Hydraulic elevator modernization – Chicago, IL – Fireman’s Emergency Operation mandate upgrade FEO

 

We recently completed an elevator modernization on a 7 stop hydraulic elevator in Chicago, IL.  The existing Dover Elevator was installed in 1999.  The City of Chicago had a Fireman’s Emergency Operation mandate requirement for Phase II operation to be in compliance by 1/1/17.  The Dover DMC platform failed one of the items the City of Chicago mandated and the building opted to modernize their elevator system in lieu of attempting a software/wiring update or fire service auxiliary panel.

Elevator Controller – Smartrise Engineering

Elevator Hydraulic Power Unit – MEI

Elevator Door Operator – GAL

Elevator Fixtures – Innovation

 

Elevator control system – The existing control system was a bullet proof Dover DMC which was operating well and reliably.  We replaced the DMC with a Smartrise Engineering control system.

 

Elevator hydraulic power unit – The building was a 60’+ bore hole hydraulic so we opted to replace it with a dry unit.  At one time there was a feeling that submersible power units where the answer for all hydraulic elevator needs.  For higher travels, we have retained dry units for the efficiency of motors and reduction in hydraulic noise.  We worked with Minnesota Elevator on the power unit.  The unit is fairly large but it sounds and operates great.

 

Elevator door operating system – We replaced the Dover door operator with a GAL MOVFR.  Along with the door operator replacement we replaced all the rollers, interlock contacts, clutch release rollers, clutch, gibs, etc. 

 

Elevator fixtures – The Dover Impulse series elevator fixtures were replaced with all new Innovation Industries hall and car fixtures.

Challenges - We had a few challenges on the project:

Power unit size – This new power unit was massive and the machine room was not big.  Our engineering, shop and project teams made the swap like clockwork.  Most of the credit is for our project team for the heavy lifting. 

Door operator & cab height – The elevator has a very tall cab and center parting doors which made the geometry of the arms challenging.  We worked with GAL and the operator went on great with no issues.

Time line – The building wanted the replacement to be completed with limited downtime.  The project team worked 12 hour days and delivered the elevator on time. The inspection went great and the building got their elevator back to service as discussed months prior. 

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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 or on our web page at www.colleyelevator.com

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The Importance of Elevator Maintenance Transparency/Showing Up and FEO

Last week we had the opportunity to look at a group of buildings that had an interest in seeing what else is out there.  The buildings had kept the multinational company who had installed the elevators 15 years ago.  A new property manager was hired about a year ago and suggested that the buildings should look at alternatives, if nothing more, to know what they are getting compared to what is out there.

The building had no idea when the elevator mechanic shows up, if they show up or what they do.  This is a common response because typically we have keys to the building and typically no one else enters the machine room.

 The walk through was fairly typical with exception of a few items

                1.   Potential leaky packings

    2.   Elevator pit hasn’t been cleaned since construction

    3.   Water in the elevator pit

 

Leaky packing? Is this a leaky packing or has someone not cleaned out the oil pan for 5 years?  Hard to say when you do not even know when the last time someone was at the building.   I often give the analogy of the HVAC person who comes to your home twice a year and most of the time you have no idea what they do.  If you opened up your furnace and saw something like this, would you think they are doing their job?  Or would you feel taken advantage of?

 

Construction dust - This elevator pit doesn’t appear to have been cleaned from construction.  A clean elevator pit will not make your elevator run better.  A clean elevator pit is something we should be doing because it is part of our job as housekeeping.  A clean pit is also an indication of you have someone who takes pride in their job and most likely is looking at the more technical items as well.  If in the last 15 years an elevator company has been cashing your checks but never took the time to clean the pit, I would ask some questions.

 

Water in the elevator pit - The water in an elevator pit with piping corrosion is concerning because you could have a hydraulic issue and a pipe can blow out or when a hole is developed in the pipe from rust, someone could trip and fall out of the elevator.  We recently inherited an elevator pit that had been wet on and off over the last 10 years. Their piping developed a hole and sprayed oil everywhere in the hoistway, which triggered a service call.  Once reviewed, the breach required the car to be shut off.  When we replaced the compromised piping, which was the initial cause, and went to replace the Victaulics on other parts of the piping we discovered that the entire line needed to be changed due to corrosion.  It took more time and more money. If we are going to a building on a regular basis we should be looking at this and letting the building know they need their sump fixed.  Elevator pit sumps fail on a regular basis, this is part of our job to look at during our maintenance visit.  While our visits cost you money, they can save you money when we find items like a broken sump pump in the elevator pit.  *The building also has a responsibility to act when they are told they have items to complete.

