Old Elevator equipment & elevator maintenance

There is a building in the close western suburbs that has an elevator from the early 1960’s.  It is a Otis traction elevator with automatic doors.  One of our sales people went the building when he was out knocking on doors and they were interested in a competitive bid, it is an old elevator, the sales person did not open the hoist way doors so we assumed it was just a old beater elevator.  The building was non responsive after he sent the information to them.

I received a call a few months later because someone else who works here knows the person who is in charge of facilities.  They are looking for a short term and long term plan so I set up an appointment with the building. 

When I went to the building I found was the hoistway filled with dust, this elevator must have not been cleaned for 20+ years. There is so much dust on everything that it is a fire hazard.  I will say there may be a vent somewhere because there is a newer light bulb, newer being 20 years or so[it is an energy efficient bulb].

[this is the pit light]

The company who is maintaining the elevator has been taking the buildings money for 30+ years for elevator maintenance.  I would think once every five years to vacuum the hoistway is not unreasonable.  If there is a vent in the hoistway shooting dust or material in the hoistway, send them a quote to clean the hoistway.

The building also called their current company over to get some modernization options, a salesmen, mechanic and a supervisor all went to the building and they were laughing at the equipment and telling them it is junk.  The equipment is old, we don’t see very much of this stuff around anymore but, if you have been taking a buildings money there could be a better way at addressing the customer.

[Sherman tank of door operators - oil check]

I get the idea that old elevator equipment is hard to get motivated to clean but we as elevator professionals should treat each customer with respect and do what we can with the time we have and the equipment that is in the building.  If the equipment is unsafe, it should be shut down, if the equipment is unreliable, it should be replaced.  It is up to the elevator company to remind building owners of what they need to do with their equipment.

The point of this is that if you are unhappy with your current maintenance provider, there are other people out there.  This particular building manager didn’t know there was anyone else who worked on elevators, so while unhappy they stayed with the company.  And be aware of your elevator maintenance agreement and when it is up for renewal, they typically auto renew so keep your eyes open, elevator maintenance contracts are unforgiving.

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.