Hydraulic Elevator Modernization – Arlington Heights, IL

We had the opportunity to work with a great group of condominiums in Arlington Heights, IL on the last of 12 elevators in their complex to get modernized.  Over the last 20 years the building’s have done one elevator every year or two.  This was their last one.

Existing elevator & project scope – We replaced the elevator controller, fixtures, door operator, hydraulic power unit and power unit.  The original package provider was ESCO and hard all original equipment, less the valve that was changed 15-20 years ago.  This elevator had served the building well since 1971.

New equipment providers 

• Controllers – Alpha Elevator 
• Door operators – GAL MOVFR w/GAL car and hatch
• Fixtures – Innovation Industries
• Power unit – MEI w/Maxton valves
• Cylinder - ITI

Machine room –  The new machine layout opens up the room and a fresh coat of paint makes it look great!

[Old machine room layout]

[New machine room layout]

Elevator cylinder – The existing elevator had a single bottom ESCO Elevator cylinder from 1971, we replaced it with a new ITI Hydraulik piston and cylinder.

[Old ESCO Elevator cylinder]

 

[New ITI Hydraulik cylinder w/PVC protection]

Elevator controller – The existing elevator controller was an ESCO Elevator from 1971 with several types of relays.  These relays become problematic and they are getting harder and harder to find replacements. 

[Old ESCO relay logic elevator controller]

[New ALPHA solid state hydraulic elevator controller]

Elevator fixtures – We installed Innovation Industries hall and car fixtures to replace the original ESCO buttons. The new fixtures have emergency communication failure, visual communication, access, fireman’s recall phase I & II and position indicators in/car and 1^st landing. 

[Old ESCO elevator COP]

[Old ESCO elevator COP]

[New Innovation elevator COP - moved to strike jamb]

[Old ESCO hall push buttons]

[New Innovation Industries main floor hall station]

Hydraulic power unit – We removed the ESCO dry power unit with an older Maxton valve and replaced it with an Canton submersible power unit with a Maxton UC4 valve. It is accessible standing up instead of near the ground.

[Old ESCO power unit with a Maxton valve retrofit]

[New Canton Elevator power unit w/Maxton Valve]

[New Maxton Valve]

Door operator & door equipment – We replaced the GAL MOD door operators with GAL MOVFR 2s and the hatch equipment was replaced with new GAL equipment.  What a difference in the car top look!!!  Fresh! Clean!

[Old car top & GAL MOD door operator]

[New car top & GAL MOVFR II door operator]

Visual communication - VAM – The building gave us an internet line to the elevator machine room and we used Towne Answering service. They do a great job for us answering our elevator emergency phone and visual calls. We passed the inspection with flying colors.

[Visual communications by K TECH and answered by Towne]

Take away – We encourage building owners to take a proactive approach to equipment replacement. When equipment gets 20-30 years old, and a building’s expectations are that the elevators are to run reliably, it is a good idea to start planning when it should be replaced.  This elevator ran for 55 years and had some hiccups along the way but all in all was a good running elevator for a majority of its career.  We ran alittle close to the sun on this one but we made it.

Team work– The sales person and the project team who finishes, typically get the glory on a project. In between the initial contract sale and the final acceptance are many other people who work on the project to make it successful. From the truck driver to the engineer to the billing department to the assist when needed, 16 Colley Elevator employees where involved in the project and we had tremendous team work on it. Thank you everyone. Without you we would not have had such a successful delivery! Let’s not forget our great material supplier participation!

If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.

Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.

Elevator 101 – Morton Grove, IL – CAMICB And CAM Approved Course

 

On April 14th, we hosted another Elevator 101 class at Moretti's in Morton Grove, IL. The class, which is approved for continuing education credit, was attended by approximately 30 people from various property management firms, local fire departments and municipalities. 

One of the primary topics discussed was the status of the A17.1 2022 code adoption by the state. Since we've been alerting our customers since 2024, keeping them aware of changes is important. We discussed items from the last Elevator Safety Division meeting as well as a recent letter from the State Fire Marshal's Office. Spoiler alert - the adoption of the code by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) is on hold pending further investigation and reporting by the Elevator Safety Division. 

Other items our Elevator 101 class highlights are:

• Types of elevators
• Governing codes & certification requirements
• Common elevator violations
• Fireman's service exercise & hoist way access
• Testing requirements
• Obsolete equipment
• Maintenance agreements
• Modernization projects

The goal of the class is to help property managers understand what is behind the elevator industry's curtain as it can sometimes be confusing, not well explained, and expensive. We want our property managers to have the ability to explain to their buildings common elevator questions, code issues and help plan for capital expenditures. After the class, they aren't experts but will have better questions to ask and become more proactive with elevator service providers. A better educated property manager is a better building advocate and a better customer.

