fitted it to the gearbox, with flywheel, clutch, and as much else as possible where gaskets and sealed away was best. Even the rocker cover fitted. I know I lowered that down the stairs with rope, home alone, and probably on planks I would think. It's about a million years ago so I forget specific details, but it can be done.

It was a beauty when fitted and went like a spitfire. I got a girlfriend shortly after that (no coincidence?) and all such adventures had to promptly cease.

 

[mangocrazy]

Thanks for the continuing comments - the stove saga is still rumbling on, actually. The stove is a Aquatherm eco, not a Dowling. Interesting to know I'm not the only one with the same problem.

The stove should have been in France by now, and should have been taken down (by me) in my Transporter T4 van. Expect I cocked up on the measurements. I simply didn't realise how tall the bluddy thing would be when it was on two pallets (don't ask- that's the way it arrived). It was approx 170cm tall, and the floor to ceiling height on my van is lsss than 140 cm.

So I shelled out for a firm to deliver it to France, but it hasn't moved in nearly 2 weeks. Apparently it will DEFINITELY be with me in the course of next week. It better had be...

And I believe a solution may have been found to the problem of getting it up the stairs. We're not going to do that. A Man with Manitou has been located and it's going up onto the 1st floor balcony after the centre section of railings has been removed, then in through the French windows (not literally, you understand). At least, that's The Plan.

I'll try and take photos of the event for your delectation...

 

[mangocrazy]

Just a quick catch-up to say that the Man with Manitou did the job. The sight of a Manitou inching up this narrow French street with about 6 inches (sorry, 150mm) clearance each side was quite something. Those things are big. The stove had to go onto the balcony at an angle, but it got there in the end.

And I'm afraid I don't have any photos - my digital camera chose that moment to decide it was only taking time exposures (i.e. about 10 seconds) that day. It turned out later that the dial was between 'P' and 'S' modes. Never had that problem with film cameras...

Anyway - the stove is in the living room, at last. And all it cost me was two bottles of beer.

Result.

 

[derekm]

cheating....
some 1" thick wooden blocks and some bricks amd you can walk it up the stairs

 

[mangocrazy]

cheating....
some 1" thick wooden blocks and some bricks amd you can walk it up the stairs

After you, Claude... Frankly, I doubt it. On its two (!) pallets the whole plot stood 1.7 metres tall and was decidedly top heavy. Shipping weight was 250kg, or so it said on the manifest.

I'm not saying Man with Manitou was the only possible way to do it, just that it was painless, reasonably straightforward and nobody got hurt, died or had things fall on them. I'll take that any day.

 

[derekm]

After you, Claude... Frankly, I doubt it. On its two (!) pallets the whole plot stood 1.7 metres tall and was decidedly top heavy. Shipping weight was 250kg, or so it said on the manifest.

I'm not saying Man with Manitou was the only possible way to do it, just that it was painless, reasonably straightforward and nobody got hurt, died or had things fall on them. I'll take that any day.

yep .. milling machines and shapers are the same or heavier or more awkward...