Maintenance records - The elevator code requires maintenance records be kept in the elevator machine room.  Larger multinational firms have digital records accessible to building owners/property management which typically never make it into the machine room.  The elevator code indicates maintenance records are to be accessible to elevator personnel, inspectors, sales people, etc at all times. Colley Elevator is a proponent of having maintenance records in the elevator room to follow the elevator code.  Having maintenance records in the elevator machine room is a best practice and will also keep your elevator company honest.

Take away – The elevator industry, as a whole, is coming to buildings less and less. This is a trend which overloads elevator route mechanics. Your maintenance agreement most likely says maintenance “as needed” or “systematic”. If your only interaction with the elevator company is getting a bill and writing a check, find out what they are doing and when they are doing it.  I would recommend to insist that the contract indicate in writing how often someone is coming. If you have maintenance records in the elevator room, it is as simple as a building owner/manager going to the room and looking.  The reason I like records in the machine room is because a person can complete their electronic form from their car without even going into the building. If you have written records in the machine room, we have to actually go into the building.  There are a lot of good companies out there that will supply you with transparency, written records and are accountable.  If you do not have one, find one, they are out there.

Maintenance intervals/quarterly vs monthly – Something that should be brought up here is that if a building is paying for quarterly visits on a hydraulic elevator you most likely will get about 4 hours of maintenance a year.  Historically the elevator industry was going to hydraulic elevators each month and about 12 hours a year.  When there is less time given/paid for maintenance, there is less time for a technician do his/her job correctly. Not to mention that we should be checking Fireman's Emergency Operation (FEO) once a month per code.

 Hey! Sign up for our mailing list!  Each month you will get some great info on Colley!  It is short and quick to run through, you’ll like it!

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 or on our web page at www.colleyelevator.com

Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.

Making Elevator Car Tops and Pits Great Again! Virus Free!

In 2014 we had 900 elevators in our maintenance portfolio.  In 2020 we will be surpassing 1800.  We have a wonderful group of IUEC maintenance technicians/mechanics. Part of the success we have experienced has been giving our mechanics the time to complete maintenance, which includes cleaning.  Unfortunately when we do pick up accounts from other companies, sometimes they do not look so great and require a lot of work. 

This building was working with multinational company A prior to signing up with us.  Disclaimer - sometimes the elevator mechanics for large companies do not get the time to perform maintenance because they have 500 elevators on their routes. Please find some pictures from our first visit before and after.  This is the real deal!  I love seeing this on our first(s) visit to the building.  Let’s make car tops and pits great again!  Way to go to the elevator mechanic who did this!  

 

[Car top before our first visit]

[Car top after our first visit]

[Elevator pit before our first visit]

[Elevator pit after our first visit]

Why does a clean job matter?  This is a great question.  This week I spoke to a customer where I was doing engineering for a component replacement and was on the car top explaining our maintenance program. I came off all dusty and grimy.  I explained when we come on, we will clean your car top and pit so the elevator mechanic doesn't have to worry about tracking dust and grime all over your building if they want to fix something or do work.  If you have a clean car top and pit, you probably have a mechanic that is looking at other items like; door belts, starter contacts, making sure your rails are lubed, etc.  In the building I just visited, where we are starting maintenance this month, had been cavitating[making noise due to being low on oil].  The building had just spent $80,000.00 with multinational elevator company B to replace their cylinder.  The packing was leaking, oil in the pit, the solution was fixing the fitting on the reclamation pump.  This issue would be something the multinational company would have found if they took the time to inspect the elevator correctly.  Instead we have a new customer who is thrilled not to have their elevator screaming while it reaches the top floor.   

Hey! Sign up for our mailing list!  Each month you will get some great info on Colley!  It is short and quick to run through, you’ll like it!

 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 or on our web page at www.colleyelevator.com

 Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.

When and why should I start thinking about modernizing my elevator?

There are a lot of different reasons a building should think of modernizing their elevator equipment; age, obsolescence, mandate, proprietary equipment, general domain knowledge, among others.  We have been focusing a lot of time and effort on working with our existing customers to get them information so they can make informed decisions on what to do with their elevator equipment today, tomorrow and in 5 to 10 years.

Golden question – How long should my elevator last? – This is a great question, each elevator is different, and each building is different.  Your elevator contractor should be able to ask you some questions and let you know what you are looking at.  Generally an elevator system should be reliable for 20 years.  Many elevator systems last a lot longer than 20 years.  Each building is different with environment, traffic, wear and tear and a few other items.

