When Is It Time To Modernize An Elevator?

 

As a building owner, condo board member or property manager, the thought of modernizing elevators, if you have not done it before, is incredibly confusing and complicated.  Even for property owners who have gone through the process, it becomes a challenging task because there are a lot of questions from shareholders[residents, unit owners, owner groups].

The intent of this quick blog is to help identify when it is time to think about modernizing your elevator equipment.

When should I think about modernizing our elevator equipment?  This is a great question and each building will have a different answer.  We have buildings that have their elevator equipment for 60 years, we have building’s that would like to replace their elevator equipment every 15-20 years.  Our biggest recommended take away from this information is to be informed.

How each elevator is different

Usage – Some buildings are sleepy, some buildings are busy.  A care facility and a 9 unit condominium have a very different traffic schedule each day.  A busy building will require more maintenance if possible [see maintainability]

Environment – Is the elevator exposed to the elements, is the machine room or hoistway right by the laundry area vent which shoots lint into the machine room, is the elevator room in the garage and cold in the winter and hot in the summer, are there residents in the building that can treat the elevator better and not punch out the buttons or hit the doors on a regular basis. 

Reliability expectations –  We have a 4 unit buildings that have no elasticity for the elevator being out of service and want their equipment brand new all the time.  We have buildings that have 60 year old equipment that are ok with regular shut downs.  How does the building feel about their equipment being in service, how reliant is the building on their elevator system.

[CJ Anderson controller from 1964 - original to building]

Replacement equipment availability – Are there parts available to replace the elevator’s equipment if it requires it?  Do you have a Dover DMC that just had their parts line retired?  Do you have a US elevator that is one power outage away from waiting 4-6 weeks for a new controller because parts are not available. 

[Dover DMC - Obsolete - Not supported by OEM]

Elevator mechanic domain knowledge – As our elevators age, so do the technicians that know how to work on the equipment. Typically the elevator mechanics who installed the equipment during construction or modernization end up becoming maintenance technicians. As elevator technicians retire, they take their knowledge and experience with them. In our area we had a lot of great technicians who were incredible with US elevators installed in the 1970’s. Well, those guys and girls who know this stuff like the back of their hand are hanging up their cleats.

[US Elevator - fewer and fewer mechanics with domain knowledge]

[Montgomery MiProm - fewer and fewer mechanics with domain knowledge]

Maintainability – Do you have a building that allows the technician to take the elevator out of service to change door rollers, bearings, chains, lubricate, etc?  We have some buildings who pay for maintenance but will not allow us to take the conveyance out of service to work on the elevator.  In this event we do what we can, we do equipment replacement when the elevator is out of service, but this situation makes it very difficult to do preventative maintenance and extend the life of the overall system.

Proprietary equipment – Does the building want to have equipment that the only elevator company that can successfully navigate repairs and get replacement parts is the company who installed it?  Many buildings are replacing newer equipment to get away from proprietary equipment.  I was at a building on Thursday who has had enough of their elevator company but didn't realize what they had and the limited choices they have.

[Otis Gen 2 elevator controller]

How popular is your controller platform in your market – You can have a newer elevator controller but it never took off in the market you are in.  If this is the case then you will not have too many technicians familiar with troubleshooting.

[US Elevator Accession 1000 - Not a many in the Chicago market ]

Equipment replacement philosophy

Proactive replacement – Our recommendation for buildings is to understand the useful life of their elevator systems and how long it will last before it becomes problematic.  We[Colley Elevator] try to get in front of buildings to let them know that your elevator has X time period before you may start experiencing problems.  These problems can be reliability issues, safety issues, or replacement part acquisition challenges.  Talk to your elevator service provider and get some timelines and dates of their recommendations and understand your equipment.  We like to see buildings put their elevator in the reserve study and schedule for replacement or at least have funding available.  If 5 years go by and the elevator is scheduled to be replaced, if there are no issues with the elevator and a façade repair comes up for replacement, maybe you can push it for a year, but at least you have the funding available and can make a good decision for the building. 

[MCE black box - OEM support/replacement may be challenging]

Reactive replacement – What we try and discourage is to run the equipment in the ground or have a potential doomsday event when your circuit board goes out and there is not a replacement available and you have to rely on a circuit board repair shop to give you a moon shot at getting your elevator back running.  You can also have an issue at the building where an elevator installed in 1967 has a leveling problem when someone trips out of their elevator and there isn’t a clear path to return the elevator back to a safe and reliable working condition and you have a difficult choice to make with the elevator contractor to repair[if possible] or replace.  If you are in the reactive category you may also need to deal with how to fund this modernization project quickly which is its own challenge. 

[ERM - Original to building - Domain knowledge almost non existent - Not supported by OEM]

Take away – Learn about your elevator equipment, ask your maintenance technician, have your elevator contractor send you information, come to a board meeting, do an equipment walk through with the key building people.  A few important things to take away; elevator modernization is expensive, elevator modernization can be confusing, and elevator modernization may require other trades to be involved. What helps is having someone from the elevator contractor to educate you and give you the tools to be successful in planning.

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.