One last chance to vote - Elevator World’s 2021 Ellies – Best contractor North – Colley Elevator

 

Only a week left to vote!  Get your last votes in for Elevator World’s 2021 Ellie voting for Best contractor of the North.  In 2019 and 2020 we have taken the prestigious award home and are excited for the opportunity to do so again.  Thank you to Elevator World for the opportunity to complete for Best Elevator Contractor of the North in 2021.  Please click on the link and give us your vote!

https://elevatorworld.com/contests/the-ellies/

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.

Colley Cares - 2nd Quarter Update

 

Earlier we committed to extend some of our charitable outreach so the more we sell, the more we donate. As a group we targeted 5 organizations to support in the 2nd quarter of 2021.  Ownership of Colley Elevator matched the funds for 5 additional organizations; Haymarket Center, 4 Ocean, Maryville Academy, Elmhurst-Yorkfield Food Pantry and Chicago Boys and Girls Club. We will also continue to support the organizations we have supported for many years. Colley Elevator will be donating an additional $2,600.00 amongst the following 5 great causes and an additional match of $2,600.00. I have included how we got to know each of the organizations and why they mean something to us. Get to know the them and if you feel so inclined, give them a few bucks.

 Pillars Community Health website

Pillars Community Health – A healthcare organization that is committed to meeting the changing health and social needs of the western suburban residents.

Colley Elevator has been servicing buildings for Community Nurses out of La Grange, IL for the last 40-50+ years. Pillars and Community Nurses merged to form Pillars Community Health. Pillars Community Healthy is a phenomenal organization that you should get to know! I have a deep appreciation for everything they do day to day!

 

One Tail at a Time website

One Tail at a Time – The mission is to end pets homelessness in the Chicago area.

Many moons ago, the managing partner of Colley went to College with the founder of OTAT and spent many hours hanging out, tutoring inner city kids, following bands around the Midwest and we are very proud of what she is doing. She has founded a wonderful organization. I know you guys love dogs so take a look at what they are doing!

NEDSRA website

NEDSRA – Northeast DuPage Special Recreation Association improves the quality of life for thousands of people with disabilities each year by providing them with a variety of recreational and social programs. The programs are offered in partnership with eight park districts and three village recreation departments.

We had a phone call for an opportunity that was nearby. When we stopped in, we talked about what the organization does. In the end, we helped them out with their elevator and are now their service provider. It's been a pleasure getting to know this group which is doing wonderful things. One of our coworker’s family members has had great experiences with the service offerings that NEDSRA provides.

                                

Chicago Food Bank website

Greater Chicago Food Pantry – A united community effort working to bring food, dignity and hope to our Cook County neighbors.

Something we may take for granted is having a meal on the table. Some people cannot take that for granted and this is one of the organizations that is there to help them in their time of need. No one should go to bed hungry, go to school hungry or have to worry where their next meal is coming from. This is one of the organizations that Colley fundraised for last year and donated a few thousand dollars to.

 

American Cancer website

American Cancer Society – Simple mission – free the world from Cancer.

This group puts up the good fight and we all know people who cancer has touched.  Lets fund the group looking to eradicate the heartache this cellular mapping reproduction disfunction creates. 

Ownership match - These are the organization that Colley's ownership will be matching donations to.

www.hcenter.org

Haymarket Center - We where introduced to this great organization through doing their elevator modernization in their Chicago campus.  Substance abuse is a battle that takes time, money and a great deal of patience.  

https://www.4ocean.com/

4 Ocean - This group is great, started by a group of surfers, their program has taken off.  Cleaning up our oceans so we can enjoy them and wildlife can survive.

https://www.maryvilleacademy.org/

Maryville Academy - Another organization we deal with commercially.  This is an incredible group of people that take care of children with different challenges.

https://www.eyfp.org/donate

Elmhurst - Yorkville Food Pantry - No one should go hungry, this group is in our back yard.

https://bgcc.org/

Chicago boys and girls club - Most of us where fortunate to grow up with a safe school experience, role models, a path to a career.  In some of our Chicago neighborhoods this is not the case.  This organization gives kids with no where to go, somewhere to go and have positive role models. 

Every quarter we will be choosing new organizations doing great things. If you have an organization that is doing great things and want to be considered, please email me at Craigz@colleyelevator.com. And if you have time to read this blog you have time to get your credit card and pick one of these great organizations to give a few bucks to. Some people are not as fortunate as you, give back, it will feel great!

Hey! Sign up for our mailing list! Top right corner of the blog.

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.

Elevator World’s 2021 Ellies – Best Contractor North – Colley Elevator

Colley Elevator is looking for your support in Elevator World’s 2021 Ellie voting for Best Contractor of the North.  In 2019 and 2020 we have taken the prestigious award home and are excited for the opportunity to do so again.  Thank you to Elevator World for the opportunity to compete for Best Elevator Contractor of the North in 2021.  Please click on the link and give us your vote!

 https://elevatorworld.com/contests/the-ellies/

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.

Elevator Picture Hall of Fame – Volume 1 – 2021

We get to review a lot of pictures when we go survey elevators for sales, shut downs or engineering.  Here are a few of the more unique ones we pulled out for our Elevator Picture Hall of Fame – Volume 1 – 2021.

