Elevator modernization requirements – “work by others”

Many times when we are bidding elevator modernization the building owners do not know what they are required to do.  Or the “work by others” portion of everyone’s contracts.  Even after 2 other companies have come by I ask them if they know what they are required to do for their electrical and fire alarms, sometimes I get, “I don’t know, no one said anything”.  These can be fairly sizable information omissions if we do not communicate this to building owners.

Right above the price of the agreement we write the “work by others”, many companies have this away in small print in their terms and conditions which could be 30-40 items long many items have nothing to do with that specific installation.

I have put a general list together for building owners to review when contemplating modernization for “work by others”.  Remember all jurisdictions are different so this is not an all-encompassing list for all, just a start.  These costs can be $10,000 or more depending on your existing fire system.

-          Suitable environment for new elevator equipment

o   Temperature 45 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit

o   Relative humidity of 85 percent

-          Provide adequate electrical power for lighting, tools, hoisting during installation as well as for normal operation of elevator system

-          Provide fire recall detectors at each landing, machine room to be tied into a building fire panel

-          Higher rise buildings may need an elevator fire panel in the lobby or in the fire command room

-          Provide heat detectors if there are sprinklers present

-          If there are sprinklers present you must install a shunt trip

-          If you have a heat detector in the hoistway you must install a smoke detector

-          NEC code complaint main line disconnects & associated outlets - labeled

o   Heavy duty fused lockable for mainline & car lighting with proper earth grounds

o   GFCI in the machine room and in elevator pit

o   Regular outlet if sump pump is in and/or required in elevator pit

o   Telephone line adjacent to elevator control system

o   Machine room light swtich[not on timer]

o   If the building has a generator and the elevator is run on the generator a pair of wires must be run to elevator controller so we know the building is on generator power

[Mainline disconnect, GFCI & machine room light switch, light switch cannot be on timer]

 [110vac lighting circuit disconnect]

  [Elevator pit light swtich, GFCI]

  [Pit light in back left corner & fire alarm - requires repair]

  [Machine room fire recall detector]

  [Fire recall relays - tied into fire recall detectors & panel]

                                     [Fire panel in lobby]

Remember that all areas have different rules and requirements and before getting pricing for work consult a competent elevator company for guidance.  If I forgot an item that should be on the list let me know.

If you have any questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.

Cleaning elevator hydraulic fluid - Chicago, IL

We maintain many buildings that have very old hydraulic elevator systems.  When you have old equipment you also have old oil.  Every 5 years we recommend the elevator fluid be filtered or replaced.  Most of our customers take our recommendations and move forward with filtering or replacement.

The two largest hydraulic elevator valve manufacturers [Maxton & EECO] recommend complete replacement of hydraulic fluid every five years so their valves operate correctly.  If you have clean oil your hydraulic valve will operate better and longer.  If you have the correct additives in the elevator system your hydraulic cylinder gland packings will also last longer.

After years of use a hydraulic elevator’s hydraulic fluid will absorb the environment in which it is in, which includes, dust, dirt, lint or whatever is in the air.  What also happens if the hydraulic fluid gets too hot, the oil burns which adds burned oil to the impurities.  When this fluid is analyzed you will also find some metal in it from your pump, motor and valve as they deteriorate.  One of the perception issues is that you will never see the bottom of the elevator tank unless you remove the hydraulic fluid.  You can see the build up on the sites of the tank but as you will see below what we found.

We are working on a cylinder replacement and part of our process is to remove all of the hydraulic fluid and clean the hydraulic reservoir.  This elevator is form the late 1960’s and most likely has never been cleaned.  

Before tank cleaning 

After tank cleaning 

We recently got a call from a customer of ours who works with another elevator company at a few different locations.  She wanted me to look over a proposal from the currently company at a building.  The company was going to replace a valve on a elevator that is 20 +/- years old and add new oil.  You can add new oil but you really need to clean the tank out or the new oil will pick up all the debris from the bottom of the tank.  If funding is available you would like to have new oil and clean the tank so your new valve doesn't get the impurities into it right away.  

What is the difference between filtering and adding new oil?  After years and years of use the hydraulic fluid starts to loose the additives that help the elevator run as it was designed.  During a tank cleaning we will remove the impurities but filtering the hydraulic fluid does not restore it to its new composition.   You can add additive to the tank which helps but we recommend replacement of oil whenever possible, oil has historically been expensive.   With today's oil pricing it is a very reasonable to install 110 ga. of hydraulic fluid during a tank cleaning.  Filtering the oil and cleaning the tank is good, replacing the hydraulic fluid is great.

