Attention Property Managers/Building Owners - Application for Certificate of Operation – Elevator – Open Territory

We have “open territory” elevators in Illinois which always causes confusion for building owners and property managers because most of their elevators are in areas where the AHJ/City/Town do all the inspections and administration for certificate.  If your village/city/town has a local program, you don’t need to worry about this.  For those village/city/towns that do not have a local program please see how to complete the process.  The biggest challenge we have with "open territory" inspections is finding inspectors available to do the inspections. We have great inspection firms but there is a shortage of elevator inspectors currently.

Local program – A local program is a village/city/town that has signed up with an elevator inspection firm i.e. Thompson Elevator, Elevator Inspection Services, Citywide, Just Elevator, Cook County, Northern Illinois Inspections, Bureau Vistas etc.  The elevator inspector comes once or twice a year, inspects the conveyance and provides a certificate. Building owners/managers do not need to do very much.  Below is a link to a list of towns that have local programs. 

https://sfm.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/sfm/sfmdocuments/documents/reports/elevator-safety/municipalityagreement-list.pdf

[Aurora is an example of a municipality that administers their own program]

Open territories – These are village/city/town’s that do not have a local program and will require you to hire an inspector and do paperwork.  The open territory certificate is administered by the State of Illinois. Typically the elevator contractor is involved in this.  Examples of open territories are Hinsdale, Western Springs, Geneva, St. Charles, Winnetka, Spring Grove, Harvey, Calumet Park, Crestwood, etc.  If you are unsure of who inspects your elevator, you can look inside for the certificate and if issued by the State of Illinois, you are in an open territory.

[This is a State of Illinois certificate - pay attention to expiration dates - the building owner is responsible for renewing the certificate]

Steps to get your certificate:

1.    Schedule an inspection with an elevator inspector[should be done well in advance of your anniversary date on your existing certificate].

a.    Make sure your CAT 1 testing is completed, the phone works, emergency lights function, etc

                                          i.    Typically your elevator company will schedule all of the inspections for you and since you should have an ongoing maintenance relationship with the company, your elevator should be in good condition.

2.    Get a report from the elevator inspector and if it passes, fill out the form linked below:

https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/sfm/SFMDocuments/Documents/ApplicationforCertificateofOperationAnnual.pdf

[State of Illinois forms - should be fairly easy to fill out for the building owner/rep]

3.    Get an invoice from the State of Illinois and pay it

4.    The State will send you a certificate to put in the elevator

Questions when you have open territory elevators – Call the elevator company you have a maintenance agreement with or call Colley Elevator!

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 to see what we have been up to.

Otis Elevator Company recalls home elevators – U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

In a document released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on 12/17/20 Otis Elevator is recalling to inspect private residence elevators due to entrapment hazard; risk of serious injury or death to young children.  The entrapment and injury of small people has been an issue within the elevator industry/residential lift industry for many years.  If you have a residential lift Otis/Cemco or another brand, please have your service provider look at the distance between the car door and hatch door and resolve immediately if necessary. If you have an Otis/Cemco lift residential lift there is contact information on how to get this addressed or remedied through Otis.

 

For more information on the particulars of the danger you can review Colley Elevator’s blog post from 7/20/19.

http://colleyelevator.blogspot.com/2019/07/residential-lift-safety-washington-post.html

or

http://colleyelevator.blogspot.com/2014/11/residential-elevator-safety-have-you.html

Again, if you have a residential elevator you should contact a responsible service provider to inspect your lift to see if you need to have work completed to make sure it is in safe condition.

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.

Year in reflection - Colley Elevator blog - 2020 Elevator blog

 

In 2019 I started with “What a year!”.  In 2020, that statement is echo’d for different reasons.   Pandemic, social unrest, political strife, fires, hurricanes, etc. Wow!  Through the roller coaster year we have had the opportunity to serve with some incredible people that help keep the wheels on.  For that.  Thank you!  As Colley Elevator enters our 113 year as an independent elevator contractor we reflect on a few things to tie up the end of the year.

Annual reflection – This year we saw our maintenance portfolio grow from 1650 to 1850 elevators under contract. This year we ordered/installed 50 Smartrise controller and 4 MCE controllers.  14 cylinders where installed, 30 power units, 45 door packages, 50+ fixture packages, a few machines and a few complete elevators.  We have a team of great people working on every project to make sure when the product gets here, we have minimum issues from engineering.  Colley went Back to Back for Best Contractor in the North and awarded Elevator Worlds Ellie in 2020.  Colley Elevator had a fundraiser and donated almost $6,000.00 to 2 food depositories and 2 hospitals[Doc, Nurse, support staff appreciation] in April. We have a great team over at Colley from the person who answers the phone to the elevator technician who executes and everyone in-between our average length of employment at Colley Elevator was 9.64 years.  I’m proud to work side by side with everyone here and that we have a culture of openness at Colley that helps get everyone done at a high level! Thank you to our coworkers, customers & suppliers for being great!

