c/elevator-mechanics

Just realized our building is still using cable-hoist traction elevators from the 80s

I work in a 12-story office building downtown that still runs three Dover lifts from 1986. The new guy keeps calling them 'hydraulic' and I correct him, but now I'm wondering does it even matter for daily maintenance? The old cable systems run smoother than some modern MRLs I've seen, but parts are getting impossible to find. Anyone else stuck maintaining older traction machines and have a line on sourcing brake shoes for these?

Had an old Otis controller catch fire last week in a Chicago high rise

We were doing a routine PM on a 30 year old Otis system in the Loop and smoke started pouring out of the controller cabinet. Turned out a capacitor had been leaking for months and finally shorted. Anyone else here been dealing with aging controllers that are getting dangerous?

Hot take: stop using grease injectors on old Otis worm gears

I kept having rail grabs on a 1965 Otis machine in a Chicago high rise. The old timers said use the injector for the worm gear but it just made a mess and the car kept hunting. After 4 service calls in 2 weeks I tried a different approach. I drained the oil and put in a non-EP 140 gear oil from the local supply house. No more grabbing and the ride is smooth now. Has anyone else found that modern EP gear oils mess with older worm gear drives?

Old timer swore by greasing rails by hand, I switched to a needle injector after last summer

I used to just slop grease on every guide rail with a brush like my first mentor showed me back in 2015. Then last July on a job in Denver, a building manager complained about drips on the lobby floor. Switched to a needle injector after that. Keeps things clean and I use less grease overall. Anyone else make the switch and notice a difference in rail wear?

Pro tip: check every emergency phone in your building at least once a month

I was doing a routine maintenance check at a 12 story office building in Portland last Tuesday and found 3 emergency phones with dead batteries. One of them had been dead so long the battery terminals were corroded. Has anyone else ran into this or am I the only one checking these things regularly?

TIL a 20 year old elevator can still pass code if you swap just the controller board

I was working on a Otis from 2004 in Denver last week and the building owner wanted to modernize the whole cab. Turns out the state inspector said the old mechanicals were fine and we only needed to swap the controller board to meet current code. Has anyone else found that older elevators can skate by with just a brain transplant instead of a full gut?

That $500 'heavy duty' brake they sold me at the supply house was a total dud

Last month I grabbed this beefy replacement brake from a local supplier in Houston for a Miconic 10 controller. I paid $500 upfront because they swore it was a direct fit and would handle the load no problem. Got it installed after 4 hours of wrestling the old one off, fired it up, and it started chattering like crazy on the first test run. Turns out the mounting plate was a quarter inch off spec and now I'm waiting 2 weeks for a refund while the elevator sits. Has anyone else had supply houses push parts that don't actually match the specs?

Got stuck in a hospital elevator last month in Phoenix

I was doing a routine PM on a Otis Gen2 at Banner Health around 2pm when the doors just refused to reopen after I cycled the power. Spent 45 minutes in a stuffy cab with no AC before the service tech could get there with the right key. Boss told me I should have just used the emergency release from inside, but that would have tripped the safeties and flagged the whole system. Now I carry a portable fan and a bottle of water in my tool bag on every hospital call. Anyone else ever get locked in and have to wait it out?

Hit my 1000th elevator door adjustment last month and still can't believe how often those damn sensors drift.

Number 1000 was at a 14-story building in downtown Phoenix where the door was stopping three inches short every single time, and I fixed it in 11 minutes flat with a laser alignment tool, but what really got me was realizing I've spent over 200 hours of my life just tweaking door closers and thresholds since I started - anyone else kept a tally on specific repairs and had a number really hit home?

That old hospital elevator in downtown buffalo threw me for a loop

I was up at Buffalo General last Tuesday to fix a call on a big freight elevator. The thing's a 1980s Dover model, all beat up but still running. While I was waiting for the car, I noticed the door interlocks were all original and had this weird patina on the contacts. I ran a quick test, and they were actually cleaner than most 5-year-old units I see. Has anyone else ever seen old gear hold up better than new stuff because of the heavier metals they used back then?

Switched from greasing guide rails by hand to using a pump canister last month

For years I'd just use a brush and a bucket of oil for the guide rails. Messy, took forever, and I always missed spots. A buddy on a job downtown showed me this pump canister setup he uses. Basically a pressurized tank with a hose and nozzle. Cuts application time in half and gets a more even coat. Cost me about 60 bucks for the kit at a supply house in Chicago. First time I used it I felt stupid for not switching sooner. Anyone else use one of these or still doing it the old way?

Wasted $200 on a fancy hydraulic leveling tool for my Ottawa install

I bought this high end hydraulic leveling tool six months ago thinking it would speed up my elevator rail alignments. It was supposed to save time and cut down on errors. Instead, it jammed on the third job and I lost a full day fighting with it. The old string and bubble method worked fine the whole time and cost me nothing. Did anyone else get burned by a tool that was supposed to be a game changer but just made things worse?

