c/elevator-mechanics

Rant: A phantom door lock fault on a 15 year old Otis Gen2 took me three full days to trace back to a single corroded terminal block in the machine room.

Bought a cheap $80 cable tension gauge online and it was off by 15% on every test.

PSA: A stuck door in a hospital changed how I check for binding

I was working on a traction elevator at St. Mary's Hospital about two weeks ago. The car door was sticking a little, and I almost just adjusted the hanger rollers. Then I saw a nurse trying to push a big cart through and the door just stopped. It made me look closer, and I found the sill was bent up maybe a quarter inch from years of carts hitting it. I always check the sill first now before I even touch the rollers. Anyone else run into a binding problem that was way simpler than it first looked?

Appreciation post: a firefighter in Philly changed how I think about door lock codes

I was working on a hospital elevator last week and a firefighter asked me why we set the fire service recall code to 7474 instead of something simpler like 1111. He said his crew has to remember dozens of these codes under stress, and a simple, common one could save critical seconds. Do you guys try to keep codes simple for first responders in your buildings?

Just found out the first elevator safety brake was invented because a guy saw a rope snap at a factory

I was reading an old trade magazine at the library and it mentioned Elisha Otis. The story goes he was working at a bed frame factory in Yonkers in 1852 when he saw a hoisting rope fail. That's what made him design the first automatic safety catch that would lock the car if the cable broke. Kind of wild to think our whole industry's basic safety idea came from watching a broken rope. Anyone know any other old-school inventions that came from random accidents like that?

I swore by a 10-ton jack for all my car work, but a buddy's 3-ton unit handled a 4,000-pound elevator motor swap just fine.

We used it in a tight Philly basement last week and it was way easier to position. Anyone have a go-to lightweight jack for awkward hoistway jobs?

Can we talk about the idea that you should always replace both sheaves on a traction machine at the same time? A foreman in Cincinnati swore by it, but I've had a single sheave running fine for over 18 months now.

Question about a stubborn governor rope sheave

I was working on a 20 year old traction job in a downtown Phoenix office building last Tuesday. The governor rope was jumping off the sheave on every down run. My old foreman, a guy named Ray who retired three years back, always told me 'if the rope walks, just tighten the guide bolts until it stops, it's always slack hardware.' So I cranked those bolts down hard. The rope stopped jumping, but the next day the building manager called screaming about a grinding noise. I went back and found the sheave bushing was totally shot, heat welded to the shaft from the extra friction. The real fix was a full sheave replacement, which I knew deep down. Ray's quick fix cost me six hours of overtime and a very angry client. Have you guys ever followed some old timer's advice that ended up biting you later? How do you know when to trust a shortcut versus just doing the full repair?

Found out the Empire State Building has 73 elevators and I can't stop thinking about it

I was reading this old building maintenance manual from a library in Philly and it just casually dropped that number. I mean, I knew it was a lot, but 73? That's a whole fleet. Has anyone here ever worked on one of those original units, or know what kind of systems they run now?

Finally fixed a weird door operator issue at the old hospital downtown

Spent almost three hours on a Dover door operator that kept losing its open position. The cam follower was worn down just enough to slip, but not so much you could see it right away. Found it after checking the whole linkage twice. What's the longest you've spent on a door problem that seemed simple at first?

Just realized I was wrong about using the old school test weights

I was talking to a retired inspector at a supply house in Cincinnati last week. He said, 'You know, those 100 pound cast iron blocks you guys love to lug around? They're off by at least a pound after a few years of getting banged up.' I always thought digital load cells were a hassle, but his point about consistent calibration hit different. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a real difference in their annual tests?

Watch out for those old relay logic boards in pre-1980s traction units

I got called to a 1978 Otis traction job in a downtown office building for a car that wouldn't run. The call history showed intermittent floor leveling issues. I spent a whole day checking the obvious stuff: motor generator set, selector, door locks. Everything tested fine. The problem was a single, tiny interlock relay buried deep in the back of the machine room control cabinet. Its contacts were so worn they'd make a connection maybe 8 out of 10 times. It took me three full days of tracing wires with the schematic just to isolate that one failing component because the symptoms kept changing. The building manager was getting really upset about having one elevator down that long. Has anyone else had a simple relay cause days of headache on an older system?

