c/elevator-mechanics

Monday from hell: 4 callbacks in 5 hours on a 60 year old Otis

Started the day with a door lock fault on the 3rd floor, turned out to be a worn roller that I just replaced last month. Then got a call that the cab was stopping 2 inches low on every floor, spent an hour chasing a bad encoder wire someone pinched in the rail bracket. Right when I thought I was done, the brake release switch failed on the machine room panel, had to rig a temporary bypass just to get it back in service. By 2pm I was covered in grease and the building super asked me if I even knew what I was doing. Has anyone else had a week where one elevator just decides to fight you on every single repair?

Hit a bad door lock sensor on a 2002 Otis in Chicago yesterday

Spent 45 minutes chasing a ghost fault because the armature gap was off by 2mm, then flagged it for the next PM. You ever have a simple misalignment waste half your morning?

Question about traction loss on older Otis units after controller swap

We swapped out a 1992 Otis 211 controller for an MCE iBox on a 8-stop hydraulic in downtown Milwaukee. Before the swap, the car leveled within 1/8 inch every time. After the swap, we are getting random 3/4 inch overtravel on the top two floors. The valve is an old Dover 5-20 with a 12 inch ram. We checked the encoder feedback and the brake drag but nothing stands out. Has anyone else seen this kind of drift after a controller retrofit on these older hydro setups?

I was dead wrong about magnetic guides for elevator rails

Thought they were a gimmick for years until I installed a set on a job downtown and saved 45 minutes on alignment alone. Has anyone else gotten better results with these vs. traditional string lines?

PSA: Stop using WD-40 on elevator door locks, grab some silicone spray instead

I used to swear by WD-40 for sticky door locks until I had to replace three hall lock assemblies in a month at a 12-story building in Austin last spring, and an old foreman told me silicone spray lasts way longer and doesn't gum up the contacts, anyone else made that switch?

Been seeing too many new guys skip the tension check on governor cables.

Pulled a job last Tuesday where a 6 year old install had nearly failed because someone didn't set the tension right, has anyone else noticed this getting worse?

Hit 50,000 safe rides in my elevator without a single service call

I was checking the log on unit 4B in the Henderson building last week and the counter showed 50,032 trips since the last major service. That thing hasn't had a single callout in 14 months, not even a door sensor hiccup. Has anyone else had a unit just run forever without problems, or am I just getting lucky with this one?

Took me 3 hours to fix one stupid door lock adjustment

Had this nice Schindler job downtown where the doors were dragging on the sill like crazy. Thought it was just a quick roller swap, 20 minutes tops. Three hours later I'm still messing with the hanger bolts because the track was slightly warped from some old water damage. Finally had to shim the whole damn door panel to get it to sit right. Anyone else run into tracks that look fine but are actually bent?

Chatting with a old timer changed how I check door locks

Ran into a retired mechanic named Hank at the supply house last Tuesday. He said most guys check door locks by listening for the click, but he always pressed on the door after the click to feel for a half inch of play. I tried it on a Otis setup that afternoon and caught a loose roller arm I would have missed otherwise. Has anyone else picked up a simple trick from an older mechanic that made a big difference?

Had a guy argue with me about his elevator being 'haunted' for 20 minutes

I was doing a routine inspection at a four story apartment building in St. Louis last Tuesday. This older tenant comes out and insists his elevator stops on the third floor every time, even if nobody presses the button. I checked the call station and found a loose wire in the third floor hall button that was sending ghost signals. He still wasn't convinced, even after I showed him the frayed copper. Has anyone else had to deal with customers blaming weird stuff on ghosts when it's just a loose connection?

Swapped out a 20 year old controller board last Tuesday and the ride quality is night and day

I replaced an old MCE controller board in a 10 stop passenger elevator in a condo building near downtown last week. The old board had been having intermittent door zone faults for months and the ride was jerky as heck especially on the top few floors. Put in a new GAL board and adjusted the door timing parameters from the default settings. The start is smooth now and the leveling is within an eighth of an inch every time. The building super even came up to me and said 'it feels like a new elevator' which felt pretty good. Has anyone else seen that kind of difference just from swapping the brain of the car? What controller did you switch from and to?

Hot take: I used to think hydraulic elevator oil was all the same stuff

For the first 5 years in the trade I just grabbed whatever 32 weight was cheapest and called it a day. Then last March I had a 6 month old Smartrise controller throwing random leveling faults on a Schindler 330A. Switched from generic to a name brand ISO VG 32 with anti-foam additives and the faults stopped completely. Oil temp was running 15 degrees cooler too. Guess I was wrong thinking the spec was all that mattered. Any of you guys seen weird issues clear up just from changing oil brands?

