c/elevator-mechanics

Took me 8 years to figure out I was setting brake gaps all wrong on hydro lifts

I was out in Denver last month working on an old Mowrey in a parking garage. A 20 year veteran named Dave walked over while I was shimming the brake and just watched for a minute. He said "you're about a half turn too loose on that adjustment pin." I argued with him for a solid 5 minutes saying that's how I learned it in trade school. He finally talked me into resetting it his way and the brake grabbed perfectly on the first drop. Turns out I had been leaving too much play for years thinking I needed room for pad wear. Ended up redoing 3 other stops I did that week after double checking them. Has anyone else had a senior guy call them out on something you thought was second nature?

Hot take: those budget hydraulic jacks are a ticking time bomb

I was skeptical of the $200 ones from Amazon but my buddy swore by his, then it blew a seal in a 12-floor building in Cincinnati and dumped hydraulic fluid all over the machine room. Has anyone else had a cheap jack fail on them or am I just paranoid?

Watched a building go from 1950s cable elevators to MRLs in 18 months

I used to do service calls at this old office building in downtown Portland where the elevators were ancient winding-drum machines from the 50s. The mechanics there would complain about parts availability every single trip - stuff like discontinued relays and custom-machined brake shoes getting harder to find. Then the building got bought out and they ripped everything out for a full MRL modernization. Now I walk in and see the same hoistway but with gearless machines and destination dispatch buttons. The contrast is wild because the old system felt like a living museum and the new one is basically a smartphone on cables. Anyone else run into a building where the before and after felt like two completely different worlds?

Talking to a retired mechanic about governor overspeeds changed my mind on testing

Last week I was swapping parts with an old timer at the supply house who said he never runs governor tests above 110% because the risk of a cable snap isn't worth the paperwork. He told me about a job in Pittsburgh back in '89 where a test went bad and the car dropped three floors before the safeties caught. Now I'm wondering if I've been too aggressive with my test speeds over the years - how do you all balance thorough testing with keeping things safe?

Got called to a 1970s Otis last Tuesday and the door clutch snapped mid-leveling

I'm still kind of salty about this one. I was working on an old Otis in a 12-floor building downtown, the kind with those hydraulic units that groan like they're about to give up. Everything was going fine until I adjusted the leveling valve and the door clutch just gave out with this loud pop. The car stopped halfway between floors 6 and 7, and the safety circuit tripped so hard I had to crawl up the hoistway to reset it. Took me almost 4 hours to find a replacement clutch because the building manager lost the original manual. Ended up rigging a temporary fix with a spring from my truck until the right part came in. Has anyone else dealt with those old Otis clutches that seem to shatter if you look at them wrong?

Just realized I can fix those sticky floor selector buttons with a pencil eraser

I had this old Otis car that kept getting stuck on floor 3 and 7, tried cleaning the contacts with alcohol and everything, but a buddy from Local 4 told me to gently rub the carbon contacts with a clean pencil eraser and it worked like a charm after 15 minutes.

Had to pick between a solid state relay and a contactor for a 30 year old Otis controller last Tuesday

I went with the solid state relay since the building manager wanted quieter operation, and it passed the test run but now the door operator is acting sluggish - anyone run into voltage drop issues with SSR swaps on old gear?

Had a controller board fry mid-service on a 20-year-old Otis in a downtown Chicago high-rise last Friday

I was doing a routine inspection on the 14th floor when I heard a pop and smelled burning plastic, then the car stopped between floors with a passenger inside. I had to override the brakes manually to lower it to the next landing, but now the board is toast and I can't find a replacement part anywhere local. Has anyone dealt with sourcing old Otis controller boards, or is retrofitting the whole panel the better move here?

Talk with a fire inspector yesterday made me rethink our machine room setups

Was doing a routine mod in a 12 story office building downtown. Fire inspector walks in while I'm swapping out a controller. He points at the gaps around our drive cables and asks about fire stopping. Told him we seal them standard. He says 'yeah but I bet you don't check the floor penetrations above the machine room.' Went up two floors and sure enough, there was a 3 inch hole where some other trade ran fiber. That would have sucked smoke right into the cab shaft in a fire. Never once thought to look above the room itself. Anyone else had inspectors catch stuff like that?

