c/elevator-mechanics

18

ryanm60•1d ago

Just dropped $400 on a new hoistway door roller gauge and it was a total game changer

We had this one job downtown where the doors kept binding on a 15-story building. The old gauge was off by almost an eighth of an inch, so every adjustment was a guess. Bought the new digital gauge, set it up in five minutes, and had the whole bank running smooth. Anyone else find a tool that just makes one annoying job way easier?

1

murray.cora•1d ago

I dropped $450 on a digital governor tester and I'm not sure it was worth it

Everyone in my shop was pushing me to get one, saying it would cut my setup time in half. So I bought the GDT-2000 model about six months ago. Sure, it gives you a nice readout on a screen, but honestly, for most of the jobs I do in these older buildings in Tacoma, my old trusty tach and a careful ear work just as well. The digital unit is fussy with some of the older relay logic, and I've had to double-check its calibration twice already. It feels like a solution for a problem I didn't really have, and now it just sits in my van unless I'm dealing with a brand new install. Has anyone else found these fancy digital tools to be more trouble than they're worth for regular maintenance work?

6

claire_davis31•1d ago

I always thought the old school way to set governor rope tension was good enough

On a job in a 1970s office building last month, I was working on a hydro unit and the specs called for 150 pounds of tension. I used my usual method of pulling by hand and checking the play. The car kept getting a slight bounce at the top floor. My buddy told me to try his digital tension gauge, so I hooked it up. The reading showed I was off by almost 40 pounds. Once I set it right with the gauge, the bounce was gone. Has anyone else found a specific tool that fixed a problem you didn't know you had?

20

aaronsullivan•4d ago

Saw a really old Otis traction machine still running in a 1920s building downtown

I was doing a call at the old Masonic Temple building in the city center yesterday. In the machine room, they've still got the original Otis traction unit from when the place was built, I'd guess around 1928. The thing is massive, all cast iron and open gears, and it's just humming along. The maintenance log showed a full bearing replacement about ten years back, but otherwise it's original. It got me thinking about how much simpler the engineering was back then, even if it's a beast to work on. For the guys who've been in the trade a long time, what's the oldest piece of gear you've seen still in daily service?

9

robertcarr•5d ago

Shoutout to the old timers who warned me about digital door locks

When our shop in Tacoma started putting in those first digital door lock systems about eight years back, I thought it was just a gimmick. I mean, a keypad and a little motor instead of a solid mechanical latch? Felt like asking for trouble. Then we got a call for a stuck car at the Cascade Medical Center, and the issue was a failed sensor in the lock assembly. Took me and a buddy three hours to trace the wiring and find the bad part, a tiny chip that cost maybe five bucks but shut the whole thing down. What changed my mind was seeing how reliable they've become with the newer models, especially for hospitals and offices where access control is a big deal. Now I keep a full set of diagnostic tools for them in my van. Still miss the simple click of a good mechanical lock though. Anyone else have a part they hated at first but now can't work without?

15

umar49•5d ago

Can we talk about the old way we used to check for door zone faults...

I used to just listen for the click and watch the light, but a call at the First National building downtown showed me that doesn't always catch it. The door zone on that 1998 Dover was just a hair out, and I only found it by putting a meter on the lock contacts and seeing the voltage drop. Now I always meter the lock circuit first, even if the light says it's fine. Anyone else run into a 'good' light on a bad lock?

25

leehall•6d ago

Thought those new wireless testers were just a gimmick

Honestly, I got one of those Fluke Connect kits last month for a job in a high rise downtown and figured it would just be extra junk in my bag. Tbh, after using it to check a bunch of landing door locks from the pit without running back to the controller each time, I saved over an hour on the call. Ngl, has anyone else tried these and found a good use for them on older relay systems?

-1

leewalker•6d ago

Hot take: I thought a binding governor was a quick fix until I spent 8 hours on a 1998 Dover in the old First National building.

The main spring tension was fine, but the real issue was a tiny piece of worn bushing material stuck in the linkage that you could only see if you took the whole assembly apart... anyone else ever find a problem hiding in plain sight like that?

23

viola_lopez30•8d ago

Rant: A firefighter argued that our elevator recall procedures are too slow

He said, 'Your five-minute reset is a lifetime in a fire stairwell.' Has anyone else had to defend our standard response times to other trades?

36

drewr15•9d ago

Question about the real cost of those 'smart' elevator systems

I was reading a report from the National Elevator Industry Inc. last week, and a number jumped out at me. It said the average annual maintenance cost for a new 'smart' elevator with full IoT monitoring is about 40% higher than for a standard unit. I've been installing the Kone DX system for a building downtown, and I gotta say, I think the extra cost is a tough sell. The building manager showed me the dashboard, and half the alerts were for stuff like 'door cycle time slightly above average' that didn't need a service call. We're adding complexity and price for data that often just creates more work, not less. In my view, a well-maintained standard elevator with a solid quarterly check is more reliable and cheaper in the long run. Has anyone else run the numbers on their buildings and found the smart features aren't paying off?

22

faith_shah88•9d ago

Was in a 1980s office building in Akron yesterday and every single elevator had a different brand of controller retrofit

Seriously, it was wild. One was a Montgomery, the next was an Otis, then a Dover. The super said they just fix whatever breaks with whatever part they can get. Makes me wonder if anyone else has seen a building that's basically a museum of elevator tech. How do you even stock parts for that?

