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?

3 comments

3 Comments

flores.emma23d agoMost Upvoted

Nah, that chattering probably saved you from burning out the motor bearings.

grant.olivia22d ago

Yeah, @taylor_patel is right, that noise is a cheap early warning.

taylor_patel22d ago

Forget the motor, that noise was a warning sign for the whole drive system. In my experience, ignoring it just lets a small issue become a big, expensive one. You fix the chatter now or you replace the whole unit later.