c/elevator-mechanics

Showerthought: A chat with an old timer at the supply house in Spokane changed how I check door locks.

He told me about a call he got last year where a 1998 Dover Miconic's door lock passed the continuity test but still failed under load, causing a nuisance stop. He said, 'Don't just check for a circuit, check for voltage drop under the actual lock coil load.' I'd never thought to load-test them like that before. Has anyone else run into this on older Miconic setups?

Bought a $90 telescoping inspection mirror, and it just saved me from a three-hour door adjustment.

Hot take: I swapped to a 3/8 drive impact for hoistway door rollers and it was a mistake.

The smaller head fit better, but the torque was way too low and I ended up rounding a stubborn bolt in a downtown Chicago building. What's your go-to for seized roller carriage bolts?

Went to the new library downtown and their traction elevator sounded off

Heard a faint grinding on the up cycle, like a sheave issue. Building is only two years old. Anyone dealt with a similar noise on a newer Otis unit?

The way I handle governor rope tension has completely flipped

I used to just go by feel, but after a call back for a chattering governor in a downtown high-rise, I started using a tension gauge every time. Has anyone else made that switch after a similar headache?

Bought a $300 thermal camera for finding heat in motor controllers and it actually paid off last week

I was working on a 15-year-old traction elevator with a random shutdown fault. The logs were useless, and everything tested fine with a meter. I pulled out this little Flir One camera I got for my phone, just on a hunch. Scanned the controller cabinet and one of the DC link capacitors on the drive was glowing bright yellow compared to the others. It wasn't failed yet, but it was cooking itself. Replaced it and the unit has been solid for five days now. I almost didn't buy the thing because it felt like a toy, but spotting that heat saved me probably a full day of chasing ghosts. Anyone else use thermal imaging for troubleshooting, or have a different trick for these intermittent drive issues?

Bought a cheap knockoff door restrictor tool for a quick fix and it snapped on the second use.

Wasted $45 and an hour of my time on a Friday afternoon. The casting was full of air pockets and the handle just sheared off. Anyone know a solid brand that can actually take the torque?

Had to pick between a new hoist rope or a full traction sheave rebuild on a 15-year-old unit

The call was for a rough ride in a six-story office building downtown. Diagnostics showed both the ropes and the sheave grooves were worn, but the budget only covered one fix. I went with the sheave rebuild, thinking the rope wear was secondary. That was a mistake, because the ride got worse within a month and we had to go back for the ropes anyway. Anyone else faced a call where you had to guess which worn part was the real culprit?

Can we talk about a weird fix for a stuck floor selector?

I was working on a 90s Otis traction unit in an office building, and the floor selector kept sticking between the 3rd and 4th floors. The usual cleaning and adjustment didn't help. Out of ideas, I tried a tiny bit of dry graphite lube on the selector arm pivot point, not the contacts. It's been three weeks now with zero callbacks. I know using lube near selectors is usually a big no, but this specific spot was just metal-on-metal binding. Has anyone else run into this and found a different safe fix?

TIL the elevator at the old Grandview Hotel in St. Louis still uses a manual rope governor.

I was there for a wedding last weekend and the building manager let me peek in the machine room. The whole safety system is run off a hemp rope and a set of flyweights, nothing digital at all. For those who've worked on modern traction units, what's the biggest risk in keeping a system like that operational?

I was checking a governor rope for a solid hour before I saw the real problem

It was a slow Tuesday at the old hospital job in Tacoma. The governor was tripping on a 4-floor rise, and I was sure the rope was worn. My lead, Frank, walked by and just said, 'Kid, look at the sheave groove.' The rope was fine, but the groove was packed with a half-inch of old grease and metal dust, making it grab wrong. I felt so dumb for not cleaning it first. How often do you guys find the simple fix after chasing the hard one?

Vent: Bought a 'universal' elevator door lock tool online for $75 and it was useless

Saw an ad for this fancy tool that claimed to work on every brand of door lock from Otis to Schindler. It arrived last week and the metal was so soft it bent on the first job, a simple Kone door. Wasted a whole hour trying to make it work before I just grabbed my old trusty kit. Ended up costing me the $75 plus the service call fee because I ran over time. Anyone know a legit supplier for good door tools that won't break the bank?