Soft Start Edit – This is a first for me, seeing an edit on a soft start.  I’m sure there is a story to this one, I just don’t know it. 

Holy Santa Monica! – This is one of the more disastrous pits I have seen in a while.  It is from a south loop building that probably had a conversion in the early 2000’s from a freight elevator. 

Run Away – Anyone that has ever worked with this type of run station knows what controller this is.  The only reason I remember is because the marker labeling had worn off and I almost couldn’t get the car running after trying to do engineering for a similar elevator.  The wiring is on the more interesting side.  Lots of interesting things going on, on this car top.

 

Wired – There are a lot of wires. A lot of wires going places.  A lot of wires on the bottom of the controller.

 

Not Your Biggest Fan – This non-Colley elevator professional is not a fan of cleaning the fan.

 

Pit Notching – The hall of fame is not always for bad actors.  This actually really impressed me with the concrete work for our equipment and sump.

 

I’ll Get it Next Time – The way the dust has coalesced it appears it has been several moons since someone did anything here.

 

Pipes and Smokes – I had to take a few looks here to see that the smoke and heat detectors are really installed on the hydraulic line.

 

Strange Mod – We got a service call from a building we don't maintain. As a favor to the shared client, we sent a sales person out. They found that the elevator was out of service because someone was in the middle of installing a door operator.  It turned out there was some communication issues and the building had no idea they were getting a door operator.

 

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.

End of Life/Obsolete Elevator Equipment – Dover DMC Elevator

This is the 5^th in our series of end of life/obsolete elevator control systems.  Everyone has a ton of these everywhere in the United States!  The Dover DMC was installed in 1985-2001[2] +/-.  In the Chicago market this is a huge part of every elevator company’s portfolio.   We waited to run this blog because I had not seen a Thyssen sales person tell a customer it was obsolete.  That changed a few weeks ago when a potential customer shared their email with me from a TKE employee indicating the DMC platform is considered obsolete.  While we knew that some of the circuit boards had been considered obsolete, the TKE email was a good reason/reminder to add this to our “end of life” series.

What’s the story?  Dover Elevator installed elevators from 1955 to 1999 and was the 3^rd largest elevator company prior to selling to Thyssen Krupp[now known as TKE].  After Thyssen Krupp bought Dover, they branded the TK name on it prior to moving to a totally different platform called the TAC 20.  The Dover DMC was a wonderful, very reliable software based elevator control system. While the Dover DMC had some drawbacks, it has been a very reliable work horse for many buildings. Recently Thyssen or TKE decided to discontinue support for the Dover DMC and will no longer manufacture solid state boards.

Who this impacts – If you have a Dover DMC control system you should begin putting money away for a control modernization.  There are still parts available, we have parts, but when they are gone, they are gone. 

Are parts still available? – Yes and no.  There are 3^rd party manufacturers that stock some of the boards.  There are a few elevator solid state board repair shops that will repair the boards.  The warning with any board repair is that while the intention is to be successful, sometimes board repairs are not successful or take a few tries.  If you don’t want these challenges, replace the elevator controller prior to going down this painful road. 

Take away – If you have one of these controllers in your building get a plan together with your elevator contractor.  See if they have replacement parts and how many.  If your CLC board, selector board, door board or any other board goes out, do they have a replacement?  How many?  When it rains it pours, be aware that there are a lot of these out there and if a few have issues at the same time and require spare parts, you are pulling from the same spare part pool which is finite.  

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.

Property Manager Lunch & Learn - Elevator 101

 

One of the great mysteries in the property management world is elevators. How can a device that's so simple cause so many headaches?  We are the contractors behind the curtain.

At Colley, our passion is elevators and we've been at it for more than a century. We'd love to pass some of that knowledge along, an educated customer is a better customer, so please keep an eye out for our first in a series of Lunch and Learn workshops. 

Details will be coming shortly, but in this series you can expect to:

• Learn the basics about elevators and their main components.

• Find out about the most common violations and how to avoid them.

• See what goes into the price you pay for maintenance, repair and various services.

• Discuss the expectations should you have from a maintenance company based on the elevator's usage and traffic patterns.

• Find out about upcoming code items that will have a major impact on your building(s) in the very near future.

Lunch will be provided along with the opportunity to win great prizes; Colley Elevator Yeti Tundra Cooler[$400.00 value] and gift cards.  

 
Get lunch, get educated, and have a chance to ask the questions that your building owners, unit owners, board members and tenants are always asking you!

Contact Cathy@colleyelevator.com to be sure you receive the invitation to the first Elevator 101.

Colley Elevator featured in Community Associations Institute Summer Magazine

 

Colley Elevator was excited to be a part of CAI[Community Associations Institute]’s summer magazine.  Our feature is about the elevator industry moving away from physical visits to buildings and replacing them with “as needed” or predictive technology.  

We also got a feature from one of our great mechanics finding a cat in an elevator hoistway.  This is one of the more wild service calls we have seen over at Colley.

Thank you to our friends at CAI for including us in your magazine.  To learn more about CAI Go to https://www.cai-illinois.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.