Age – Along with age comes frustration of the reliability of the elevator equipment.  Many elevator controllers installed in the 1960’s and 1970’s are wonderful platforms and very reliable but what we find is that we have so many failure points in the older relay logic systems that reliability becomes an issue.  You will have a span of a few weeks where you may get quite a few call backs, we finally resolve the issue and the building gets 4-8 months of clean run time then something comes back.  The general fatigue of the equipment presents a troubleshooting challenge that is resolved when the controller is replaced with a controller that gives better feedback, information and resolution time is cut tremendously. 

Obsolescence – You can have a great running elevator that isn’t that old but what happens when the main component of the elevator system isn’t made anymore?  Is there a direct replacement?  Do you need to send it in to get repaired by the manufacturer or a 3^rd party?  Can the building wait for the resolution or the time it takes to get the modernization equipment in?  A good elevator company should be educating the building owner when their equipment does not have replacement parts readily available.  After we hand the information off it is up to the building owner to make a good decision for their situation.

 

Mandate – When the AHJ comes into your building and say’s “we are adopting IBC Code XXXX and it is requiring you have your building equipment with fire detectors, including ones to operate the elevator”.  If you have an older elevator, you may need to replace your elevator control system.  If your elevator system is compatible with Fireman’s automatic recall, you should have pricing to modernize your elevator system anyway.

Proprietary equipment – More and more we are getting calls and taking meetings from buildings that have a multinational elevator company who installed their equipment and they cannot stand them any longer.  It may be the $4,000.00 overtime bill for changing a fuse, the technician doesn’t come very often but they pay monthly, the office doesn’t return their phone calls, their account manager has switched 8 times in 3 years, etc.  This is a big concept to digest, you have newer equipment but you are going to be paying for replacement.  If Intergalactic company XYZ installed a proprietary elevator system you are stuck between a rock and a hard place.  You are not alone and we are replacing these elevator controllers for buildings that are fed up.

 

General domain knowledge – You could have bought a control system from a big name elevator company but they only made the controller for a few years, or year, or maybe a few months.  As time goes on the domain knowledge in the elevator industry evaporates from technicians retiring and the controllers being replaced.

 

Talk to your elevator company and get something from them documenting the life left on the elevator system and a time line and the general costs associated with equipment replacement.  If your current vendor cannot get you the information in a reasonable amount of time, get someone who can.  It is better to be prepared so you are ready for what is coming your way.

 Hey! Sign up for our mailing list!  Each month you will get some great info on Colley!  It is short and quick to run through, you’ll like it!

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 or on our web page at www.colleyelevator.com

 Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.

Mod Mirage – Where’s the maintenance?

[When we see these, we get pumped because it is great new stuff! From 2010]

We use a term called “mod mirage” at Colley to talk about buildings that have been modernized recently and cleaned up and looked shiny new.  Well over the years some of these jobs are neglected because the elevator mechanic, building owner or elevator contractor do not pay attention to it because it was cleaned and shiny new when the project team left, we just spent $100,000 on the elevator, or the owner will never know we aren’t doing what we are supposed to.

Mirage(noun) - an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions, especially the appearance of a sheet of water in a desert or on a hot road caused by the refraction of light from the sky by heated air.

MOD Mirage – an optical illusion where we are in denial we are getting older, we have to do work or pay someone to do work because the elevator was modernized in the recent past.  Generally we fail to realize that even "new" elevators need attention.

I grew up on thinking MCE greenboards, Dover DMCs, Otis 211s where the latest and greatest.  Some of the elevators that I still consider new are over 25 years old.  These elevators still need our attention, they still get dusty, they still get dirty, they still need to be cleaned.  This goes back to the elevator maintenance trinity; elevator mechanic needs the motivation to do his job, the building owner needs to be willing to pay for someone to do their job and the elevator contractor needs to give the elevator mechanic time to do his job.  We all need to work together to make sure your equipment is presentable and will last.

I was reviewing a building we are bidding on maintenance and it seems the contractor replaced all the equipment, cleaned it up really nice, and hasn’t done anything since but probably charged the building each month.  The elevator was modernized 10 years ago.  Between 2010 and 2020 we should have brought out some rags and our vacuum a few times. This building is a prime example of a MOD Mirage.