Elevator personnel during covid – There is something to be said for all the elevator mechanics and apprentices who went to work during the pandemic.  When you are working in the field with the public and moving from building to building it is very different than working in an office or home environment.  Much appreciation and credit for elevator personnel everywhere who showed up and did their job when there was a reason to go and hide.

[Faceshield and mask]

Project reflection – We did a lot of projects in 2020 and there are a few really cool things I would like to high light.  

[A Colley Elevator from 1967]

One thing is any time we recapture an original Colley Elevator installation and complete a modernization with the building.  It is always a cool feeling to know that we are still around, still doing great work and getting the opportunity to replace equipment Colley installed in the 1960s or 1970s.  The picture is one from a building in Lakeview that we modernized which Colley Elevator installed in 1967, this building owner was grossly mishandled by a multinational firm who installed the wrong size power unit and couldn't get the elevator to run correctly after, which is why the building owner called us.  A bonus to this project was that we ended up doing a building right across the street a month later. 

[1/2 way done Canton Elevator package]

For the last 20 years we worked with the Lincoln Park Zoo at their Admin building, about 5 years ago they gave us a shot to take care of all their elevators.  This year we got a chance to install a new elevator in the Lion House renovation.  We do our best to be dedicated to our customers and it is wonderful when our customers remember us and give us an opportunity.  

[New elevator in a very old elevator hoistway]

We also have installed our first traction MRL this year, it has been a memorable installation and credit the the project team who has been working there to make an old elevator shaft work with a new MRL.  

Blog reflection – 46 posts in 2020[that is a lot of words, pictures and time], over 30,000 views, over 134,520 views in the blog’s history.  Getting new material every week is tough but we had some great feature on obsolete elevator controllers and Peelle Elevator Company.  Going back in the last year and looking at all the posts this year is pretty incredible how wild this year has been.  There were weeks I would come into the weekend looking for something to write about and it had been so exhausting dealing with covid or riots or whatever I felt I had gone 10 rounds with Sugar Ray Lenard. Here is to 2021 being a more positive year.

Thank you for everyone who took the time to read the blog.  My advice for 2021 is to make take ownership in something in your life and strive to be successful; Job, school, parenting, start a blog, podcast, read more, become a better deer hunter, computer programmer, exercise, whatever.  We all have more potential than just skating by a taking someone else's oxygen and spend less time on social media.  And yes, life isn't fair, do your best and go get it!  And while you are at it, help someone else, you'll feel great when you do.

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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.

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

Elevator building revival, Old bones or what to talk about with new building owners who have dormant buildings

We have a client who has owned a building for some time, portions of the building have been dormant for long before they purchased it. We have done work in different parts of the building over the years and they are finally getting to the most neglected portions of the building.  We recently completed the engineering on a group of elevators that will be modernized after years of preparation and information gathering.  This is meant for building owners who know a lot about buildings and rehabilitations but may not know anything about elevators.

The most important thing in this blog is going to be just because you know a lot about the trades, rehabilitation, flipping, etc doesn’t necessarily mean you know anything about elevators. 

Do your diligence – Before buying a building hire someone to walk the building and write a report for you indicating; elevator condition, potential repairs, potential costs, etc.  This will cost you a pretty penny but it may be worth its weight in gold as elevator work is very expensive and most people have no idea anything about our trade.

Find an honest contractor who will be straight with you – This is so very important.  We get pushed to tell people what they want to hear.  Find someone who is competent and will be brutally honest with you.  It will be the difference between hearing what you want to and understanding when this cylinder or underground pipe is found to be compromised in the ground and we give you a quote for $5,000 to $50,000 extra as well as project delays. 

[Hydraulic line going into the ground]

 

[Elevator pit that has been filled with water for years]

We cannot spend your money for you but we can guide you so you know potential costs before you move forward.

Understand the elevator condition and what needs to be completed – Work with a contractor or pay a consultant to take the time to give you enough information so you understand what is being completed.

            What does replace the control system mean?

            What does ADA compliant mean?

            Why are there only 12 items on your quote but you are charging me $75,000.00?

 

[Will this work?]

Someone should spend time with you to explain where your money is going.  They should also tell you what other options are and what you are retaining. The day will come when you begin to have issues with the retained equipment and you will be asking questions, let’s answer the questions before this day comes.

Non elevator work – Older buildings typically have older infrastructure and may require some NFPA, NEC or IBC code items that are not within the elevator contractors purview.  Your elevator contractor or consultant may not know all the answers but they should know enough so you can ask questions to the AHJ or the other trades you will need to engage.

[What needs to be done to make this code compliant?]

