SOVDA Lift Buying Guide: Options, Sizing and FAQs

SOVDA Lift Buying Guide: How to Configure the Right Coffee Conveyor for Your Roastery

Quick answer: The SOVDA Lift is a vacuum conveyor that moves whole-bean coffee between your machines, so nobody on your team carries heavy buckets up a ladder again. Every Lift is built from three parts: a hopper where coffee goes in, a pipe run, and a suction unit. Pick the hopper for your roaster size, then add upgrades like the Destoner, Precision Hopper, Sensors or SOVDA Vacuum Box where they take real work off your team.

This guide explains what the Lift does, who it's for, and what every upgrade does: Destoner, Precision Hopper, Sensors, Double Hopper, Double Cyclone, the 150 L and 230 L hoppers and the SOVDA Vacuum Box. For each upgrade, we'll tell you what we recommend.

Do you need a Lift?

Batch size matters more than roastery size. Once batches go above about 8 kg (18 lb), lifting coffee to shoulder height or up a ladder becomes exhausting and risky, and it happens several times a day.

• Our rule of thumb: if you roast more than 10 batches above 8 kg (18 lb) on any day, strongly consider a Lift.
• If it's your team doing the lifting, not just you, it matters even more. A Lift is the safety and comfort you owe the people who roast with you.
• It pays back in fewer strains and injuries, less fatigue at the end of a shift, and time your team spends on coffee instead of carrying it.

So a Lift isn't only for big roasteries. It's for any roastery where people lift heavy coffee every day.

How the SOVDA Lift works

Coffee goes into a hopper at floor level. A vacuum pulls it through food-grade stainless steel piping into a cyclone mounted on top of your next machine, and the cyclone drops it into that machine's hopper.

• What it moves: green or roasted whole-bean coffee, but not ground coffee. Conveying green coffee requires the SOVDA Vacuum Box.
• Where it goes: into a roaster, a color sorter, a weigh-and-fill machine, a blender, a destoner or a silo. A custom mounting plate fits the cyclone to non-SOVDA equipment ($500 per machine).
• Conveying rate: 900–1,500 kg (2,000–3,300 lb) per hour for green coffee and 500–1,000 kg (1,100–2,200 lb) per hour for roasted coffee, depending on your configuration and pipe run.
• Distance: up to [TO VERIFY: max height] vertically and [TO VERIFY: max horizontal distance] horizontally with the standard setup. For longer or taller runs, we recommend the SOVDA Vacuum Box.
• Gentle on roasted coffee: with the right settings and pipe layout, breakage is minimal. We help you set both up.
• Built-in protection: every Lift hopper includes a rare-earth magnet that catches metal like screws before it reaches your next machine.
• Green or roasted: we recommend a dedicated Lift for each. Switching one Lift between green and roasted coffee means cleaning it every time.

Choose your hopper size: 60 L, 150 L or 230 L

Your hopper is where your team pours the coffee. Size it to your roaster's drum:

• 60 L Hopper (standard): for roasters up to 35 kg (77 lb). It comes with every Lift and suits most roasteries.
• 150 L Hopper: for roasters from 35 to 70 kg (77–154 lb). It comfortably takes a full 60 kg (132 lb) sack of green coffee.
• 230 L Hopper: for roasters above 70 kg (154 lb), up to 125 kg (276 lb). It holds about 120 kg (265 lb), depending on the coffee.
• Mini Hopper with Sensors (25 L): the smallest footprint, for tight spaces. Sensors are built in.
• Lance: a wand that pulls coffee straight from a sack, bin or bucket, with no hopper at all. You can have a lance, a hopper, or both.

Plan your loading height. The 150 L and 230 L hoppers sit taller than the 60 L. Think about how you'll pour into them, for example straight from your cooling tray or by tipping a sack, and we'll help you choose the right setup.

We recommend: choose by drum size. If you're planning a bigger roaster in the next year or two, size for that one. You can upgrade your hopper later.

Destoner Upgrade

The Destoner Upgrade adds a built-in fluid-bed destoner to your Lift hopper. Air lifts the roasted beans while anything denser, most often stones, drops out into a trap that you empty from time to time. Your coffee is destoned while it's conveyed, in one step and with no extra machine.