Elevator 101 is approved by Community Association Managers International Certification Board (CAMICB) to fulfill continuing education requirements for the CMCA® certification. It is also approved through the IL Dept of Financial & Professional Regulation (IDFPR) for CAM (Community Association Manager) license continuing education credits. This course is approved for 1 hour for either certification.

 If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.

State of Illinois Fire Marshal Elevator Division - 4/9/26 Meeting - Door Lock Monitoring - DLM A17.1 2022 Adoption

State Update

1/1/26 to 4/7/26

Permits – 202

Licensing – 165

New registered elevators – 47

Certificates – 2625

Residential elevators – The meeting began with a statement from the Elevator Safety Division Manager John Andersen. It is his opinion that residential elevators that are in commercial settings are unsafe.  If there are concerns, they should be addressed using the OSFM complaint form.

Robots  - The second item addressed by the Division was the topic of robots using elevators within the State of Illinois. A vote was finally conducted on allowing “concierge robots”.  These are robots that are used in hotels and medical facilities to deliver things. 

The two relevant items brought up were code requirements for elevator interaction, specifically as they pertain to the following sections of the code:

Cyber Security - 8.14 

Remote Interaction Operation - 2.26.13

The Board voted to allow robot interaction – 9-2 in favor.

[In a galaxy far away a long time ago, the Empire approved use of robots of the Deathstar]

The Board then approved IUEC continuing education unanimously. 

A17.1 2022 Code Update – Door Lock Monitoring

JCAR(Joint Committee Administrative Rules) had concerns late in the code approval process and ultimately objected because the economic and budgetary affects had not been considered.  There were  several comments submitted from different organizations, such as universities and lobby groups, which raised concerns about the cost and logistics of implementation. In the end, the Elevator Safety Division withdrew the proposed update. The Division needs to provide more information to JCAR to address those late comments before moving forward.  

One of the primary concerns raised was the lack of clarity regarding how the 2022 code would treat existing elevators with existing DLM. As originally written, even elevators with DLM that satisfies the current code could potentially fail inspections due to a technicality. 

As a side note, the OSFM indicated the delay may be a good opportunity to jump to the A17.1 2025 code instead of having multiple quick code adoptions in a row.  This would be helpful for contractors to have one code that will be in effect for many years. 

JCAR has requested the following 4 items from OSFM to begin moving forward again with code adoption:

1. Magnitude of safety concerns if an elevator lacks DLM

2. Cost burdens

3. How many elevators in the state are affected

4. Could there be additional flexibility phasing in the requirement

Administrator John Andersen responded point by point to the board with the following:

1.     DLM was initially adopted in the 1996 code as a result of fatal accidents in NYC. Currently there are 10,000 accidents a year – mostly by doors - and 27 people die per year. Nine States and AHJs (Authority Having Jurisdictions) have adopted the DLM rules in the 2022 code and retroactive rules. The OSFM fully supports the rules and recommends all non-DLM elevators get DLM.

2.     Costs are estimated between $10k to 25K. Note that this is for a modification of existing equipment and not to install new. It is also an estimate from the OSFM, not from Colley Elevator or a specific elevator contractor. Actual cost will depend on many factors including the age and type of conveyance. 

3.     Currently it is difficult to state how many elevators will be affected by the lack of DLM. JCAR asked for number of pre-1996 elevators and 14,000 are listed as installed prior to that. However, OSFM needs to do additional work as many could have been modernized since their original installation. They have reached out to municipalities for permit information and will be reviewing that data.

4.     OSFM will be working internally to try to arrange a compromise after getting feedback. The Elevator Safety Division understands there will be challenges to implementing the change and are reviewing ways to potentially minimize the negative effects. 

A17.1 2022 State of Illinois Code Update Take Away – We are a ways away from changing codes; there is a long procedural process that the OSFM needs to begin. Additionally, OSFM did raise the possibility about skipping over the 2022 code and moving to the 2025 code instead.  Nothing for buildings to do besides prepare and understand what may be coming their way.  

My suggestion for buildings is that if you have an older elevator, or if you have an elevator that has equipment that is considered “obsolete”, begin planning for a replacement.  For newer buildings, or buildings that have modernized in the last 20-30 years[assuming your elevator is reliable and safe], hold tight for more OSFM/State of Illinois news.  

If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.

Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.

