Reviewed by Lukasz Zelezny for the Gartec range. Gartec platform lifts are common in UK public and adapted-domestic settings. This page gives the building operator a clear runway — safety edges, gate interlocks, hold-to-run controls — and then hands over, because mechanical and hydraulic diagnosis on a Gartec platform lift is engineer-only work and is treated as such throughout.
Quick Diagnosis
Answer up to three questions. We'll point you at the most likely Gartec fault on this page — full detail stays visible below either way.
Common Gartec Faults
The gartec lift problems reported most often to UK service desks — expanded in the order owners typically encounter them. Several are resolved by routine Gartec maintenance rather than a call-out, and the rest are far quicker to fix when you can describe the symptom precisely to whoever handles your Gartec repair.
Gartec platform lift won't rise from the lower landing
Owner-safe checkThe Gartec platform lift accepts a call but does not move upward.
This is one of the most common reasons UK owners look up Gartec troubleshooting in the first place.
A Gartec platform lift that responds to a call but does not travel is almost always a safety-circuit interlock issue: a gate not fully closed on the platform or a landing, a magnetic reed switch out of alignment, or the hold-to-run button being released mid-call.
Owners can visually confirm every gate on the Gartec lift is fully latched. Check that the platform's own gate is closed and reads as closed on the controller display.
Confirm the operator is pressing the up arrow firmly and continuously.
Most UK platform lifts including many Gartec models are hold-to-run in one or both directions and will stop the instant the button is released.
Anything beyond those visual checks belongs with a competent Gartec engineer.
If it becomes a repeat event, treat it as a Gartec servicing question rather than a one-off Gartec repair; recurring symptoms usually trace back to a missed maintenance interval.
Gartec platform lift safety edge triggered
Engineer onlyThe Gartec platform has stopped mid-descent and reports a safety-edge fault.
Of every Gartec troubleshooting question sent to us. This symptom is among the most frequent.
The safety edge along the underside of a Gartec platform lift is a pressure-sensitive strip designed to stop the platform the instant anything is trapped as it descends.
When it triggers with a visible obstruction — a mop bucket, a cable, a stray leaflet — remove the obstruction, then use the constant-pressure lower control if fitted to complete the trip.
If the Gartec safety edge triggers with nothing beneath the platform, the edge itself or its harness has failed and the platform must not be used until a Gartec engineer has inspected it.
The safety edge is one of the safety-critical components of any UK platform lift, and no operator work-around is appropriate. Keep the Gartec maintenance paperwork with the lift.
Whoever attends the Gartec repair will want to see when the last service was done.
Gartec gate interlock will not clear
Owner-safe checkA landing gate on the Gartec platform lift is reported as open even though it appears closed.
Read this through before booking any Gartec repair. The answer is often simpler than it looks. Half-height landing gates on a Gartec platform lift use magnetic reed switches to prove closure to the controller.
Dirt on the magnet face, a slightly bent gate frame following a knock, a loose reed cable, or an ageing switch will all report the gate as open.
On a Gartec lift the fault display usually names the specific landing.
Owners can safely wipe the magnet face and the reed sensor with a soft cloth, close the gate again to make full contact, and try the call.
If the same landing repeatedly reports open with the gate visibly closed, the interlock needs adjustment or replacement — a Gartec engineer task rather than a building operator one.
Faults in this family are largely prevented by keeping to the Gartec servicing schedule, so check the date of your last Gartec maintenance visit while the paperwork is out.
Gartec platform drifts down when parked
Engineer onlyYour hydraulic Gartec platform lift descends slowly overnight from the upper landing.
Most people arriving at Gartec troubleshooting pages describe the problem in roughly these words. On hydraulic Gartec platform lifts a small amount of overnight drift — a few millimetres per hour.
Is normal ageing behaviour of the hydraulic seals. Anything visible over a working shift.
Especially if the platform is more than a step below the upper landing when a user calls it in the morning. Is a fault and needs an engineer.
Do not try to top up the Gartec hydraulic reservoir yourself; the fluid grade.
The ram bleed sequence and the pressure setting on the Gartec valve block are all specific and get set at start-up testing.
