Elevator Inspection expenses

We have been receiving quite a few calls lately asking about elevator inspections and the requirement.   This will be about the AHJ[Authority having jurisdiction] which would be your town or city’s elevator inspection firm.  In the State of Illiniois for the most part a town hires an elevator inspection firm to complete the elevator inspections for that city or village. Over the last few years the elevator inspections have changed dramatically.  What was a one or twice a year visit with a reasonable bill of $50 to $150 each visit has gone to a requirement to have the following inspections

 

1. Periodic inspections[typically once or twice  a year]
2. Witnessing Category 1 and Category 5 testing[annual and 5 year testing]
3. And permit work inspections – this year the popular one is door restrictor inspections
    
   What this means is that the $100 to $300 a year bill for elevator inspections with the Village or City elevator inspector has risen significantly.  Are these legitimate inspections, yes they are, how much should a building pay? Well that is up to the AHJ, inspection firm and building owners.  As an elevator maintenance company we get in the middle of these conversations at times because we get billed for the CAT 1 and CAT 5 test witnessing fees and these are typically billed higher than the agreed upon periodic inspection
    
   While money is always a concern for everyone from the building owner, AHJ and inspection firm, it does take a qualified person to complete these inspections and qualified people are in high demand because there are not enough elevator inspectors out there working as elevator inspectors.  Many elevator personnel may be qualified to do elevator inspections, however, we choose to work on a different side of the business in the field or working in an office of an Elevator Company who does maintenance, service, new construction, etc.  The most important item is to make sure the elevator system is in a safe condition for the public.  It is getting more expensive but I can guaranty it is much less expensive than a legal issue, a longevity of equipment issue due to poor maintenance or being the person who tripped out of an elevator or got hit by a door because the elevator inspector is not going to the building and make sure the elevator maintenance company is not completing their job properly.
    
   If you have an questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.

Elevator wiring diagrams

Wiring diagrams are the elevator technician’s roadmap to how to repair your elevator system.  The State of Illinois current elevator code requires elevator wiring diagrams for the buildings specific elevator to be in the elevator machine room.  This is very difficult for older elevator systems where a few different elevator companies may have completed maintenance or modernization work at the building.  At times the wiring diagrams walk off intentionally or unintentionally[elevator mechanic has a similar elevator at a different building and may have good intentions on returning them].  The important part for building owners to know is that they should make copies of the existing wire diagrams and keep a copy in the building files so they always have a set.  The reason I suggest making copies is when there is a call on Saturday at 2pm, the responding elevator technician may not be your typical route person, if there are no wiring diagrams, they may be at a loss with our the wiring diagrams.  If the building has a set in their files it will get the elevator system back up and running quicker, reducing down time and expense.  If you know as a building owner you do not have wiring diagrams, contact your elevator maintenance company, typically we can find what you are looking for or something similar that will work.   If the building is going to make copies of the wiring diagrams, make sure the originals get put back in the elevator room, sometimes this is forgotten.  With that said, I need to order wiring diagrams for a building whose wiring diagrams where recently “lost”.

Here is a video of elevator wiring diagrams.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwJ6LV-3HYc

 

If you have an questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.

Non Elevator work in elevator hoistways - Call for assistance

The last few weeks there have been a few accidents and fatalities by people working the hoist way without elevator personnel supervision.  In the past I have written about the necessity of an elevator person supervising any work done in the elevator hoist way.  The work may include testing or replacing fire or heat detectors, sprinklers, working on the sump pump, getting keys from an elevator pit, spraying for bugs, running wires in the hoist way for non-elevator related items such as CAT 5 cables[which is against the elevator code], etc.  With the understanding that everyone is interested in keeping costs down if there is an incident in the elevator hoist way it typically will be a very significant injury or death.  The cost for an elevator person to be onsite to supervise and assist in the process the building is completing is very insignificant to the cost of an injury or death.  If you are a building owner, property manager or construction manager call your elevator company for help.  Please find a link of an incident from a construction site of someone who died due to an elevator hoist way incident.  Accidents are called accidents for a reason, no one intends for accidents to occur.  Everyone involved in building affairs can work together to reduce the possibility or unfortunately events occuring.