Rant: Saw a traction sheave go from smooth to grooved in under 6 months at the old library on Main.

The building manager kept ignoring our calls about a slipping rope issue. Now the whole assembly needs a costly rebuild instead of a simple adjustment. Anyone else had a client's neglect cause a much bigger repair bill?

Shoutout to the building manager in Phoenix who told me 'just tape the door open, it's fine' when the interlock was clearly shot.

This building manager in Cleveland told me 'just make it go up and down' when his fancy controller was fried.

Honestly, I had to explain that without the brains, his elevator was just a fancy box of scrap metal, and it really made me wonder how many people think we're just button-pushers. Has anyone else had a client who just didn't get the tech side of the job?

Question about a new code rule for elevator pit sump pumps

Got called to a building in Portland last month where the inspector flagged a pit pump for not having a separate disconnect. I thought it was overkill since it's on the same circuit as the car light. He showed me the exact line in the 2022 code book, section 620.85, and now I see why. It's about service safety when someone's down there. Anyone else had to rewire pumps for this yet?

Tried a new way to check for door lock drag on a 15 year old Otis unit

Honestly, I used a laser level instead of my usual string line to check the alignment, and it showed the bottom roller was off by almost a full quarter inch. Ngl, I was surprised because the string method never caught that specific angle before. Has anyone else found a better tool for spotting subtle door drag issues?

My stubborn habit with the governor rope finally caught up to me

For years, I'd just give the governor rope a quick visual check and a tug. Then a job in an old Pittsburgh office building had a rope jump the sheave after a full inspection. The building manager showed me the fraying on the inside length I never pulled out to see. Now I run the whole rope through my hands, every time. Anyone else get burned by a shortcut they thought was safe?

Serious question, what's the weirdest thing you've found jammed in a hoistway door track?

I pulled a kid's action figure, a full bag of marbles, and a single flip-flop from a track in a Phoenix apartment building last Tuesday, which finally explained the intermittent door faults we'd been chasing for a month.

Update: I went against the grain and installed a 2:1 roping on a 6-story building

Everyone on the crew said to stick with the standard 1:1 for the traction machine. The job was a retrofit in Cincinnati, and they argued it was simpler and faster. I pushed for the 2:1 because the existing pit was shallow and the car top clearance was tight, only 4 feet. It added about 8 hours to the install, but the ride quality is smoother and the machine runs quieter under load. Has anyone else made a call like that and had it pay off later?

Vent: Saw a crew in Denver using the wrong grease on the governor sheave

They were packing that sheave with a standard lithium grease, not the polyurea stuff the spec sheet calls for. That's going to cause slippage and a trip in about six months, guaranteed. Am I the only one who checks the OEM manual before greasing anything?

I finally got the old Otis relay in the Main Street building to stop chattering

It was driving me nuts for weeks, so I swapped out the standard 10-amp fuse for a slow-blow 8-amp one on a hunch. The chatter stopped completely, which was a nice surprise. I guess the inrush current on that old coil was just a bit too much for the fast-acting fuse. Anyone else run into something like that with the older relay panels?

Replaced the governor rope on a 15 story building from 1985 and the car runs 40% smoother now

The old steel cable had stretched almost an inch over its length, causing inconsistent tension. Has anyone else seen that kind of wear on a pre-1990 system?

I was wrong about using the same torque on every elevator door hanger bolt

For years, I just cranked them all down to what felt right, maybe 40 foot-pounds. Then, on a job in Phoenix last spring, I saw a senior guy using a torque wrench and checking the manual for each model. He said, 'You're warping the header, Derek. A 90s Montgomery needs 32, a new Kone wants 28.' I checked my old jobs and sure enough, a few had binding issues. Now I carry the spec sheets. How many of you actually torque to the book, or is it still a feel thing for most?

Vent: A faulty limit switch on a 90s Dover made me waste a full Saturday

It was just a simple door lock issue, but the old style switch was failing in a way that didn't make sense. Took me 8 hours of checking everything else before I finally found the bad microswitch. Anyone else get fooled by a part that fails in a weird way?