Worst Tuesday I've had in a long time, greasy guide rails and a flooded pit

Man, I had a day last month in Miami that just snowballed. Started with a stuck door on a old Otis, took me 3 hours to get the clutch reset. Then I go down to the pit to check the buffers and find 4 inches of water from the AC drain being clogged. My helper stepped right in it, soaked his boot through to the sock. Has anyone else had a job just fight you every step of the way like that?

Showerthought: Should we really trust those cheap hydraulic oil filters from online?

I bought a 10 pack of hydraulic oil filters for our MRL lifts off some site last month for like 60 bucks. Seemed like a good deal since the local supplier wanted 18 each. First three months they worked fine, but then one blew a seal on a job in a 12 story building downtown. Had to call a buddy to bring a spare while I sat waiting 45 minutes losing billable time. The customer saw the delay and chewed me out over their lunch break schedule. Now I'm wondering if it's worth saving 120 bucks upfront just to risk that kind of headache. Anyone else had cheap parts crap out on you in a pinch?

Rant: Dropped $400 on a diagnostic tablet and it's already paid off

Bought a used Otis GCB tablet last month for $400 off a buddy. Saved me three hours of digging through a stuck door lock today. Anyone else find specific tools that just make your day way easier?

Had a customer tell me something that made me rethink door zone adjustments

Last week a building super in Chicago told me I was wasting time by always tightening door rollers to factory spec. He said on older units, looser is better because the rails warp over time and tight rollers just bind up. I argued with him at first but tried his way on a 1984 Otis and it ran smoother than anything I'd done before. Has anyone else found that old buildings need different settings than what the manual says?

Three hours to replace a door sensor and it was a loose wire the whole time

Got a call for an Otis elevator stuck between floors at a 12 story office building. Checked the door lock circuit, swapped the sensor, even reprogrammed the board. Three hours later I found a wire that had vibrated loose from the connector. Has anyone else spent way too long chasing phantom faults that end up being something stupid?

Stop using the WRONG oil in hydraulic elevator buffers

I see it all the time on jobsites, guys dumping whatever 32-weight hydraulic oil they have on hand into the buffer cylinders. That stuff is NOT the same as buffer oil, it's way too thin and the seals will blow out in 6 months tops. I learned this the hard way on a job at a 12-story office building downtown back in 2021. Had to replace all four buffer seals after the owner complained about oil puddles forming in the pit. The manufacturer's spec sheet clearly calls for ISO 68 or higher, but people ignore it. Has anyone else seen this shortcut damage a system?

Old timer at the supply house changed how I check door locks

Ran into a retired mechanic named Ed over at Star Elevator Supply in Pittsburgh last Thursday. He watched me grab a standard door lock tester and just shook his head, said I was missing half the problem by not checking the latch engagement under load. Now I always run the car with a full load before signing off on lock adjustments, saved me three callbacks this month. Anyone else pick up a trick like that from the graybeards?

Chatted with an old timer in a parking lot about leveling switches

He said he never adjusts the cams on the limit switches unless the building settles, just cleans the contacts with a dollar bill instead. Been doing it 35 years and swears it saves him two hours per callback. Anyone else run into guys who stick to weird old habits like that?

Been going back and forth on whether to swap my old Otis relay panels for a microcontroller retrofit

Last month I spent 8 hours troubleshooting a sticky door lock on a 1980s Dover in Dallas that could've been fixed in 20 minutes with a modern controller, but then three years ago I had a microcontroller board fry mid-shift on a busy Friday afternoon and the whole building was down for two days while we waited on parts, so which side are you on for older elevators keep the relays or go digital?

Got stuck in a hospital elevator in Pittsburgh for 45 minutes and now I always carry snacks in my bag

A doctor on the phone kept saying 'we have a Code Brown in the west elevator' and I thought they meant the carpet until a lady actually had her colostomy bag burst, so does anyone else keep granola bars in their tool kit now?

Had a 10-year-old hydraulic valve block crack on me during a pressure test yesterday

I was doing a routine annual inspection on a bank elevator in Springfield, and the main valve block just split open when I hit the test pressure, spraying fluid everywhere. I had to shut down the system, clean up a huge mess, and order a whole new assembly from the manufacturer. Has anyone else seen a failure like that on a unit that wasn't even that old?

Checked out the new library downtown and the elevator pit access is a joke, you need a ladder to get down there lol

A building manager in Chicago said he'd rather have a simple relay logic system than a modern controller.

We were talking about a call for a door fault on his new Otis Gen2. He said the old relay car in the freight shaft, which is from 1978, has maybe one issue a year, while the new one has a service call every other month. He asked me, 'Is all this computer stuff really progress, or just more stuff to break?' It made me stop and think. Do you guys find the newer gear is less reliable, or is it just a learning curve for us and the tech?