Chicago elevator maintenance needed!

Over the last week we have been to a few buildings that either do not have a maintenance agreement or have elevator maintenance and the company is not showing up.  The reason a building has elevator maintenance to ensure you have a safe and reliable elevator system.  Over New Year’s we had another elevator related death in New York City.  Make sure your building has a reliable elevator company performing maintenance and completing the annual testing of the elevator system.  If we all work together we can prevent some of the accidents from occurring. 

I went to a building in the City of Chicago and saw an elevator was about 15 – 20 years old.  A 15-20 year old elevator is not a very old elevator system and elevators can last a very long time if they are maintained properly and cared for.  It appeared at one time maintenance had been performed at the building but as of late nothing had been completed. The last maintenance company of record at the building was a non union firm.

I surveyed the elevator equipment and found some common items that needed to be taken care of for buildings that do not have maintenance with a reliable elevator service provider.

[This water has been in the elevator pit for so long there is a film on the top]

                                                    [Cables starting to rouge]

                                                      [Machine gear wearing]

Noted items

Water in the pit

Emergency phones not working - Very important

Cables starting to rouge

Machine gear wear

CAT 1 testing over due

Fire testing not being completed monthly[last fire service exercise 6/19/15]

Light bulbs out

Basement door needed new door gibs and sill vacuumed out - Elevator shut down looming

This is a reminder to building owners to make sure that you have a maintenance agreement with a reliable elevator service provider.  Many times you may be getting bills in the mail but no one is going to your building, have the company put a log chart in the machine room.  Having a log chart in the machine room not only helps the building understand when the elevator technician comes out, it also is a code requirement in the State of Illinois and City of Chicago.  It is our job to make sure you get all of the life out of your elevator system by performing preventative maintenance and correcting issues before they become a large expense.  The first picture shows water in the pit which has rusted the pit equipment significantly.  We should catch that immediately and help the building move on removing the water.  Now the pit equipment needs to be sanded and painted or replaced.

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.