Hot take: using a baby monitor to hear the hoistway saved my bacon last Thursday

I was working on a 6-floor install in an old building downtown and kept hearing a weird scraping noise from the top of the shaft but could never catch it on the rope. After 3 trips up and down the ladder I grabbed my kid's old VTech monitor from the car, aimed the parent unit at the hoistway, and set the baby unit on the machine room floor. Dead quiet in there but I walked down to the lobby and heard that scraping clear as day through the receiver. Turns out a loose guide rail bracket was rubbing on the cab roof every time it passed the 4th floor. The building super thought I lost it when he saw me holding a baby monitor, but it saved me about 2 hours of climbing and guessing. Has anyone else used some weird gadget for troubleshooting that actually worked?

Old timer told me to always check the governor tension first before touching the controller

Back in 2003 my first lead mechanic, Hank from the St. Louis local, swore the governor cable was the cause of 8 out of 10 overspeed test failures and after 20 years I can count on one hand the times he was wrong, has anyone else found that rule holds up or is it just our old Otis units?

Had the worst week of my career last month in a 40-year-old Miconic 10

I was stuck troubleshooting a Miconic 10 system in a downtown Chicago office building for five straight days. The thing kept throwing random door zone faults and stopping between floors. Finally on Thursday I realized the serial data cable had a tiny nick in it from where a rodent chewed through the insulation. Replaced that 15 foot section with a shielded Cat5 and it ran perfect for the rest of the week. Has anyone else dealt with weird intermittent faults from chewed wiring in older elevator controls?

Unpopular opinion: older elevators are actually safer than the new digital ones

I was working on a 1977 Otis in a building downtown Denver last Tuesday and that thing had zero computer glitches, just pure mechanical reliability. A month ago I got called to troubleshoot a brand new MRL unit that kept randomly dropping floors because of a software bug. Why are we swapping out bulletproof relays for touchscreens that freeze up every time the temperature hits 95?

That job at the Denver high-rise changed my mind about rail alignment specs

I used to think the old standard of plus or minus 1/16 inch was fine for door rail alignment. Never had issues with it for years. Then we got a call about a brand new Otis install in a 42-story building downtown Denver. Doors kept sticking on floors 18 through 24 during peak hours. After three days of chasing it, I finally checked the rails with a digital level and found the spec was way too loose for that building's thermal swing. The super insisted we tighten it to 1/32 and the problem vanished. Now I wonder why nobody pushes for tighter tolerances on high traffic jobs. Anyone else run into buildings where the standard specs just don't cut it?

Worst Tuesday I've ever had on a Schindler 330A in downtown Chicago

I was swapping a door operator motor on the 12th floor of an office tower when the mainline disconnect switch arced and blew the whole floor's power... took me 7 hours to get a maintenance guy to let me back in the electrical room. Anyone else ever have a simple repair turn into a whole building blackout?

Debate: Should you swap a whole controller board or just fix the bad relay?

I had a job last month on a 20-year-old Otis in an office tower downtown. The car kept stopping between floors with no error code. I spent 6 hours tracing wires before I found a single burned relay on the main board. My partner said I should have just swapped the whole controller board in 2 hours and moved on. But I spent $12 on a replacement relay and got it working. So which is better in the long run: quick swap and high cost, or slow fix and cheap? Has anyone else run into this debate on older units?

That hospital job in Phoenix taught me to never trust factory shims again

I was working on a Otis gen2 in Banner Desert Medical back in March. The car was leveling off by almost 3/8 inch every stop. Turns out the factory shim pack under the guide rails had shifted during a heat wave. Three hours of my life wasted because someone figured a nylon shim was fine for a 100 degree machine room. Has anyone else had a call where the factory "solution" caused the actual problem?

Had to choose between a $200 used hoist and a $900 new one for a 3-story traction job

Went with the used one to save cash, but it gave out halfway through and cost me a whole day. Anyone ever regret going cheap on a major tool like that?

Just realized a new building downtown is using a different kind of rope for the governor

I was at the new high rise on 5th Street last week. Saw the maintenance crew pulling out the governor rope during a check. It wasn't the standard steel cable. It was a synthetic, looked like aramid. The foreman said they switched to cut weight on the top floor machine room. Said it's rated for the same 10,000 lb load. Made me think about how materials are changing even in our old school parts. Anyone else run into this on a new install yet?

I was checking the governor rope tension wrong for like two years

So I was on a call for a chattering governor in a 12 story building downtown, and I'm up in the machine room doing my usual thing. I'd always just give the rope a firm tug with my hand, feel for a little give, and call it good. This old timer who was training a new guy on the next car saw me and just goes, 'You know, your hand isn't a 25 pound spring scale, right?' He walked over, hooked up his actual scale, and showed me the spec. I was running it way too loose, like maybe 15 pounds of tension when it needed 25. The whole time I thought I had a good feel for it, but I was basically just guessing. That slight chatter on every floor start? Probably my fault. I felt like a total goof. Anyone else have a basic thing they were doing by feel that a tool proved them wrong on?

My old foreman told me to always carry a spare 3/8 inch spanner wrench for those old Dover units. I finally listened after getting stuck for an hour in a hot machine room.

Got a weird one with a 90s Otis in an Atlanta office building

I was on a service call for a door issue, but the car kept drifting about an inch after leveling. Checked the brake and it was fine. Turns out the old brake coil was getting just enough voltage to hold, but the rectifier on the controller board was starting to fail and letting AC ripple through. Swapped the board from my truck stock and it sat dead still. Anyone else run into a failing rectifier causing a slow drift like that?