Continue to use the lift only if the drift is under a step. Otherwise take it out of service until a competent engineer has inspected. Add it to the log.
Planned Gartec maintenance is always cheaper than reactive Gartec repair. The log is what turns a vague complaint into a booked servicing job.
Gartec hold-to-run button sticks or intermittent
Engineer onlyThe pendant on the Gartec platform lift feels spongy or the platform stops mid-travel.
Before you phone anyone about a Gartec repair, work through the description below. Hold-to-run buttons on a Gartec platform lift see a very high number of press cycles in public settings.
Schools, clinics, community buildings — and eventually wear out. If a button on the Gartec pendant feels spongy, sticks pressed in, or the platform stops randomly mid-travel and restarts when you release-and-repress.
The button assembly is reaching end of life.
This is a like-for-like part on most Gartec models but is not a building-operator fit item: the wiring must be continuity-tested and the replacement must maintain the specific Gartec switching characteristics for safety.
Log the fault, describe the pattern, and refer to a Gartec engineer. Where the checks do not settle it, describe the symptom in your own words when you ask for Gartec repair.
A plain description helps far more than a guessed diagnosis.
Gartec platform lift has lost power entirely
Owner-safe checkThe Gartec platform lift has gone dark and the isolator switch has tripped.
This symptom accounts for a steady share of the Gartec repair enquiries we see each month.
A Gartec platform lift that has gone completely dead has usually tripped its supply RCD or the local isolator.
Building operators can safely check whether the isolator to the Gartec lift is off and whether the supply RCD in the distribution board has tripped, resetting a tripped RCD once.
If the RCD trips again at once, do not keep resetting: a repeat trip is telling you an insulation fault is present on the Gartec lift and needs a competent engineer to fault-find.
Never remove any cover on the Gartec controller or the pit. The fault-finding on a tripped supply always happens with the lift isolated at source.
A short entry in the Gartec maintenance log now avoids any later doubt about whether the fault was reported before the next Gartec servicing visit.
Gartec repair
A genuine Gartec repair starts with an accurate description of the fault, not with a part number. Record the error shown on the display or keypad, when it appears, and whether the platform lift behaves differently on the way up than on the way down. Engineers quote far more accurately from that detail, and you avoid paying for a diagnostic visit that only repeats what you already know.
Anything behind a cover or panel, in the pit or shaft, or involving doors, gates and interlocks is engineer-only work. Your part of a Gartec repair is to check and report: mains power on, isolator on, emergency stop out, nothing in the door threshold, and a written note of the fault code.
What Noise Is Your Gartec Lift Making?
Lifts talk. Not eloquently — but a grind, a beep or an ominous silence each means something. Press play, compare, and pick the closest match.
Example sounds are synthesized approximations to help you compare — not recordings of Gartec equipment.
Grinding — likely causes on a Gartec lift
⚠️ Engineer only- Screw-drive nut worn and needing replacement
- Guide shoes worn against the rail
- Debris in the pit that has migrated onto the platform track
Grinding on a Gartec platform lift is a stop-using-it symptom. Bring the platform to the lower landing, turn the key switch off, and put the lift out of service until an engineer has been.
Note the exact travel position where the grinding is loudest. Bottom, top, mid-travel — and whether it happens going up, going down or both.
Screw-driven Gartec platform lifts and hydraulic platform lifts fail this way for very different reasons. So that detail changes what the engineer brings. Do not remove any covers on the drive or motor housing.
What Light Is Your Gartec Lift Showing?
Lifts also talk in light. Pick what you can see.
Steady red — on a Gartec lift
✅ Owner-safe check- Emergency-stop button pressed on a landing or the platform
- Gate interlock reporting open on one landing
- Latched fault — commonly a safety-edge trip that needs a controller reset
A red lamp that stays on rather than blinking on a Gartec platform lift points to an interrupted safety circuit or a fault the controller is holding.
Nine times in ten it is something in plain sight rather than a hidden electrical failure.
Work through the obvious first: close both landing gates firmly against their frames, release any pressed emergency stop with a quarter-turn, and look along the platform edge for anything caught in the safety edge.
If those checks fix it, use the lift as normal.