• Why it matters: a single stone can destroy a grinder, whether it's yours or your wholesale customer's. Worse, it's a stone in a food product you shipped. That's a cracked tooth, a complaint and a damaged reputation.
• A small extra with a big benefit: the destoner adds no floor space and no extra step to your day.
• Already have a destoner? We still recommend it. Redundancy is the point: stones that slip past one destoner are caught by the second.
• Metal too: every Lift hopper has a magnet, so with the destoner you catch both stones and metal like screws.
• Roasted coffee only. Green coffee is too dense for the fluid bed to separate stones from beans.

We recommend: the Destoner on every Lift that carries roasted coffee to a sorter, packing machine or grinder.

Precision Hopper (integrated scale)

The Precision Hopper Upgrade builds a scale into your hopper and shows the live weight of the coffee you're conveying (resolution up to 2 g). It comes in 60 L and 150 L.

• No floor-scale step: weigh and load in one go. You don't weigh on a floor scale and then climb up to pour.
• Moisture loss per batch: weigh green coffee going into your roaster and roasted coffee coming out, and you know your roast loss for every batch. That's one of the most useful numbers for consistency.
• Blend components: weigh each component before it goes into the SOVDA Blend.
• Inventory accuracy: know exactly how much green coffee you've used, batch by batch.

We recommend: the Precision Hopper on the Lift that loads your roaster. It replaces the floor scale you use for every batch.

Sensor Package

The Sensor Package lets your Lift run on its own. There are two sensors, and you can use either one or both:

• Hopper sensor (auto start and stop): the Lift starts conveying when coffee enters the hopper and stops when it's empty. A delay timer clears the last beans.
• Full sensor (auto stop): the Lift stops when the machine it's loading is full, so it can't overfill your sorter, filler or roaster.
• Without sensors: the Lift runs on timers you set for how long it loads (TH) and how long it drops (TL) each cycle.

We recommend: both sensors on any Lift filled several times a day, such as under a cooling tray or at a packing station. Your team pours and walks away.

Double Hopper: two hoppers, one machine

The Double Hopper adds a second hopper to your Lift. Both hoppers feed the same machine, and you choose which one the Lift pulls from on the control box.

• Typical setup: two roasters feeding one Pearl Mini color sorter.
• What it saves: a second complete Lift. You share one cyclone and one suction unit.

Double Cyclone: one hopper, two machines

The Double Cyclone adds a second cyclone, so one hopper can deliver coffee to two machines. You choose the destination on the control box.

• Typical setups: one hopper that feeds either your color sorter or your weigh-and-fill machine, or one hopper feeding two packing lines, such as two Precision Fill machines.
• What it saves: a second hopper, a second suction unit and a second Lift.

Double Hopper or Double Cyclone? If coffee comes from two places into one machine, choose the Double Hopper. If coffee goes to two machines from one place, choose the Double Cyclone. You can't combine both on one Lift. Two hoppers and two destinations means two Lifts.

SOVDA Vacuum Box

Every Lift comes with a standard central vacuum for roasted coffee. It's compact, costs less and runs on 120 V, 60 Hz (North America) or 220 V, 50 Hz (elsewhere). The SOVDA Vacuum Box is the industrial upgrade. It's required for green coffee, and we recommend it for most roasted-coffee Lifts too.

• Required for green coffee: green beans are denser and heavier than roasted, so they need the Vacuum Box's stronger suction.
• Much quieter: a real difference in a working roastery, and essential if your roastery is open to customers.
• Digital VFD control: adjust suction precisely for your coffee and pipe run. Getting the setting right also keeps breakage on roasted coffee minimal.
• Faster conveying than the standard vacuum.
• Better filtration: less dust goes back into your roastery.
• Longer service life: built for all-day, high-volume use.
• Easy maintenance: filter care is simple and quick.
• Power: 220–240 V, 50/60 Hz single phase, 2.4 kW. You need one Vacuum Box per Lift.

We recommend: the Vacuum Box on every Lift that carries green coffee, where it's required, and on any Lift that runs all day, conveys high volumes, has a long or tall pipe run, or works in a space where noise matters.