Elevator Contractors of America – ECA – Annual Meeting – 2026 – Fort Lauderdale, FL

 

The Elevator Contractors of America (ECA) is a group of independent elevator contractors that have gotten together to work with the International Union of Elevator Contractors (IUEC) to have a better working arrangement and relationship. Once a year we get together for our annual meeting to go over internal business, education and to hear about the IUEC’s state of affairs and different programs. This year we had the meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was great to see some old faces, old friends and meet some new signatory members, as well as some of the IUEC faces. Colley Elevator has been going to this meeting for the last 16+ years.

The ECA is a great organization that we are proud to be part of; it has over 52 different member companies from coast to coast. ECA companies have a separate CBA (collective bargaining agreement) than other IUEC member companies. All IUEC mechanics and apprentices get the same pay rate in all agreements. The ECA agreement is tailored to the independent contractors and the different needs we may have from Otis, Schindler, Thyssen, Kone, etc.

Sunday

Sunday evening is a reception for everyone to see each other and say hi.  Some of us only see each other once or twice a year after talking to each other on the phone throughout the year.  It’s a great time to reconnect before we get to work on Monday.

Monday

We started with the keynote speaker Steve Gilliland. Steve is a great motivational speaker and while we had him back in 2018, it was great to see his high energy and comedic take on motivational speaking. 

Here are some of my notes from his talk:

• He asked us to think about the 5 people who most influenced your life and what you learned from them. 
• Surround yourself with people with a positive mindset. 
• Don’t give people permission to ruin your day.  Cut out the noise(news channels, social media). 
• Create a ripple – you don’t need to make a big splash, making an effort will create a ripple that can make a big effect.
• Pride – Personal Responsibility In Delivery Excellence.  When no one is watching – do better than anyone else and put your autograph on it.

Our ECA safety consultant Ed Hoeffliger spoke about:

• Aging workforce  and the importance of stretching, proper lifting, use helpers
• Osha enforcement direction is:
• Still active
• Still issuing citations for:
• Dangerous activities
• Dangerous jobs
• Report injuries
•   Fatal four
• Falls
• Electrocution
• Struck by incidents
• Caught between hazards
•  Typical high risk activities include:
• Work inside the hoistway
• Elevator modernization work
• Machine room maintenance
• Electrical troubleshooting
• Work on cab tops
•  Osha's Alliance Program is working on training Osha inspectors
•  Osha regulatory priorities that are being discussed include:
• Heat Illness prevention rule(probably a fed rule)
• Expanded injury data reporting
• Hazard communication updates
• Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and worker protection that fits – not one set of gloves, glasses, etc)
•  National emphasis programs include:
• Heat exposure
• Falls in construction
• Machine guarding and amputations
• Electrical hazards
•  Regarding state OSHA plans:
• 22 states operate OSHA programs
• Heat illness regulations – States are taking lead
• Workplace violence rules
• Ergonomics initiative
•  Written plans include:
• Hazard assessments and monitoring
• Free potable water (not Gatorade, energy drinks, etc)
• Rest breaks and cooling measures
• For really hot conditions:
• Mandatory breaks
• Pre shift heat briefings
•  Active monitoring of symptoms
•  Signs and symptoms of heat issues:
• Heat straining; thirst fatigue, irritability, heavy sweating
• Heat exhaustion, headaches, cramps, dizzy
• Heat exhaustion gets worse(shock) – Pale skin, nausea, confusion, rapid heartbeat, poor coordination
• Heat stroke – High body temp, hot skin, cognitive impairment, seizures (call 911, cool them off)
•  What to do when ICE comes to town and how it pertains to:
• Work place violence
• What if ICE comes to a job site?
• What if the issue is Anti-ICE protests
•   Osha Alliance
• Ongoing work project – elevatorindustrysafetypartners.com
• 2025 Fall protection, suspended scaffolds and false cars, lock out tag out (LOTO)
• Seems slow due to back and forth between experts
•  The OSHA Elevator Industry Overview meeting at Local 2 will take place May 20-21^st, 2026
• In summary he discussed:
• Workers are getting older
• OSHA and the states are still in place
• Prepare for summer
• Think about “what ifs” that do happen – work place violence
• Check out the Alliance work product

Our attorney Ken Richmon talked about work environments from 2020 to 2026 and making sure what we do outside of work is not entering our employment due to social media.

Our joint ECA/IUEC safety committee met in the afternoon.

