Elevator pit ladders – State of Illinois mandate

This is a reminder to all building owners that all elevators must have code compliant pit ladders as of 1/1/15.  All elevator companies are extremely busy trying to catch up with this item as 90% of the elevators in the State of Illinois [excluding Chicago] are failing. 

If you have not addressed with your elevator maintenance company call them and get information.  

Permits must be pulled if you are installing a new ladder or replacing a pit ladder.

Permits do not need to be pulled if you are modifying an elevator pit ladder.

If your elevator pit is less than 35” you will not need an elevator pit ladder.

Pit ladder criteria – some of the basic criteria

1.    Pit ladder must extend 48” above hoist way entrance sill

2.    Pit ladder must be 4 ½” from center of ladder rung to nearest obstruction[typically elevator hoistway wall or conduit

3.    Pit ladders must have hand rail clearance of 4 ½”

4.    Pit ladder foot rungs must be 9” to 16” in width

5.    Pit ladder must have rung at sill level

6.    Hatch door unlocking means within 39” horizontal and 72” vertical from top step

7.    Pit ladder must hold 300lbs

8.    Pit ladders must have traction tape, knurling, dimpling or other method for foot grip.

9.  Pit ladder must be made from non combustible material

[Here is a visual from one of our local inspection firms]

[As you can see often times there is a lot going on with wiring raceways, light switches and stop switches that we need to work with in existing elevator hoistways]

[This is from an elevator hoistway where we relocated the electrical work to be out of the way of the hand rails]

Variances - Many elevator pits will never be 100% code compliant in this case you must get a variance with the municipality and send that information to the State of Illinois.  Variances will not be given based on financial considerations but based on feasibility of installing a code compliant elevator pit ladder.  Elevator inspectors do not expect the building to reconstruct the elevator system to put a pit ladder in but we do expect that every option is exhausted prior to obtaining a variance.  The elevator company should be requesting the variance for the building. 

[This pit ladder is an interesting one that can never be 100% as on the left side of the wiring raceway there is a cam that comes down off the car and with the limited space there are not any good options.  This would be a good candidate for a variance.]

Retractable pit ladders – There is an option for a retractable pit ladder when you do not have the front to back clearance from the car to the hoist way wall.  All brands of retractable ladders do have their limitations and based on the environment may not be able to be used.

With all of the requirements and the existing equipment in the elevator hoist way we also must be reasonable for expectations for each environment.  The ultimate decision on the status of your elevator pit ladder will be the elevator inspector.

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.

Poor and dangerous elevator work

This positing is intended to remind building owners to hire reputable companies to perform elevator work and make sure in the decision making process that price is not the only consideration.  I have included pictures of items a typical building owner/manager would not see after the installation is completed as they are in areas where only elevator personnel should be going. 

Over the last month or so I have been to a few buildings that have had inferior work completed.  Some of this work is due to building owners and some of the work was completed by elevator contractors.  In our area all elevator contractors are incredibly busy so we are seeing more nonunion work which are the contractors on 2 of the 3 buildings I went to.  I have no information on the 3rd building as the owner "did not know anything" about the elevator system.

1^st elevator – This was a condominium that had a non-union elevator contractor install a new power unit on an elevator that was installed in the 1960’s.  While the elevator passed inspection the installation was completed poorly.  3 hours after inspection the elevator shut down and the contractor was difficult to get back to the building to remedy the shutdown.  The contractor would not come until they got paid for the entire installation.  If the contractor is demanding payment prior to remedying your issues that they most likely caused you should ask yourself if this is a company you should have been doing business with.

This elevator took 10-20 seconds to move from the floor in the up direction. By the time we arrived the building had been dealing with this for a month and remedy for them will be expensive as the power unit had to be adjusted and wired properly.  Existing motor starter wiring was loose which also caused the buildings vault to short so the elevator service had been intermittent until it fell completely out.

2^nd elevator – This is a building who had been dealing with two reputable companies prior to making a modernization decision on their very old elevator equipment.  The building hired a non-union company with an association with one of the buildings residents.  There is a laundry list of items that need to be addressed at this building but the one below is indicative of the care they took during the installation.

3^rd elevator – Of all three elevator systems I had seen this is the one that is most concerning to me.  This elevator is at a nursing/rehab facility and was not only very old but had electrical wiring run outside of conduit.  There was a report of an incident that had an investigation initiated.  This elevator should have been shut off long before this event occurred.  When I asked the building owner who did this work he “did not know anything”.

It is our responsibility as elevator contractors, mechanics, consultants and inspectors to guide good decisions and make good decisions on what is work that should be put back into service. Price is one consideration decision makers should look at while choosing a contractor.  The additional cost to hire a reputable contractor is very small compared the cost to hire someone to redo the work or have an incident that may becoming a law suit.

As a contractor we have shorter and shorter windows to complete installations as the competitive market forces never appear to allow us to allow for more time for installations, modernizations, repair, etc on our bids.  With this said, if another few hours or few days are what it takes for a safe and reliable installation that is what we need to do.  With that said from start to finish on projects we need to be effective and efficient in our work, from the initial sales visit to the final testing of the elevator system.

Take away – Hire a good company to do your elevator work, meet them, talk to them and understand what they are doing.  All elevator contractors are not the same. A responsible union elevator contractor has the training and experience to complete a good installation for your building.