If not, treat it as an engineer job: keep the supply on, stop cycling the controls, and email the exact light behaviour to your service provider.
Is It Safe to Keep Using It?
Three questions. Ten seconds. Answer honestly.
When to Call an Engineer
Once you reach the safety chain, stop. Report the following on your Gartec lift to your service provider, or use the form below:
- Repeat faults within minutes of a reset.
- Burning smell, smoke, or visible damage to cabling or controls.
- Water ingress in the pit, machine room or car.
- A car outside its normal range or not level at the landing.
- Intermittent operation of doors, gates or interlocks.
Gartec servicing
Ask any provider quoting for Gartec servicing what is actually included: number of visits, whether the alarm and emergency lowering are tested each time, whether batteries and consumables are covered, and what the response time is when something fails between visits. Two quotes at the same price often describe very different contracts.
Keep every service sheet. A dated history of Gartec servicing tells the next engineer which parts have already been changed, supports any warranty claim, and is the first thing a buyer's surveyor asks for when the property changes hands.
Gartec at a glance
Quick reference: how Gartec lifts are built, how they show faults, and where the official documentation lives.
- Segment
- Distributor (UK)
- HQ / market
- UK
- Key products
- Aritco platform + home lifts
- How faults are shown
- As Aritco
- Coverage on this page
- See Aritco rows
- Platform / ownership
- UK Aritco partner
- Official code source
- Aritco manuals via Gartec
About Gartec
Reviewed by Lukasz Zelezny for the Gartec range. Gartec platform lifts are common in UK public and adapted-domestic settings. This page gives the building operator a clear runway — safety edges, gate interlocks, hold-to-run controls — and then hands over, because mechanical and hydraulic diagnosis on a Gartec platform lift is engineer-only work and is treated as such throughout.
Lift Troubleshooting is an independent resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Gartec. See our full disclaimer.
Gartec maintenance
Day-to-day Gartec maintenance is mostly housekeeping, and all of it is safe from outside the equipment: keep charge points and landings clear, keep the platform lift on power rather than isolating it between uses, and keep the door threshold free of grit, rugs and packaging.
Nothing in owner-level Gartec maintenance involves removing covers, entering the pit or shaft, or adjusting doors, gates or interlocks. If a check cannot be done from the landing with the equipment behaving normally, it belongs to a qualified engineer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of equipment does Gartec make?
Gartec is a distributor (uk) manufacturer active in UK. The ranges most often met in the UK are Aritco platform + home lifts.
The fault-finding below is written around the behaviour those Gartec ranges share rather than around one model number.
So start here and then confirm your exact model from the rating plate before you quote anything to an engineer. One thing worth knowing: the reference note for Gartec reads "UK Aritco partner".
This can change whose manual actually applies to your machine.
What does the Gartec display or indicator tell me?
On Gartec equipment the sign is described as: As Aritco. Codes are not standardised between makers, or even between board generations within Gartec, so photograph exactly what you see.
The characters, the lamp colour, the flash pattern — and report that with the model from the plate. Read the sign; do not open the Gartec controller or any panel to chase it.
What is the most common Gartec fault?
The fault this page opens with is "Gartec platform lift won't rise from the lower landing". The Gartec platform lift accepts a call but does not move upward.
The next most reported Gartec symptom is "Gartec platform lift safety edge triggered". Work through the safe checks listed against each one, note what you observe, and pass that to a competent lift engineer.
All on this page stops at check-and-report: nothing here asks the building operator to force a door, move a stalled car, remove a panel or enter a pit or shaft.
How do I get the Gartec documentation for my machine?
The authoritative reference for this brand is the Aritco manuals via Gartec. Gartec publishes to its own channels and to registered trade accounts rather than openly.
So if you have no account, ask your maintenance contractor to supply the Gartec document that covers your fitting.
Our own coverage of Gartec is currently rated "See Aritco rows", so treat this page as an orientation and the manufacturer's document as the authority.
Can building staff reset a Gartec platform lift?
Only the controls the Gartec operator paperwork puts in the operator's hands, usually a key-switch or a documented reset on the panel face. Removing covers to reach the Gartec controller is engineer work.
If a documented reset does not restore service, stop, put the platform out of use, and report the sign you saw.