Tuesday 

Tuesday was IUEC day where we got brought up to speed on what each branch was up to and progress they have made over the year. It gave each group time to explain some of the successes, challenges from last year and where they are going this year. The meeting kicked off with General President Frank Christenson talking about his ideas moving forward. The collective message was of continuing the 3 years without a fatality and “all of us together” on work place safety.  IUEC will be focusing on healthcare and education

Jim Chapman – Assistant General President talked about a few things but what stuck out to me was:

• Wants to stress – Changing the culture of safety because we are talking about it
•  Next piece of culture – education
•  Highest standard of education
•  Highest standard of craftsmanship
•  Not a penalty, it's an opportunity

Larry McGann – General Secretary and treasurer – talked about giving our retirees more opportunities in the industry to use their domain knowledge to benefit the industry.  We have a great healthcare reserve and all financials are doing well.

Allen Spears – Elevator Industry Work Preservation Fund (EIWPF) – Allen is one of my favorites.  I have been working with Allen for over 15 years, maybe longer.  He's a great ambassador for the EIWPF cause and went over our programs and talked about the 2025 use of them. He mentioned they are working more on the mental health aspect of the elevator industry.

Remember 988 – Mental health hotline/suicide hotline

John Caughhey & David Morgan – National Elevator Industry Educational Program (NEIEP)  - They talked about the new hire program, welcome center and other initiatives NEIEP is working on to separate them as the gold standard in the elevator training programs.  It's always great to see what they are up to.

Safety committee –  We discussed a recent situation they encountered and our current challenges; Fall protection and caught between.

Code development - 

2022

• 2.26.2.38 Ladder electrical device
• 2.1.7 Illumination of hoistways
• 8.14 Cyber security

2025

• 2.2.3 guards between adjacent pits
• 2.26.1.4.2(i) Approaching hazard warning system
• 17.1-2005 Supplement
• 2.3.2.3 guarding of the counterweight in multiple elevator hoistways

In general, we are 1,209 days with out a fatality

Rigging 2 – machines flipping with big block ups

Organizing talked about their recent activity.

Director of Codes discussed aging elevators.

Benefits Department talked about health of financial plans and health plans. This is always a great one to listen and look at.  There is a lot of time and care taken to make sure there is a healthy program.

The biggest take away is how close the ECA and IUEC are together with our safety expectations for membership and making our industry involvement better than all other alternatives.

I always take a lot away from these meetings. We learn a lot during the sessions but it is the conversations we have during the reception, lunch, breaks, breakfast that I take away the most. While we are in different geographic locations, we have the same challenges and it is great to get a chance to talk about what is working for other companies across the country. 

Among the great things we get to do is to have some face time with the IUEC leadership and informally talk about what challenges each side of the table has. Everyone’s goal is to have a harmonious relationship and go to work in a great trade, doing great things, safely. If you work for a company that is signatory and is not a member of the ECA, I would strongly encourage signing up, the cost is minimal and the benefit is huge. Thank you to the ECA leadership for putting on another great event!

If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.

Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.

Paused - A17.1 2022 Adoption With Door Lock Monitoring

 

If you're a Colley customer, you have seen all the warnings. We've been talking about the adoption of the ASME A17.1 2022 code for almost a year and a half - ever since the State of Illinois started moving forward with it. 

LATEST UPDATE - The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) was set to vote on the code’s adoption on December 17th, but that did not happen. In the meeting minutes, the vote was postponed by 45 days. 

Our understanding is that some of the language concerning how the code will be implemented, including annual inspections, is being rewritten. Once complete, it will go back to the Office of the State Fire Marshal’s Elevator Safety Review Board before returning to JCAR.

We recently received word confirming that the code adoption is on hold and there is currently no anticipated time frame for adoption. The letter from the State Fire Marshal that arrived at our office earlier this week is posted on their website and appears below.

We aren't usually this vocal about updated versions of the safety code, but this time around it would have had large financial implications. Usually a code update affects new installations and modernizations. As initially written, the A17.1 2022 update would have no grandfathering of older equipment.

As we receive future updates from the state, we will be sure to share them.

In the meantime, feel free to reach out to our office with any questions or concerns you may have.

Elevator Picture Hall of Fame 2026 – Superbowl of Elevators

 

The Hall of Fame posts are typically some of the more popular blogs in the Colley blog history. We get to see a lot of elevators during the year on our initial visits for pricing or while engineering projects. Of the hundreds of elevators, and thousands of pictures, these are some of the gems we've seen this past year.

 

Lots of wires – now that we are involved in internet and phones, we need to work with the buildings on getting us a good internet connection.   This is a telecommunication area we were pointed to.

 

Bad packing – This is the state of a cylinder gland packing we found when changing out the seals.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one like this.

 

Alarm Chaos – I have 4 year old and 7 year old boys, it looks like they were sent here to investigate the fire alarm. 

 

The Streets Where I’m Living – There was/is a band called the NY Citizens and they had a song called “The Streets Where I’m Living”.  I missed the part of the song where they said they installed the street in the elevator pit.

