Old Elevator equipment & elevator maintenance

There is a building in the close western suburbs that has an elevator from the early 1960’s.  It is a Otis traction elevator with automatic doors.  One of our sales people went the building when he was out knocking on doors and they were interested in a competitive bid, it is an old elevator, the sales person did not open the hoist way doors so we assumed it was just a old beater elevator.  The building was non responsive after he sent the information to them.

I received a call a few months later because someone else who works here knows the person who is in charge of facilities.  They are looking for a short term and long term plan so I set up an appointment with the building. 

When I went to the building I found was the hoistway filled with dust, this elevator must have not been cleaned for 20+ years. There is so much dust on everything that it is a fire hazard.  I will say there may be a vent somewhere because there is a newer light bulb, newer being 20 years or so[it is an energy efficient bulb].

[this is the pit light]

The company who is maintaining the elevator has been taking the buildings money for 30+ years for elevator maintenance.  I would think once every five years to vacuum the hoistway is not unreasonable.  If there is a vent in the hoistway shooting dust or material in the hoistway, send them a quote to clean the hoistway.

The building also called their current company over to get some modernization options, a salesmen, mechanic and a supervisor all went to the building and they were laughing at the equipment and telling them it is junk.  The equipment is old, we don’t see very much of this stuff around anymore but, if you have been taking a buildings money there could be a better way at addressing the customer.

[Sherman tank of door operators - oil check]

I get the idea that old elevator equipment is hard to get motivated to clean but we as elevator professionals should treat each customer with respect and do what we can with the time we have and the equipment that is in the building.  If the equipment is unsafe, it should be shut down, if the equipment is unreliable, it should be replaced.  It is up to the elevator company to remind building owners of what they need to do with their equipment.

The point of this is that if you are unhappy with your current maintenance provider, there are other people out there.  This particular building manager didn’t know there was anyone else who worked on elevators, so while unhappy they stayed with the company.  And be aware of your elevator maintenance agreement and when it is up for renewal, they typically auto renew so keep your eyes open, elevator maintenance contracts are unforgiving.

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.

Proprietary Elevator Modernization Equipment

I have been to a few elevators with proprietary equipment in the last week.  Both where two car buildings about 10 floors.  One was a Schindler Elevator controllers and one was Fujitech Elevator controllers.  Both wanted quotes to resolve violations for some elevator mandated items that should have cost anywhere between $5,000 to $8,000 with market pricing.  The buildings got quotes over $10,000 from their current elevator companies in each case.  My opinion is that a building should get fair pricing to do their elevator work not less not more.

The issue a building will run into when they modernize their elevator system with proprietary equipment is that the company they choose to complete the modernization may be their only source for future maintenance.   This also leads into above market pricing for future needs as the company will know they have a building in a spot where it will be difficult to move companies for maintenance.

The story goes as such.  Building goes out for bid for elevator modernization, many buildings do not know much about elevator control systems or the difference between companies.   They get a reasonable bid from a OEM[Otis, Schindler, Fujitech, Mitsubishi, Kone, Thyssen] and they move forward with the project. After installation they find that maybe their maintenance agreement keeps going up in cost, OT calls are very expensive[$500.00 per hour], other items they need to address are above market price, etc.  They begin looking around for maintenance pricing and find there isn’t a lot of interest from independent companies or other OEMs in maintaining the equipment because resources are limited from the OEM for repairs and trouble shooting.

Both buildings where happy with the service mechanics and quality of work of the modernization, just not happy with the pricing.

How to avoid this?  If you are not working with someone you can trust for elevator services, hire an elevator consultant and let them know you do not want proprietary equipment.  Make sure your elevator consultant is qualified and does not receive preferred treatment from any one elevator company[if you have any questions on this call me]. Many OEMs will say their equipment is nonproprietary, this may not be true or true to the definition that you as a building owner are looking for.  You want a elevator control system that any one of the 30 or so elevator contractors around the Chicago land area can service, that they do not need a service tool and can readily get technical support.

Outcome of buildings with proprietary equipment – You will have other companies come and see there is no possibility of working with the building in the future and more than likely give you a higher price than they would give to a building where they would have the possibility of working with in the future.   One building I went to said a vendor came in saw the equipment was Fujitech and instead of measuring anything for this particular installation shined his flashlight in the pit and sent over a quote which was more than the OEM quote because they were not interested in doing the work at this building.  If you cannot get competitive bids for elevator work outside the maintenance agreement it puts you at a significant disadvantage. 

[this particular controller had its motor drive control & display removed so no one could work on the elevator controller, the CPU attached to it was locked out from anyone but the elevator company whom installed it]

Elevator maintenance on proprietary equipment – If you have proprietary equipment, many companies have personnel and tools to work on them, make sure you ask them questions if they have experience with your control system.  Some systems the elevator contractor can work on better than others if they are not the installing firm.

What is nonproprietary control equipment?  Smartrise Engineering, Motion Control Engineering, Virginia Controls, Vertitron Midwest, GAL Manufacturing among others.  If you have questions when going through the process, send me an email, call me, even if we are not bidding the project I will walk you through what you should know.   As an independent company we have an interest in making sure buildings are getting nonproprietary equipment installed by a reputable company. 

Any questions on elevator consultants - Email me and I can put you in touch with a few good consultants that will look out for your best interests.  There are many good ones and there are ones that you should avoid.

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.

What documents should be in an elevator machine room

With the new codes coming out that require different items to be in the elevator machine room there seems to be some general confusion of what qualifies as maintenance records, maintenance control plans, testing records, etc.  The City of Chicago will be requiring these items shortly and the State of Illinois jurisdiction areas have required these for some time.

Every elevator machine room requires the following.

1.    Maintenance records

2.    Oil logs

3.    Maintenance control plan

4.    Testing records

5.    Code data tag

Maintenance records - The amount of maintenance records required varies depending if you are in Illinois or in Chicago’s jurisdiction.   If your maintenance provider does electronic maintenance records you as a building owner must print these out and put them in the machine room.  It is the building owners responsibility to have these in the elevator room.  Typically the elevator contractor will provide the records, however, if your contractor does not, you will need to acquire them and put them in the room.

Oil logs – There needs to be documentation of any oil added to the elevator system.  Our oil log is located in the maintenance record packet which you see pictured above. 

Maintenance control plan[MCP] – A document indicating how the elevator is maintained needs to be located in the elevator machine room.  Some companies are using stickers with phone numbers, some companies are using CDs, some companies are using universal maintenance information.  In my opinion a binder with escalator maintenance information in it for a traction elevator does not qualify as a correct MCP.

Testing records – CAT 1 & CAT 5 records need to be located in the elevator room.

Code data tag – This is a tag that indicates when the elevator was installed and what modifications have been made to the elevator system.

If your machine room does not have these documents, get your contractor to provide them.  There are plenty of reasons for the elevator to fail inspection, don’t let the elevator fail for some of the easy items that should be provided.

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.