Stainless Steel Chain Hoist

Food Grade Hoists & Trolleys Buying Guide

What food grade changes, and what it does not. The FG suffix on every Harrington hoist here marks a specific set of changes aimed at one problem: stopping a lifting machine from contaminating what passes under it. The load chain is corrosion-resistant Grade 80 DIN chain plated with nickel instead of the usual black or zinc finish, so damp air and steam do not bloom rust onto it. The grease on that chain and the oil in the gearbox are FDA-approved lubricants, picked because a drip lands on product rather than concrete. The hoist body and the bottom hook wear a chip-resistant white epoxy paint that will not flake into an open line, and the exposed hardware is stainless steel and nickel-plated instead of bare steel. What food grade does not mean is direct food contact: these are built for facilities where incidental contact and daily washdown are the risk, not for lifting inside the product itself. If corrosion is not your problem, the standard-finish version of the same machine sits in electric chain hoists for less money.

Size the capacity the honest way. The NER-FG runs 1/4, 1/2, 1, and 2 ton, which covers the overwhelming majority of food and beverage lifts: motors, pumps, mixer heads, filler change parts, and tote or drum work. Size it the honest way, the heaviest thing you will lift plus the hook block, the sling, and any below-hook gear, then round up to the next rating and stop. A hoist run near its ceiling wears fast, and one bought two sizes over is money parked on the beam. Lift height is a catalog choice too, with standard 10, 15, and 20 foot lifts, so measure from the hook's landing point up to the beam and buy the reach the room actually needs. A hook-suspension NER-FG starts around $5,400 and climbs with capacity and lift. If your loads outrun 2 tons, the food grade line ends there, and the job moves to a heavier standard-industrial machine.

Single speed or dual speed. Every NER-FG comes single-speed or dual-speed, and the dual-speed uses an under-the-cover variable frequency drive rather than a two-winding motor. That VFD buys two things a food line values: a slow creep speed for landing a filler part or a mixer blade onto studs without chasing it, and a soft ramp that keeps the load from swinging when the button is pressed or released. Single-speed is the cheaper buy and is right for plain vertical lifting where nothing needs delicate spotting. Dual-speed earns its premium on repetitive change-part work and anywhere a load has to seat precisely into a fixture. Decide which before you order, because the drive is part of the hoist and not something you bolt on later.

Suspension: bare hook, push trolley, or motorized trolley. How the hoist hangs and travels is the biggest fork in this collection, and Harrington sells it three ways. The NER-FG hook suspension model hangs from a beam clamp or a trolley eye, or from the hook of a jib crane or portable gantry, and stays put. The NERP-FG arrives as the hoist already married to a plain push trolley, from about $6,250, that you roll along the beam by hand. The NERM-FG ships with a powered motorized trolley, from about $10,300, that drives the load down the runway on its own pendant button, the clean choice when travel is part of every cycle. If you already own a food grade hoist and only need to add travel, this collection also carries the trolley on its own: the MR-FG motorized trolley in single-speed from about $4,560 and dual-speed from about $6,980, plus the PT-FG push trolley starting near $1,150. Buying the matched hoist-and-trolley package beats sourcing a trolley separately and hoping the flange width lines up.

Confirm the power at your panel. The NER-FG is a three-phase hoist, wired for 460-volt three-phase, sixty-hertz power, which is standard in the plants these serve. Confirm what is at your panel before you order, because a three-phase hoist will not turn on single-phase service, and rewiring a line for three-phase is a far bigger project than the hoist itself. If your only power is single-phase 115 or 230V, the food grade line will not fit as-is, and the decision moves to the single-phase units in the broader electric hoists range, none of which carry the FG washdown package. When you are close to the two-ton line and running the hoist hard, three-phase is the right side of that fork anyway.

Duty class and inspection under ASME B30.16. Two things govern the buy beyond the food-grade finish. First, duty: the NER-FG carries the same H4 classification and sixty-minute-rated motor as the standard NER, which means it is built for high-volume production handling of loads near capacity, not standby use. Size capacity to the heaviest lift, then confirm the duty class covers the busiest hour of the shift, because underbuying duty is the expensive mistake. Second, the rules: overhead electric chain hoists fall under ASME B30.16, the standard covering construction, installation, operation, inspection, testing, and maintenance of underhung and stationary hoists. It calls for a frequent visual check before use plus a documented periodic inspection at least yearly, on intervals that tighten as service gets heavier. Most hoists like these sit outside OSHA 1910.179, which covers only top-running double-girder cranes, so B30.16 is the standard your inspection program follows. Weigh the food grade units against the standard-finish hoists if washdown is not what you are fighting, since the FG package is a premium you pay only when the environment demands it.