Hydraulic Elevator Modernization – Chicago, IL

 

Long before the pandemic we started working with a movie theatre in Chicago about modernizing their elevators to comply with the 2017 Chicago Fireman’s Phase II mandate.  An elevator company to remain nameless attempted doing overlay panels and did not have the best results.  The car featured wasn't required to have an FEO update but it's controller boards are becoming obsolete.

Existing elevator & project scope – The project scope for this elevator was to replace the controller and fixtures to comply with the City of Chicago Fireman’s service Phase II mandate on their 4 garage elevators, the lobby elevator did not have Phase II but the controller boards are being phased out.  We replaced their hydraulic power unit and door operator as well to give the elevator 20-30 years of additional life.

New equipment providers

Controllers – Smartrise Engineering

Power units – Minnesota Elevator w/Maxton UC4 valve

Door operators – GAL MOVFR

Fixtures – Innovation Industries

Elevator Controller – The existing Dover DMC elevator controller was replaced with a Smartrise Engineering controller.  The Dover DMC controller and ancillary boards are becoming obsolete.

[Great Dover DMC Elevator Controller]

[Replaced with Smartrise Engineering controller]

Machine room– The machine room was a typical Dover DMC set up, good space, ready for a relatively easy “work by others” scope due to the age of the equipment.

[Machine room layout prior to modernization]

[New machine room layout]

Door operators – The elevator had a Dover Elevator door operator on it prior to the modernization and replaced with a GAL MOVFR.

 

[Dover Elevator door operator prior to modernization]

[New GAL MOVFR door operator]

Elevator fixtures – The old Dover Impulse fixtures are replaced with new code compliant Innovation Industries elevator fixtures. 

[Dover Elevator Impulse car statoin]

[New Innovation Industries elevator car station]

Elevator Pit – A good cleaning and nice paint job done by our project team!  Great finishing touch!

 

[Elevator pit prior to modernization]

[Elevator pit after modernization]

Take away – All elevator modernizations are not completed due to “end of life” considerations.  This project is a mixed bag, we have 4 elevator controllers being replaced for FEO considerations and the car pictured is being replaced to stay ahead of the Obsolescence curve. 

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.

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