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 pit leakage/Water in elevator pit

This is a repost from 5/16/15 but in Illinois by Chicago we got a tremendous amount of water last night, it is a reminder to building owners to be prepared.

As we see the April and May rains come every year we have a significant amount of water that enters into our elevator pits.  This water can cause a undesirable odor, deteriorate elevator equipment and get into the hydraulic fluid and contaminate it.

Items buildings can do to prevent or minimize water issues in elevator pits

1.    Make sure sump pumps are working in elevator pits

2.    Make sure pits are graded so water goes to sump pump/drain

3.    Seal pit to prevent water getting in

4. Have an elevator maintenance plan to alert you if you have water in the pit before it gets to a point where you have a significant issue.  Elevator maintenance plans that have someone go to your building once a quarter or twice a year may not be enough if you have a water issue that needs to be monitored. 

This picture shows one of the worst elevator pits I have seen.  This specific instance the water went through the cylinder glad packing and contaminated the hydraulic fluid.  Once this occurs there isn't much you can do as even if you replace the hydraulic fluid in the reservoir you will have water in the oil in the hydraulic line and the bottom of the cylinder.  The cost to get rid of 100% of the water is significant. 

This pit shows a building that had not had elevator maintenance for some time, you can see how high the water line in the pit is.

What a clean pit looks like

Alternative water detection devices 

SEES pit can plus -  The device below is from a company called SEES and would be something a building that has their sump pump fail or gets water regularly can look into with their elevator maintenance company.

*Audio, Visual and Silent Alarm System for Oil and Water detection
*Detects Water at 1/2”
*Adjustable Oil Level Sensors
*12 VDC Rechargeable Battery System (Comes with Smart Charger)
*Push to Test Buttons
*Form “C” Contacts, 1NO, 1NC
*Can Distinguish Between Oil and Water Signals
*Easy to Install
*Eliminate Costly and Damaging Oil Contamination
*Reduces Monthly Maintenance
*Can Connect Via Silent Alarm Relay Box to the Elevators Remote 
*Monitoring System (or low oil circuit in older controllers) 

Link - http://cyberstore.seesinc.com/ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?IID=12810

Electrodyn Liquid intrusion detection - This is a device from Electrodyn who makes other elevator add on devices such as Fire Service panels.  This is a device that will detect water int he elevator pit and send the car to a floor and turn the elevator off. 

http://www.electrodyn.com/LiquidIntrusionDetection/LID_brochure_051613.pdf

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.

Frustrated building owners and elevator modernization

As a company that has been around since 1908 we maintain a lot of older elevator systems.  When elevators age their ability to reliably service buildings diminish which at times frustrate building owners and building management.

It is our experience that elevators over 20 years old may begin to see increased shut downs and nuisance issues.  This means if you are a building owner or management you should begin to work with an elevator company on budgeting for a new elevator system around this time.

[Old controller prior to modernization]

 [New control system installed during modernization]

As you can see there is a dramatic difference in the two controllers.  The older controller has a lot of moving relays that provide more failure opportunities.  The new controller has microprocessor boards and a few relays. 

If buildings change management the new management company may not know the previous correspondence between the elevator company and the previous management company.  It is important that the new management and the elevator company are on the same page as far as expectations of the elevator equipment and equipment replacement.  We run into this issue a few times every year, all parties involved need to be proactive in the dissemination of information before people begin to get upset that their 30-60 year old elevator system begins to have chronic reliability issues.

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 fireman’s service phase I & II

This is a reminder to building owners, elevator companies, elevator mechanics, elevator inspectors and all involved with elevators that elevators with fireman’s service phase I & II need to exercised monthly.

A17.1 2013 - 8.6.11.1 Firefighters’ emergency options – all elevators provided with firefighters emergency operation shall be subjected monthly, by authorized personnel, to Phase I recall by use of the key switch, and a minimum of one-floor operation on phase II, exception in jurisdictions enforcing the NBCC.  Deficiencies shall be corrected.  A record of findings shall be available to elevator personnel and the authority having jurisdiction.

[This is the log for the City of Chicago that needs to be the elevator machine room]

What this means is there should be a chart in the elevator machine room which indicates someone has checked the Fireman’s service Phase I & II and indicates if it worked properly.  Elevator mechanics should be checking this for the building owners during maintenance visits but it also allows for authorized personnel to check Fireman’s service.  Authorized personnel are people who have been trained on how to use Fireman’s service.  If you have not been trained on how to operate Fireman’s service you should not be using Fireman’s service.

[Phase I key switch]

 [Phase II key switch is typically in the car station above the floor call buttons]

If you are a building owner or building management and your elevator company does not come every month it is up to you to have the fireman’s service exercise completed.  It is recommended that a trained elevator person complete this task but if someone at the building is competent and can be trained they can complete this exercise as well.   At times we find that non elevator personnel attempt to test fireman’s service but they do not fully understand how it operates and it locks the elevator up.  For this reason we recommend having a trained elevator person complete this task.  With more buildings not having monthly elevator maintenance visits this is something that can be overlooked yet is very important to be completed. 

Other news - Chicago Elevator Association Boat Cruise – Elevator Escalator Foundation fund raiser

Date – 6/10/15

Time – 6pm

Duration – 7:10pm to 10:10pm

Cost - $150.00

Vessel – Mystic Blue at Navy Pier

Contact – Laurie – 251-479-2199 or Laurie@eesf.org

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.