Elevator pits Hall of Fame - Volume #1

Over the years you accumulate a lot of pictures of good things, bad things, cool things, etc.  I added a new picture to a shared folder we have in our office called “Hall of Fame”.  What typically ended up in the hall of fame is train wrecks, but some good things pop in there from time to time.  I have been doing the blog since May 2014 and it is hard to come up with new and good content every week so when I saw the oval PVC it reminded me of all the gems we have in our folder.

1^st picture is a picture from a small portfolio of elevators where an OEM had been completing maintenance for many years.  Over the years they just pulled back and pulled back maintenance and only went there a few times a year for a few minutes. Differed maintenance or no maintenance?  We went back a year later before we took over the account and the pit still looked like this

2^nd picture is a duplex elevator that has a water problem. This is a large amount of water if you add up the square footage and converted it to gallons.  Look where the sump is.

 3^rd picture is a cylinder we are removing right now.  We found that this PVC is oval.  There was no leak in the cylinder, the building was told there was a leak.  The issue here was the piston was scored from being installed crooked so by the time we go there it could not be salvaged.  There was also a big knock on this car and the car next to it.  I would imagine the company who used this PVC had an issue with it becoming oval so it became difficult to plumb the cylinder.  This PVC has no markings what material it is, just black PVC.  It weighs about 60% of what schedule 40 PVC weighs, much easier to move around but apparently there is a downside to it.  This is from an OEM installation.  This could also go into a "bad/interesting cylinder hole replacement" heading.

4^th picture is an elevator that was out of service that the building owner wanted to see what they could do.  We passed.

5^th picture is what I am always impressed with.  An elevator mechanic and company who takes pride in their jobs.  This is from an independent company in the Chicago area, I would like to take credit for this but it was another company. 

As always feel free to contact us at www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.