TIL the first safety elevator brake was tested by cutting the cable with an axe

I read it in a history article about Elisha Otis's 1854 demonstration. They actually cut the hoist rope at the New York Crystal Palace to prove it would hold. Has anyone else come across other old-school safety tests that seem wild by today's standards?

Honestly, I've been using the wrong size wrench on the governor rope clamp for like 3 years.

Am I the only one who thinks the new code for fire service in high-rises is a total overreaction?

Had a job in Seattle last week where the inspector failed us for a 2-second delay on the Phase I recall. It's a safety feature, not a magic button, and this nitpicking just jacks up costs for everyone. What's the most ridiculous code fail you've seen lately?

A fire inspector told me he's seeing a lot of 2015-era Otis Gen2 door operators with worn cam followers

He said the wear pattern is subtle and they're failing right after the 10-year mark, which is hitting a bunch of buildings at once. It made me check my own service logs for that model year, and sure enough, I found three with early signs. Are you guys seeing this spike too, or is it just a local thing in my area?

Vent: My uncle told me to always check the governor rope tension first, and he was dead right

He was an old timer who retired about five years ago. On a job in a downtown office building last week, the car kept tripping the overspeed switch. I was about to start pulling the entire governor assembly, but I remembered what he said. I checked the tension on the rope with a gauge, and it was way under spec. Tightened it up, and the problem was gone. Saved me at least three hours of unnecessary work. Anyone else have a simple piece of advice that saved their butt recently?

Had a 15 year old Dover governor cable snap on me yesterday in the middle of a full load test

A new guy on a site in Charlotte said 'the code is just a suggestion' when I called him on bypassing a door lock monitor.

That mindset is a fast track to a violation notice or worse, so how do you guys handle teaching green techs that the book isn't optional?

I've been setting the governor rope tension wrong for like two years

I mean, I was always just doing it by feel on those old Otis Gen2 jobs, you know? Then last month at the site on 5th and Maple, the foreman watched me and said 'Vera, you're leaving it a full inch too slack, check the manual.' I pulled out the spec sheet and he was totally right, it should be 150 pounds of pull. Has anyone else had a specific trick for getting that tension dialed in right the first time?

Old school rope splicing versus modern synthetic slings for temporary support

We had to hold a 4-ton car frame in a 1970s building last month while we swapped the sheave. The old guy on site swore by his hand-spliced manila rope, said it was the only 'true' way. I brought out a set of rated synthetic roundslings. His rope took 45 minutes to rig and needed constant checking for stretch. The slings were up in 10 minutes, held the load dead steady, and the color coding made the lift points obvious for the whole crew. When do you think it's time to fully move on from the old methods?

Pro tip: don't cheap out on a laser level for shaft alignment

Bought a $80 one from a discount tool truck and it drifted a quarter inch over 30 floors. Cost me a full day to re-check everything. What brand do you guys actually trust for high-rise work?

PSA: My foreman in Philly told me to always double-check the governor rope tension before a full load test, and it saved a huge headache yesterday when we found a frayed section.

We were about to test a 12-story retrofit in the old bank building on Market Street, and his advice made us spot a weak spot that could have snapped under the 2500-pound test weight, so what's the one piece of job-site advice you swear by?

Hot take: The new guys keep setting the door zone wrong on the Miprom 2000 units

I've seen three different crews in my building this year mess up the same thing. They set the door zone on the Miprom 2000 controllers to 6 inches, thinking it's a safe default. That's way too wide for the doors in our 1980s office block downtown. It causes the doors to slam open and shut, which wears out the hanger rollers in about six months. I learned the hard way after a callback to fix a jumped track. The manual says 6 inches is for heavy traffic areas, but our building is quiet after 5 PM. I set mine to 3.5 inches and the doors close smooth as butter. How do you all figure out the right door zone for an older install when the book doesn't match the real use?

Tried the old trick with a zip tie on a sticky door operator... and it actually worked for once.