Elevator modernization with retaining door operator

The elevator door equipment is one of the more important parts that should be addressed during a modernization.  I was at a building that was modernized in 1993 that retained old Armor door equipment on one elevator and installed a MAC door operator on the other elevator.  It is our recommendation that the doors always be addressed during a modernization unless there is a good reason to retain them i.e. the door operator, car and hatch rollers, clutch release rollers, clutch, interlocks, etc had been changed recently.  If a building’s available funding runs out we can all put our heads together and get creative on how to get a building a door package. 

[This door operator put in for retirement 23 years ago]

Save money & inherit headaches – A building can cut their modernization cost by 20%-50% by retaining their door equipment.  But!  Most elevator shut downs are caused by doors not operating correctly.  So if a building spends a lot of money on a modernization and the door equipment is not addressed, they may be disappointed when their elevator still has issues.

The golden promise – I was at a hospital and a multinational company was doing a 3 car change over.  This was a busy bank of elevators. The doors sounded so bad on all of the elevators the only reason I knew they had been turned over after modernization was from the car station having the new fire service cabinet.   I talked to some people who knew about the project and they told me the building owner opted to keep the door work[door rollers, interlocks, etc] out of the elevator modernization because the sales person said the maintenance guy would change all of the door equipment on maintenance. These are two speed doors with 7 or 8 floors[remember 3 elevators].  The maintenance person has 40 hours a week for a hospital campus with 60+ elevators that are high usage.  This door work most likely will never get done unless the rollers get so bad it shuts the car down.

Intentional omission – At times the elevator contractors intentionally omit the door work to give an appealing price or to get a leg up on the competition. 

The elevator that was modernized in 1993 which we referred to above got a quote from their previous maintenance company to modernize the equipment.  “it was too expensive”, so they just took the door work out.  The building is 50 years old with 50 year hatch and car equipment[door locks, gate switches, rollers, clutch assemblies, etc].  During negotiations we gave them the price without the door work but indicated that this would be a poor idea and worked with them on making sure the door work could be done.  We worked with the building to educate them on why it was a good idea to do the door work.

We bid a project in Oak Park with Ron Will door equipment[Ron Will hasn’t been made in 30-40 years].  The incumbent maintenance company had a very good price on modernization.  They got the project to modernize their controller and power unit but keep the Ron Will equipment.  We educated the building owner but they still went with the low price.  We would not do the project with retaining the Ron Will equipment.

[Ron Will door operator from 1964 - to be retained - But a new controller... ]

And there are some companies that include everything on the proposal and give a great price but never do the door equipment.  The only problem is when a company does this on equipment they do not maintain.  The cat will be out of the bag quickly.

Education – When I talk to building owners I tell them the most important part of the project is to be as educated as they can so they can make a good decisions for the building.  The second most important item is to be comfortable with the company you choose. If you get 3 prices for a $100,000.00 project you will have 3 different proposals using different formats and different language.  We may not get all the projects but if you can spend time educating and helping a building if things don’t work out with the company they choose, you will get a call.

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.