 

[If a flashlight had cleaning properties this door operator/car top would be clean]

[We are big on cleaning off our flat surfaces to make it reasonable to work on, if you keep up on it, it will never get unmanageable]

[The company did a wonderful job painting the machine during the MOD in 2010, in 2020 we have an oil stain and rag]

[If you keep up with most pits, they don't become the "pits"] 

Fight the mod mirage!  As a mechanic let’s keep our car tops, hoistways, pits and machine rooms great for when there is a 12am service call and the guy going there has been running calls all night.  As a mechanic let’s keep them looking good because we have pride for our industry and coworkers.  As a building owner let’s make sure we have a great company doing the work because a building owner should want their equipment being taken care of to extend its life.  As an elevator contractor let’s give our elevator mechanics the time to do a good job.

Hey! Sign up for our mailing list!  Each month you will get some great info on Colley!  It is short and quick to run through, you’ll like it!

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 or on our web page at www.colleyelevator.com

 

Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.

Elevator World September 2020 – Colley Elevator - Keeping Tradition

 

Thank you to Elevator World for featuring Colley Elevator in their 2020 issue.  Thank you to all of our coworkers now and through the years that made it possible to work at the great company we can be part of today!  The wonderful history we have was created by 112 years of blood, sweat and tears!

Hey! Sign up for our mailing list!  Each month you will get some great info on Colley!  It is short and quick to run through, you’ll like it!

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 or on our web page at www.colleyelevator.com

Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.

Traction Elevator modernization – Evanston, IL

This was a pretty great project to have completed.  Colley was originally at the building in 2009 for fireman’s recall needing to be hooked up on a Vertitron Midwest controller that was installed in 1994/95.  The company who installed the controller was still the maintenance contractor so we suggested they complete the modification with their current vendor.   In 2015 we came back to the building and for the next 4 years we quoted various items for the building.  In 2019 the building agreed to work with us on a much needed full modernization.

Existing elevator & project scope – The existing elevator was installed in the 1960’s by Westinghouse Elevator and the controller only was modernized by an independent in 1994/95.  The elevator machine was leaking, the car was showing signs of fatigue and was ready to be refreshed.

New equipment providers

Controllers – Smartrise Engineering

Machine – Hollister Whitney

Door equipment - GAL

Fixtures – Innovation Industries

Traction elevator controller – The elevator controller was state of the art in 1994 and included the VH 80 traction box by Vertitron with an older Mitsubishi motor drive that had been replaced a few times.  We replaced the elevator controller with a Smartrise C4 elevator controller which cut down our wire count from controller to car and gave us a great new programming and troubleshooting platform.

 [Old Vertitron traction elevator controller]

[New Smartrise C4 traction elevator controller]

Elevator machine– The existing machine was from the original installation a Westinghouse that was leaking from everywhere.  There was a foot print concern but with HWEC’s new motor flange machine it worked out great!

[Old Westinghouse traction elevator machine]

[New Hollister Whitney traction elevator machine]

[New Hollister Whitney traction elevator machine]

Elevator fixtures – This one was a challenge.  We had 3 panels on the return, car station, phone and fireman’s service phase II panel.  While it isn’t perfect, I think it turned out pretty good considering what we had to start with.

 

[Old Westinhouse car station - Not ADA compliant]

[New Innovation Industries car station - ADA compliant]

[Old main landing hall station layout - not ADA]

[New main landing hall station landing - ADA compliant]

Door equipment – This elevator was a great candidate to replace all of the MAC and old Westinghouse door equipment and install new GAL.  We gave the option to the building and they moved forward with it.

[A combination of MAC equipment & Westinghouse equipment]

[All new GAL door equipment - start with a fresh slate!]

Car top & Misc – All the wiring on the car top and hoistway was replaced, a new governor was installed.  The new door operator and car top layout makes it much easier to get around on the small car top.

[Small car top could have been laid out better]

[Still a small car top with a better layout]

[Old Westinghouse governor]

[New Hollister Whitney governor]

Take away – This was a total team effort on Colley’s part, we had 15 people from the company who worked on the project from the first phone call to the final inspection.   We were fortunate to have a great team from our crane company, La Grange Crane, work with our project team and supervisor to zip the new machine almost straight into the machine room.  Everyone onsite that day did a wonderful job to make sure we had a great pick, lift and set down.  We had a busy street, an interesting alley and challenging layout roof to maneuver. Team work makes the dream work!

Hey! Sign up for our mailing list!  Each month you will get some great info on Colley!  It is short and quick to run through, you’ll like it!

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 or on our web page at www.colleyelevator.com

Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.