Plan your pipe run

The piping uses Tri-Clamp spools that go together in minutes, and extra pipe is available by the metre. To plan your run:

• Measure the height from the floor to the top of your target machine's hopper.
• Measure the horizontal distance between your hopper and the machine.
• Note any obstacles: beams, doors and walkways.
• For non-SOVDA machines, measure the top of the hopper the cyclone will sit on. We fabricate a custom mounting plate to fit.

Send us these measurements and we'll design the layout with you. Plan-view layout files (PDF and DWG) are on the SOVDA Lift page.

Example configurations

• Green coffee into a 45 kg (99 lb) roaster: 150 L Precision Hopper with both sensors and the SOVDA Vacuum Box, plus a custom mounting plate on your roaster.
• Roaster to color sorter: 60 L hopper with the Destoner and sensors, conveying into the Pearl Mini.
• Two roasters, one sorter: Double Hopper feeding the Pearl Mini, with the Destoner and SOVDA Vacuum Box.
• Packing: 60 L hopper with sensors and a Double Cyclone feeding two Precision Fill or Precision Fill Mini machines.

Installation, lead time and payment

• Installation: two people can set up a Lift in under 2 hours. The Tri-Clamp piping clips together, and our step-by-step guides walk you through it.
• Movable later: if your roastery layout changes, you can reconfigure or move your Lift.
• Lead time: up to 150 days from order to delivery. Lift parts are often in stock, so many orders ship much faster. See Shipping & Import.
• Payment: see Payment Options for payment methods and split payments on larger orders.

The bottom line

If your team lifts heavy coffee every day, a Lift is the most direct way to make that work safer and faster. Choose your hopper by drum size, and add the Destoner to any Lift carrying roasted coffee. Use Sensors so your team can walk away. Choose the SOVDA Vacuum Box for green coffee, where it's required, and for quiet, all-day conveying. Every upgrade can be added later, so buy for the roastery you run today and upgrade as it grows.

FAQ

Is a Lift only for big roasteries? No. It depends on your batch size. If you roast more than 10 batches above 8 kg (18 lb) on any day, a Lift will save your team a lot of heavy lifting.

Can I use the Lift with my existing equipment? Yes. It mounts onto roasters, color sorters, weigh-and-fill machines, destoners and silos with a custom mounting plate ($500 per machine). We just need the measurements of the hopper it will sit on.

Which hopper size do I need? Choose by your roaster's drum size. Pick the 60 L for roasters up to 35 kg (77 lb), the 150 L for 35–70 kg (77–154 lb) and the 230 L for roasters above 70 kg (154 lb), up to 125 kg (276 lb).

Does the Lift break roasted beans? With the right settings and pipe layout, breakage is minimal. We help you set up both, and the SOVDA Vacuum Box's VFD control lets you fine-tune the suction.

Is installation complicated? No. Two people can set up a Lift in under 2 hours, and you can move or reconfigure it later.

Can one Lift feed two machines? Yes, with the Double Cyclone. To feed one machine from two hoppers, choose the Double Hopper instead. You select the hopper or destination on the control box.

Will the Lift overfill my machine? Not with the Sensor Package. The full sensor stops the Lift when the machine it's loading is full.

Do I need the Destoner if my roaster already has one? We recommend it. It's a small extra that gives you a second line of defence against stones reaching a grinder or a customer. It works on roasted coffee only.

Can the Lift convey green coffee? Yes, with the SOVDA Vacuum Box, which is required for green coffee. A 150 L or 230 L hopper takes a full sack, and a Precision Hopper weighs your charge as it loads your roaster.

Can one SOVDA Vacuum Box run several Lifts? No. Each Lift needs its own suction unit.

Can the Lift convey ground coffee? No. The Lift is designed for green or roasted whole-bean coffee.

Can I add upgrades later? Yes. The Destoner, Sensors, Precision Hopper and larger hoppers are all retrofit-friendly.

Not sure which configuration fits your roastery? Talk to our team. Tell us your roaster size, what you're moving and where, and we'll design your Lift setup with you.