22

rowanhernandez•10d ago

Got my first solo traction job done without a call back

Three years ago, I was just a helper on a crew in Kansas City, mostly handing tools and watching. Last month, my boss put me on a full traction machine swap in a five story office building downtown. The old MCE was shot, and we had to get the new one in and lined up in a tight machine room. I spent two full days on the alignment, checking and rechecking with a feeler gauge and a laser. My hands were shaking when I powered it up for the first test run. But it ran smooth as glass, no strange noises, perfect leveling. The super just called to say it's been running fine for a full cycle now with zero issues. It's a small thing, but it feels huge. Anyone else remember that first big job you ran start to finish on your own?

12

felix414•11d ago

I was sure those new smart diagnostic tools were just a gimmick

Our shop in Omaha got a demo unit for that handheld diagnostic reader about six months ago, and I rolled my eyes. I figured it was just a fancy screen for stuff we already knew. Then last week, we had a weird intermittent fault on a 15-year-old Otis Gen2. It would just stop, no codes on the car top. I spent half a day checking the usual suspects. My boss told me to try the new tool. I hooked it up, let it run a few cycles, and it flagged a voltage drop in the door lock circuit that only happened when the car was at the third floor. I never would have caught that so fast with a meter. I'm still not sold on all the bells and whistles, but for chasing ghosts, it's pretty solid. Anyone else have a job where one of these things actually saved your bacon?

29

rowanhernandez•15d ago

That weird hum in a 90s Dover traction machine turned out to be a simple fix

Got called out for a constant low hum in a bank of three elevators in a 20 story office building. The super said it had been there for years and two other companies couldn't find it. I isolated it to the machine room, pulled the main line fuses one by one, and the hum stopped when I pulled the one for the car top fan circuit. The 120V transformer for that circuit was mounted directly to the steel machine bed, vibrating it. I put a half inch of rubber gasket material under the mounting feet. Hum gone in ten minutes. Anyone else run into a vibration noise that was way simpler than it sounded?

17

beth711•16d ago

Rant: A new guy on the job in Tampa told me my governor rope tension was off by a quarter inch and he was right.

I always eyeballed it, but after he showed me his gauge reading, I started checking every car with a tension meter first thing, so what's one small habit you changed after getting called out?

7

pat_moore•18d ago

My uncle told me to always carry a spare 3/8 inch drive ratchet in my back pocket

Honestly, I thought he was just being weird about his old Milwaukee tools. Last Tuesday in Cincinnati, I was stuck in a machine room with a stripped bolt and my main ratchet wouldn't grip. Tbh, that little spare in my pocket was the only thing that got the door panel off before the building manager showed up. Anyone else get saved by a weird piece of advice they almost ignored?

1

maxf33•20d ago

Unpopular opinion: I thought that new magnetic hoist rope guide was just a gimmick.

Used it on a 15-story traction job in Phoenix and it cut my rope feed time by half. Anyone have a different brand they swear by?

1

leo_black76•20d ago

This architect in a Chicago high-rise changed how I see the whole job

I was doing a full door adjustment on a 30-year-old Otis unit last spring, and the building's architect happened to be there. He watched me for a solid ten minutes, then said, 'You're not just fixing a door... you're preserving the rhythm of the building.' He explained how the original specs called for a specific, quiet opening speed to match the lobby's atmosphere. I'd never thought about it like that before. Anyone else had a client point out something about the design intent you'd totally missed?

20

keith_bennett•23d ago

Just noticed the elevator at the old Grandview Hotel in Spokane still has its original 1920s manual door clutch.

The brass linkage was worn but still engaging, which got me thinking about the oldest working part you've all seen still in daily service.

18

shane_hayes•24d ago

Cleared 100 callbacks in a month and it made me rethink the whole 'fix it fast' thing

I mean, that's a lot of repeat visits, and most were for the same three issues on new units. Has anyone else seen a jump in callbacks on the latest models?

17

spencer400•25d ago

Had to choose between a 3/8-inch drive and a 1/2-inch for a stubborn sheave bolt in a Boston high-rise

The bolt on the 12th floor machine room was totally frozen, and I only had room for one breaker bar setup. I went with the 1/2-inch drive and a cheater pipe, which worked, but the bolt head snapped clean off with a loud pop that made the building manager jump. Anyone have a better method for seized hardware in tight spaces?

22

spencer400•25d ago

A firefighter in Chicago told me our elevator recall switch saved his team 15 minutes during a call.

Has anyone else had emergency crews specifically thank them for a code feature you installed?

9

john_fisher•25d ago

Just read that the average elevator cable has over 200 individual wires

I was flipping through an old trade magazine at the dentist's office yesterday and saw a piece on cable construction. It said a standard 3/4 inch traction cable typically has 219 individual steel wires inside it. I always knew there were a bunch, but I figured maybe 50 or 60, not over two hundred. It makes sense for the flexibility and strength, but that number really stuck with me. Has anyone else come across a specific detail about our gear that made you pause and think?

16

aaronsullivan•26d ago

Pro tip: Don't assume the obvious on a door lockout call

Got a call for a car stuck between floors, classic lockout. Spent 45 minutes checking the hoistway door interlocks and the car top before I found the issue. A single, frayed wire strand from the COP ribbon cable was shorting against the frame. Anyone else wasted time on a simple part causing a complex fault?

24

west.casey•26d ago

A firefighter in Dallas told me our 5-minute door hold rule is a joke during a real fire

He said they see elevator doors fail under heat way faster, so now I'm pushing my crew to treat the 90-second test as the ONLY safe standard, not some minimum to beat.