 

Pool party – I coach a girls travel softball team and we wanted to have a pool party, but ran out of money.  I got this picture from one of our mechanics and decided we can save some money and have the pool party in the elevator pit.  We did have to pay for shots and antibiotics after the pool party. 

 

No problem here – From time to time we go to buildings that do not have power outages, and find out that they really may have had a power issue.  That or my 4 and 7 year olds have been moving wires around on the door operator.

 

I haven’t seen this before – Not sure I’ve seen this solution on a pump/dump before.  It is creative, like putting a tarp on your driveway with a pully system to avoid shoveling, only to find out that when it snows too much you can’t pull the tarp up so you borrow your neighbor’s snowblower.  After you are done snowblowing the tarp and getting it stuck in the snow blower, you return it to your neighbor and pretend nothing happened.

 

Too much greenfield – There are other piping options than using greenfield all over the car.  Just say NO!

Disclaimer – We see hundreds and thousands of pictures over the course of a year. While we don’t see as many great pictures of maintained elevators, we do see them, which is fantastic. We have a lot of very dedicated and talented elevator people in our area. The reason we don’t see a lot of buildings getting great elevator service is because they are happy with their mechanic and the mechanic is probably cleaning and taking care of the building. Those buildings are not calling us to get pricing for elevator work because they are being taken care of. Be the great mechanic or helper, don’t be these people. We should all take the time and care we would like to have people who work in our homes to have. Do great things! We have great jobs! We have a great industry! If you are doing great, Keep it up. If you need to improve, no other time than now to start! Lets do it!

If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.

Traction Elevator Modernization - Schaumburg, IL

 

We did a super cool modernization in Schaumburg, IL last year and wanted to share it with you.  We got to work with a great design team and great owner to put everything together. 

New equipment providers 

Controllers – MCE

Door operators – GAL MOVFE

Fixtures – Innovation Industries w/Ktech camera

Machines & safety equipment – Hollister Whitney

Visual communication – CAT 5 line[building supplied & Towne Monitoring]

Cab interior - Cabworks

 

Elevator controller – The existing control system was a Swift and was having reliability issues as well as issues with competent techs knowing how to work on the platform.  We replaced it with a bullet proof Motion 4000 traction elevator controller with Iso transformers to clean up the power.  

[Old Swift Controllers]

[Old Swift Controller]

[New MCE 4000 Elevator Controllers]

 

[New MCE 4000 Elevator Controller] 

Elevator door operator – The elevator had an old GAL door operator.  We replaced it with a GAL MOVFE linear operator. 

[Existing GAL Operator]

 

[Existing GAL Operator]

 

[New GAL MOVFE Linear Door Operator]

Elevator fixtures – The existing fixtures were the Fixture Company/Dupar.  We replaced them with Innovation Industries fixtures with a Ktech camera.  We integrated their existing security system into them. 

[Existing Fixture Company/Dupar Elevator Fixtures]

[New Innovation Fixtures]

 

[New Innovation Fixtures] 

Machines and safety equipment – The existing machines were Thyssen Northern and we installed new Hollister Whitney Legacy machines.   

[Existing Northern Elevator Machines]

 

[New HWEC Legacy Machines] 

Turnkey – The building wanted a turnkey project and we had great partners to complete the fire alarm, generator, electrical, security and other code required trades. 

Visual communication - VAM – We had an electrician pull a CAT 5 cable to our machine room for visual communication and we engaged Towne Monitoring for the answering service.  Ktech  was our camera partner on this project.

[KTECH Monitoring & Security Integration]

Cab interior - Cabworks Chicago refreshed the elevator cab and it looks great!

[Cab Refresh by Cabworks]

[Cab Refresh by Cabworks]

[Cab Refresh by Cabworks]

Elevator pit – A pit cleaning and new paint job finishes off the elevator pit!

[Pit Before the Elevator Modernization]

[Pit After the Elevator Modernization]

Take away – We encourage building owners to take a proactive approach to equipment replacement. When equipment gets 20-30 years old, and a building’s expectations are that the elevators are to run reliably, it is a good idea to start planning its replacement.  

Team work– The sales person and the project team who finishes typically get the glory on a project. In between the initial contract sale and the final acceptance are many other people who work on the project to make it successful. From the truck driver to the engineer to the billing department to the assist when needed, 15 Colley Elevator employees where involved in the project and we had tremendous team work on it. Thank you everyone. Without you we would not have had such a successful delivery! Let’s not forget our great material supplier participation!  A special shout out to our patient building through the whole process. 

If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107. 

Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.