I finally linked high humidity to repeat sensor calls

Lately, I have been getting a lot of repeat service calls for elevator door sensors. On one job, the shaft humidity was so high it fogged up my glasses. Those new digital sensors kept causing false stops, shutting the whole car down. It took me three visits to realize the moisture was the real problem. The manufacturer specs say standard conditions, but damp air makes them fail fast. Now I check the shaft environment before installing any new parts. This has saved me from many pointless callbacks. If you are seeing similar issues, start with a humidity check.

3 comments

3 Comments

granta121mo ago

Yeah, the foggy glasses thing is a perfect real world clue. It's wild how that damp air gets into everything over time, not just the sensor lens but the wiring connectors too. I've found corrosion on the pins days after a humidity spike, even when the shaft looks dry later. Makes you start carrying those little disposable humidity meters just to get a hard number to show the building manager.

taylor.amy1mo ago

Remember seeing a server rack with perfect temp logs but the whole backplane was green fuzz. They kept blaming the gear until someone finally pointed a thermal camera at the wall behind it and found a cold spot from a hidden leak.

laura9401mo ago

Took me forever to link foggy glasses to sensor failures, I guess I'm not the brightest bulb in the humidity.