If you have any questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.

Crazy dangerous freight elevator pit

I got a call from a customer who has a building she bought from auction and wanted someone to meet a potential tenant to talk about their elevator.  Based on the location I thought I would be walking into a building with a old clunker freight elevator.  What I found was something a little bit more.

Look from the hall into the hoist way - no hatch doors

View from pit looking up - large freight car

View from standing in the pit

OH! THERE IS A STAIRWELL IN THE ELEVATOR PIT.  I have finally found how to get to the hot water heaters and electrical meters.

Nicest beater elevator machine room i've ever seen

Power is on

At least we have doors on this hoist-way entrance 

This elevator is probably from 1920, it has a tiller rope.  Some of the items I found to be wrong with this is

1.    No hatch doors at 1^st floor

2.    Elevator was turned on

3.    Stairwell from elevator pit – leads to building mechanical room

4.    Water & electrical runs through back of pit

5.    8000-10000 freight car above your head when using the stair well

6.    Pit ladder is not to code – This is a joke

7.    Much more

My visit is on the heels of a few firemen losing their lives from entering buildings that had their elevators removed or the elevators are in unsafe condition. 

The reason there is a stairwell in the elevator pit is because they didn’t want to access the mechanical room from the outside so they used the elevator pit.  So the blocked off the original access and made the new egress. 

I was shocked based on all the information above, but also from the time this person took to make the elevator pit look like this.  They also made the machine room look very nice.  Shocking outcome to this story, the previous building owner ran out of money and lost the building and it went to auction…

As elevator professional we walk into buildings like this, we have a responsibility to let the owner know what they have to do and let the AHJ know about these situations before someone gets hurt.

If you have any questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.

Elevator modernization – Oak Brook, IL

Before and after pictures of a project we did at a condominium complex in Oak Brook, IL.  The building had 1970’s vintage dover elevator with logic cards.  The project turned out well the team who did the project did a great job.  the note worthy challenges in this project where the door equipment[Dover to GAL], the fixture placement [making sure the old boxes got covered by the new fixtures], there was a knock in the piston from installation[in 1970] that we resolved. 

We used the following equipment

Controllers - Smartrise Engineering
Door equipment - GAL
Fixtures - Innovation
Hydraulic power unit - MEI w/Maxton Valve

The building ownership, elevator consultant, elevator company, electrician and fire company all work together to make this project a success with no outstanding punch list items on the final inspection by the elevator inspector.   For those of you in the business it is very rare to have an inspection on a modernization pass with no items.

Fixtures - Hall

[Before]

[After - Digital PI's at each floor]

Fixtures - CAR

[Old car station]

[New car station]

Machine room

[This was a very crowded machine room before we started]

[Placement of new power unit and controller gives the machine room more space]

There are many benefits of modernization of elevator equipment; a more reliable elevator, less shut downs, less shut down time, parts are available and reduced maintenance fees.  Modernization is expensive but it can be very beneficial to a building if done  intelligently and with a credible company.

If you have any questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.

City of Chicago Annual Inspection Certification [AIC] Program

Earlier in the week we received a few phone calls and emails from our customers saying they can be inspected with the AIC program.  Previously this was only allowed in the Central Business District; Roosevelt to Division to Halsted.  The new rule is if a building has passed their last annual inspection by the City of Chicago they are allowed to participate in self-inspections.  What this means is the buildings can hire an inspection firm to inspect their elevators annually so they can have a current certificate in the elevator.  

What is the AIC program?  The AIC program was started in the Central Business District; Roosevelt to Division to Halsted.  A building owner signed into a web portal, choose an inspector, inspector came out cited violations or passed them through the web portal.  The owner then would print out their certificates. Any inspection firm with a State of Illinois license is allowed to complete elevator inspections in the City of Chicago.   I would encourage a building owner to contact a inspection firm prior to assigning them their building to negotiate price.

What is currently occurring is that there are not enough City of Chicago Elevator Inspectors to get to each building annually.  The City Inspectors not only have 25,000+ conveyances to inspect annually but they have new construction, modernization and other permitted work to take in.  The inspectors are also responsible for amusement park rides.  

Are there enough elevator inspectors to do this work? The inspection firms in the rest of Illinois are very busy with their towns, open areas and some City work.  Many licensed inspectors work for contractors and do not do inspections, they do contracting work.  At this time some of the larger inspection firms have passed on this work.  I spoke to some inspection firms who did not get notified by the City that this was the path they were going to take and were surprised.

If you have any questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.