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Size matters - a guide to choosing the right sized hand pallet truck
The humble hand pallet truck or pump truck as you may know it is a vital part of most operations. It allows you to transport pallet loads of items throughout your operation. Our range of BT Lifter hand pallet trucks are famed for their durability and long life and in an earlier blog post we told you the 12 reasons to buy one.
Our hand pallet trucks are available to purchase with a range of fork sizes available and there are some considerations you need to make when purchasing your truck to make sure you select the correct size of forks and in today’s blog post, we are going to share these with you.
When selecting a hand pallet truck, there are two different dimensions you need to choose. These are the fork length and the fork width, which can also be known as fork over. The fork length is pretty simple to explain; it’s how long each fork is in millimetres (mm). The fork width however is something you need to pay attention to; it is the total width between the outer edges of both forks.
But how do you know which dimensions to choose? This is influenced by the type of pallet you are transporting. There are two common types of pallet which are used in most operations; these are the Euro Pallet or Epal and the UK GKN Pallet which can also be known as a Chep Pallet.
The other thing you need to consider is how the pallets are loaded; this is something to be increasingly aware of if you use Euro Pallets in your operation. Standard loading of the pallets is carried out by inserting forks into the pallets shorter side, whereas side loading pallets is when the forks are inserted into its longer side. This may then result in a large amount of your forks showing out of the opposite end of the pallet.
Here are the recommended fork dimensions for each type of pallet:
Euro Pallet – 520mm wide x 1150mm long
UK GKN Pallet – 685mm wide x 1000mm long
One thing to remember is that forks which are 520mm wide will also fit into a UK GKN pallet, but 685mm wide forks will not fit into a Euro Pallet. if you are still unsure of what fork dimensions you require, you can always seek advice from a member of our team.
To find out more information or to speak to a member of our team call 0370 850 1409, alternatively if you know which type and size of hand pallet truck you require; you can purchase it online today.