 

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/state/2014/07/29/big-bend-fla-news-briefs/13306453/

 

If you have an 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 Vs. Nonproprietary elevator systems

Buildings owners rely on the elevator professionals to install and maintain reliable equipment.  When we work with buildings on new installation projects or modernization there are two different types of control equipment you install; Proprietary equipment and non-proprietary equipment.  Proprietary equipment is equipment that the original equipment manufactuer[OEM] typically can only support.  Non-Proprietary equipment is equipment that many companies can support because product support is readily available to any elevator professional.  Typically your larger multinational companies such as Otis, Thyssen, Kone, Schindler, Fujitec, Mitsubishi install their own control equipment which would be considered proprietary.  While the quality of the equipment is on par with open market equipment[nonproprietary equipment] you typically have a significant reliance on the company who installed the equipment.  If Elevator Company A[OEM] installs your elevator system, you most likely will have a heavy reliance on them in the future for elevator maintenance.   If everything goes well Elevator Company  A does a fair job and there are no issues other than they may charge you a premium for maintaining the system.  If everything does not go well you are stuck dealing with one company for a resolution. If Elevator Company A is not making money with this account or you do not have a critical mass of business for them, you may not get the response you would like.  With non-proprietary equipment it gives the building owner more flexibility on whom to work with.  If Elevator Company B[independent elevator company] installs the equipment and things do not go well, in the Chicago area you can call 30 other companies to find someone who will find a resolution and give you what you are looking for.  It is our opinion that it is in the best interest of the building owner to work with a company who will install a Motion Control Engineering, Smartrise, Virginia Controls, Elevator Controls or other non-proprietary control systems which are as reliable as the OEM provide proprietary equipment and you will have flexibility in the future if you have to make decisions on a elevator maintenance professional.

 

We maintain a considerable amount of proprietary equipment, the issue is we have a difficult time getting product support.  99% of the time there are no issues and there are quick resolutions and everyone is satisfied.  Even when we have a 99% success rate on working on proprietary equipment if there is a decision to be made I encourage building owners to reduce their liability on relying on one vendor and make decisions that allow future flexibility for the elevator service.

 

If you have an questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.

NAEC - Home Safe Campaign

The blog has mentioned in the past how it is important for building owners who have home elevators to take measures to make sure their residential lift/elevator is maintained and be sure that it is safe operating condition.  NAEC[National Association of Elevator Contractors] has partnered with other elevator industry organizations to have a resource to inform you about having a safe home elevator.  The hot topic of the moment is the gap between the hatch gate and the hoistway doors where a small person can fit into.  I recently have been to a few home elevators for evaluations prior to the sale of a home as an inspector and most of the residential lifts I see are 100% safe and in good working condition.  There are a few I do see that should not be running and are not in safe condition.  Many of the lifts I see do not have a elevator professional going to the building on a regular basis.  It is my recommendation that you have a elevator professional review the lift on an annual or semiannual basis.  The items I see while doing buy/sell evaluations for homes can be caught and remedied prior to a safety issue occurring or the expensive repair when the owner is looking to sell the home with semi annual or annual home inspections with an elevator professional.  If you have a home elevator or are in the conveyance business, please review the resource that is available through the NAEC.

 

http://homesafecampaign.com/

 

If you have an questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.

Elevator maintenance visits

It is important to know how often your elevator company is visiting your building.  We have been seeing more elevator maintenance companies whom have contracts that bill once a month only visit the building every other month, quarterly or twice a year.  Many elevator contracts indicated maintenance service to be provided “as needed”, over the years this has been changing.  Our advice to building owners is to find out how often the elevator maintenance person is coming to the building, find out what your contract indicates on the intervals of service and try and determine how often you would like someone at the building.  I indicate try to find out because you may need assistance from your elevator professional to help find out how frequent someone should be at the building based on the age of the equipment, traffic flow and environment.  If you are getting 2 maintenance visits a year and you have 40 year old equipment that breaks down on a regular basis, you may want to increase your maintenance intervals to avoid the nuisance issues and shut downs.  A building owner should be able to go to the elevator mechanical area and find the maintenance records.  Maintenance records in the elevator machine room will soon have different and more stringent requirements when the State of Illinois adopts the 2013 elevator code. 

 

If you have an questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.

New State of Illinois Elevator Code coming

The State of Illinois at the last meeting of the Elevator Safety Board adopted the 2013 Elevator Code.  What this means is that it sets a series of events that will take place to officially adopt the code in the State of Illinois legislator.  This process could take 3 months to 2 years, depending on the speed of the process.  The effect it will have on building owners and elevator companies is mostly when a building is modernized it will have to meet a new set of requirements that is slightly different then the currently 2010 code and there is more specific wording for maintenance records and elevator documentation that is going to be required.  What to take from this?  Be aware that a change is coming, if you are considering on modernizing equipment, it will be less expensive to do it with the 2010 code versus the new 2013 code.  So get the projects moving. If you do not have maintenance records in the elevator machine rooms, get them!  If you do not have a written maintenance control program, we strongly encourage you have your elevator company give you a copy or let you know how to access a site specific maintenance control plan for your building.  Some companies put stickers with a phone number on the controller indicating that they can supply as requested.  If this is the case with your building, make sure they have a SITE SPECIFIC written program for your building on the other end of the phone.   Colley Elevator puts a written maintenance control plan in each elevator room that is specific to that building many companies do not do this.  

 

If you have an questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.