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 – Best elevator contractor of the year 2020 – North[Chicago]

Winning the 2019 Ellie was great honor as we were recognized by our customers, suppliers and professional colleagues.  Winning the award in 2020 was twice as nice and a sign that we as a company are doing great things!  We have great employees, great customers and great supplier partners that made this happen!  As the year winds down we would like to thank everyone that voted during the process! 

[December 2020 Elevator World cover]

[3rd picture down is one of our project teams taking a break to hoist the Ellie]

[Top left is Colley's Craig Zomchek hoisting the Ellie on a car top]

Colley Elevator has been around for 113 years this coming January and it is the people that work at Colley that has made it great!  Thank you everyone!

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.

It’s the pits! Elevator hoistway pit maintenance/refurbishment/water damage

 This last week was an elevator pit week for us at Colley Elevator.  Through acquisition of new customers we find that there are elevator pits that are neglected over time or have been exposed to water damage over the years and their pit equipment; piping, victaulics, rails, buffers, etc require attention.

 Elevator pit – Lake Forest, IL

 This elevator is a sleepy elevator that has had years of water exposure.  We took over the elevator maintenance from an OEM and made a recommendation to clean the pit, replace piping & fittings, change the shut off and packing. 

 [Before]

 [After]

Elevator pit – Chicago, IL

This elevator is not one of our accounts but we share an owner who asked us to take a look at the property.  Again, years of water damage has occurred to this elevator equipment.  The pit floor was too wet to be able to get a coat of paint to stick.

[Before]

[After]

Elevator pit – Elgin, IL

This elevator is new to our portfolio and had a lot of work that needed to be completed.  We fabricated new pit channels, buffers[car and counterweight] and scrapped the pit to remove the deteriorated metal that was stuck to the ground.  Elevator will not be able to pass inspection and is safer to use.

[Before]

[After]

 

Take away –  Make sure you have an elevator company that lets you know when your sump pump isn’t working or you have water in the elevator pit and work towards keeping water out of the elevator pit.  The elevator company cannot resolve your water issues but we are the only ones that are permitted to enter the elevator pit so we have to be the ones to let you know!  Identifying water issues early can prevent small issues from becoming large expensive ones.

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 – Chicago, IL – Motion Control Engineering

 

This project was for a long time great customer of ours who gave us an opportunity to bid a building we did not currently do maintenance on.  The elevator had reliability issues and an FEO mandate component to it.

Existing elevator & project scope – The existing 14 story traction elevator was installed sometime in the 1930’s or 1940’s and has had many modernizations completed on it, the most recent modernization was the installation of the Virginia Controller in 1986

New equipment providers

Controllers – Motion Control Engineering

Machine – Hollister Whitney – New motor[Imperial Electric]

Door equipment - GAL

Fixtures – Innovation Industries

Traction elevator controller – The existing controller was a relay logic Virginia Controls relay logic with about 196 relays which each have 9 contact points for a grand total of 1,764 potential failure points just on the plug in relays not to mention the capacitors, resisitors and other electrical components within the elevator system.  The best part of the modernization was getting rid of the motor generator.  We went with the bullet proof MCE 4000 to replace it for its proven track record in reliability for midrise elevators.  

[Existing Virginia Controls elevator controller]

[Existing Virginia Controls elevator controller]

[New Motion Control Engineering [MCE] elevator controller]

Elevator machine– The machine was probably replaced in 1986 when the elevator control system was modernized and was in decent condition.  We added a new rope break, drained and cleaned the machine and addressed any leaky seals.

[Existing Hollister Whitney Machine]

[Retained machine - new motor, rope brake & paint job]

Elevator fixtures – Older historic buildings are always a challenge cosmetically to modernize because you want to keep the impact on the lobby to a minimum and still have it look good.   This lobby appears to have marble so we did our best to resuse the existing fixture boxes when size it up for the modernization while achieving ADA compliance.

[Existing elevator car station]

[New Innovation Industries car station with position indicator]

[Existing elevator 1st floor lobby with multi light P/I]

[New Innovation Industries 1st floor lobby with digital P/I]

Door equipment – The building had older GAL on it with smaller tracks which we had extensive reworking on to get the door interlocks to be in a more desirable and maintainable set up.  We replaced the door operator with another MOVFR II and refreshed all of the car and hall door equipment.

[Engineering visit - WOW]

[Finished product]

Car top & Misc – The car top was an absolute disaster upon our first visit with a lot of abandoned devices left from the last few modernizations.  With a little time and reworking we made this smaller car top look a lot better.

Take away – This was a total team effort on Colley’s part, we had 17 people from the company who worked on the project from the first phone call to the final inspection.  This project was ½ way complete when covid hit our area and was a challenge to complete during the “stay at home order”.  Everyone in that building stayed home, we had to still continue to go to work in the building that everyone was staying home in.  Something to think about. Our elevator teams persevered and landed the bird and turned over a great running elevator to service the 14 story.

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.