If you're considering adding a residential elevator to your home, pneumatic lifts are one of the more economical options, especially as no machine room, pit, or hoist way has to be carved out of your home. Using a clear tube with a car inside, the system for a pneumatic elevator can be placed anywhere, as long as the ground is level.

The compact nature of pneumatic residential elevators makes them popular for those looking for a convenient way to get from floor to floor in their home or small commercial building. The cab inside a pneumatic lift can move up to 30 feet per minute and up to 35 feet at a time. Additionally, no lubrication is needed to move the cab.

Instead, air pressure regulated by a valve moves the elevator between floors. If you're looking for more ways to go green and reduce your carbon footprint, these residential elevators involve minimal energy consumption, with only a slight amount used to move the cab up via turbines.

How does one of these residential elevators work? To lift the cab inside, a piston depressurizes the area inside the tube and the lowered air pressure above and increased atmospheric pressure below the cab causes it to lift. When the valve above controls the pneumatic pressure, the cab descends.

As far as stopping on each floor, the tube has locking devices on the interior to stop the cab at upper and lower limits. Residential elevators need emergency features, and pneumatic lifts are all equipped with a braking system in case the atmospheric pressure inside the tube returns to normal.

If you're considering a pneumatic design for your home, such residential elevators are capable of lifting 450 pounds. While the cabs for most aren't wide enough for handicapped access, they're sufficient enough to move one to two people standing between floors of a home or small commercial building no more than three stories tall.