Hydraulic elevator modernization – Chicago, IL – Elevator #1 & #2

We recently completed a 4 car hydraulic elevator modernization at a group of buildings that are 80-90 years old and have been merged together.  We will focus on elevators #1 & 2 in this blog.  The elevators had two separate machine rooms and ran on separate button stacks even though they were right next to each other.  Each elevator machine room was hot and suffered a lot of heat related issues.  What I found was that most people hit both elevator buttons and both would respond which exacerbated the production of heat from both elevator machines because both elevators chased themselves on every call.  Some people even hit the up and down button hoping that would get them an elevator faster.

 [The building did their cab interiors which completed the look for the new elevators]

Initially our solution was like the other companies who bid the project, there were two machine rooms, keep them 2 machine rooms and simplex.  After final engineering visits we worked with the building to get a bigger machine room and duplexed the cars.  The goal here was reduce elevator heat.

Controllers – Smartrise Engineering

Power units – MEI

Door operators – GAL

Fixtures – Innovation Industries

Machine rooms & Controllers – Each of the existing machine rooms where fairly small and 60 feet away from eachother.  The picture below is the machine room, I didn’t have enough room to get a good picture of the entire elevator machine/controller because it was too small.  We replaced the traditionally reliable Dover DMC which where simplexed with Smartrise duplexed controllers. 

 [Lots of stuff in this elevator machine room - Pre MOD]

 [This dungeon has electrical pipes, water pipes and a lot of stuff collected from the years - Pre MOD]

 [New disconnect layout - Post MOD]

 [Old Dover DMC work horse on dry unit - Pre MOD]

 [Old Dover DMC work horse on submersible - Pre MOD]

 [New Smartrise Engineering duplex controllers - Post MOD]

Hydraulic elevator power unit – The elevators were running a dry 60HP and submersible 25 for the smaller car.  We replaced them with new MEI power units.

 [New MEI power units - Post MOD]

 Door operators – The cars had all Dover equipment on them.  We replaced the Dover door operators with GAL MOVFRs and replaced all the Dover hatch equipment.

 [Car top with Dover door operator - Pre MOD]

 [Car top with GAL door operator - Post MOD]

Elevator fixtures – All hall and car push buttons where replaced with Innovation Industries fixtures.  The fixtures ended up turning out great and are a major feature of the elevator modernization for the building. 

 [Dover fixtures - Pre MOD]

 [Innovation fixtures - Post MOD]

 [Typical hall Dover hall fixtures - Pre MOD]

 [Typical hall Innovation hall fixtures - Post MOD]

 [Dover Elevator car station - Pre MOD]

 [Innovation Industries car station - Post MOD]

Take away – This was a challenging installation and we had a great team at the building that worked with us to getting two reliable elevators back into service with a new feature to them called Duplex.

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.

Residential lift safety – Washington Post

An article popped up on my google phone that the Washington Post published on 7/19/19.  There is a cause for concern on some residential lifts that are in homes and the article touches on the concerns and some of the catastrophic outcomes.  The information is not new, the industry knows about the issues, the question is how to prevent more incidents from occurring.  Take a look at the article.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/home-elevator-deaths/2019/07/18/27b53434-968e-11e9-830a-21b9b36b64ad_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4a48efa7f508

As an industry we have struggled with how to resolve this issue. 

Solutions – None of the solutions are easy, a majority of the lifts are installed and no one knows where they are at or who the current home owner is.  We need to find where the lifts are that require a space guard. Manufacturers, installers, municipalities and building code writers need to be part of the solution.

Mandate space guards – Mandate space guards on any lift that doesn’t meet today’s code.  But how do we get to all of the existing lifts?

Inspections – Have all lifts, private or public, inspected on an annual basis by a QEI/CEI.

Home inspections – When a property is bought/sold have it inspected by a QEI/CEI.  This solution would not solve the problem overnight but it could put a dent in the numbers of lifts with spacial concerns over time.

Credit - Washington post article cited above.

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.

Chicago Elevator Association – EESF Boat Cruise 2019

Every year the Chicago Elevator Assocation[CEA] has a fund raising boat cruise for the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation[EESF].  This year was another great time on the Mystic Blue.  I got a chance to spend a time with some old friends as well as met some people new to the industry.

The EESF is the leading resource for educational programs that teach children and adults how to properly ride elevators, escalators and moving walkways safely. 

The EESF has a new Executive Director, Shelly Johnson.  I had a chance to meet Shelly after one of their strategic planning sessions in Chicago a few months ago and I am excited about the fresh future she brings to the EESF.

There are three main safety programs that the EESF is working on

            Safety rider – kids program

            Rise up safe rider – University/Colleges

            Safe rider – For older adults

To learn more about the EESF go to www.eesf.org

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.

Hydraulic elevator modernization - Chicago, IL

This was a building that their elevator was shut down for over a year before they got around to modernizing it.  The existing elevator equipment was 1960’s Montgomery Elevator vintage.  The elevator has been running for about 9 months, the shiny new look has worn off but it has been providing the building with reliable elevator service since turn over.

Elevator controller – Smartrise

Fixtures – Innovation

Car door operator – GAL

Car and hatch equipment – MAC

Power unit – MEI

Elevator cylinder - EECO

Machine room – When I first went to the building I found the machine room jammed with non elevator related equipment.  We removed the existing Montgomery Elevator controller which serviced the building for 50+ years with a new Smartrise control system and MEI hydraulic elevator with Maxton UC4 valve.  In the elevator machine rooms it is always a challenge to keep non elevator related equipment out.

[Machine room my first visit]

[Old Montgomery work horse for over 50 years]

[Old dry elevator hydraulic power unit]

[New Smartrise controller & MEI power unit]

[New Maxton UC4 control valve - pump and motor below]

Elevator fixtures – We worked with Innovation Industries on this installation and I believe the fixtures turned out great.

[Old Montgomery car operating panel w/carpet walls]

[New car operating panel by Innovation Industries and new cab interior]

[Old look of the 1st floor elevator lobby]

[New look at 1st floor with ADA elevator fixtures - lobby was also painted and new floors]

Door equipment – We always use a GAL MOVFR II operator on our modernization projects and in this case we used MAC car and hatch equipment to save the building some costs with converting over to GAL tracks.

[Old MAC door operator with leveling system wreckage]

[New GAL MOVFR door operator]

Elevator cylinder – The elevator was pre 1972 had did not have a safety bulk head so this needed to be replaced per City of Chicago mandate which required all single bottom cylinders to be removed prior to 1/1/13.  There are still many single bulk head cylinders out there.

[Old MAC cylinder pre 1972]

[New EECO cylinder replaced due to Chicago mandate]

Other modernization items – When we do a modernization there are some items the building has to take care of i.e. electrical disconnects, fire alarm panel, various machine room items. 

[New mainline disconnects and fire alarm panel w/updated fire extinguisher]

[Creative way to reduce potential issues with water pipes]

[Machine room GFCI]

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.