The old hospital elevator I worked on last month still had a manual gate

I got called out to an old county hospital downtown for a routine maintenance check on one of their service elevators. The thing still had a hand-operated gate instead of automatic doors, which I haven't seen on a working unit in maybe ten years. The whole machine room smelled like oil and dust, just like the shop where I started as an apprentice back in the 90s. The controller was all relay logic, no computer boards anywhere, just clicking and humming like a clock. It felt weird to work on something that simple after getting used to all the digital stuff they install now. The building manager said they tried to replace it twice but the shaft dimensions don't match any modern cab sizes. Has anyone else run into a setup like that, where an old system just keeps running because nothing new fits the space?

Just spent 4 hours on a door lock that should have taken 20 minutes

Got a call for a Genie elevator stuck between floors at a 12-story office building downtown. Turned out the door lock contacts were just barely out of alignment, maybe a millimeter off. Has anyone else fought a simple fix that turned into an all-day headache because of something stupidly small?

That talk with an old timer at the supply house got me thinking

I was picking up some wire rope at the local supply house last Tuesday and this retired mechanic, must have been 70 years old, started chatting me up. He said something like "you kids rely too much on the computer diagnostics, you don't feel the machine anymore." At first I kind of brushed it off, but then I got back to a job where I was chasing a ghost fault on a 20 year old Otis. Spent 3 hours plugging in my test gear and getting nowhere. Finally I just listened to the car going up and down, heard this weird scraping on the return sheave, and sure enough a guide shoe was dragging. Made me realize I had been totally skipping the basic stuff because I was so focused on fancy tools. Has anyone else had that moment where you missed something obvious because you were looking for the complicated answer?

Had to choose between Kone 300p parts vs generic Chinese replacements for a hospital job last month

I had a controller board go out in a Kone 300p at the old county hospital here. The Kone board was 4 weeks out and $2900. The generic was in stock for $800. I went generic and it worked fine until day 10 then started throwing overvoltage faults. Had to pull it and reinstall the old one with a bypass module while we waited. Customer was pissed. Has anyone else had luck with the generic boards on these or was I just unlucky?

Visited a 1920s building downtown and found original Otis relay boards still running

I was inspecting an old building in Providence last week and the entire elevator control system was untouched from the 1920s. Has anyone else run into those old relay setups and how do you even find replacement parts anymore?

I finally found a trick to stop those MRL machines from throwing that door jam code every time it gets humid

Turns out a quick shot of silicone spray on the door track rollers every other visit keeps them sliding smooth, has anyone else dealt with this or found a better fix?

Had a building manager chew me out over a door interface adjustment last week

I was adjusting the door operator on a Schindler at a 12 story office park and this guy comes running over yelling that I'm gonna mess up the door timing for the whole lobby. He said I should always check the door track tension first before touching the controller settings. I was pissed but honestly he was right, tracked out fine after I lubed up the rollers instead. Has anyone else had a know-it-all building guy actually save you time?

Hot take: That old timer in Chicago taught me more about leveling than any manual

Met a guy named Mike at a 30-floor building rehab in Chicago last spring. He's been in elevators since the 70s. Watched him level a car by feel alone, no laser, no tools. Said all the new guys rely on digital stuff and forget the basics. We chatted for maybe 10 minutes while he adjusted a rail bracket. Has anyone else run into an older mechanic who just works different?

PSA: Those modern 'self-leveling' systems aren't always better than the old shim method

I was working on a Miconic 10 controller retrofit in a building from 1989 last week, and the tech insisted on using a laser leveling kit over the old worm gear shim approach. Took us 3 hours to get the car within spec, and it still drifted 2mm after a full load test. My mentor back in '05 would have had it dialed in with shims in 45 minutes, no joke. The new stuff has its place, but sometimes the old manual way gives you more control, especially on older rails that have settled. Has anyone else run into this where the fancy gear just complicates things?

Old timer at the shop told me to stop greasing guide rails every month

Told me I was wasting time and making the car bounce, so I tried six weeks without touching them and the ride got way smoother, anyone else been told they over-maintain things that turned out fine?

My old supervisor told me always keep a spare door hanger in my truck. He was right.

I was working a slow elevator at a 12 story building downtown last Tuesday. The hanger snapped on the 8th floor and I had nothing to back it up. Had to drive 20 minutes back to the shop for a new one while the car sat open. Lost nearly two hours total because I didn't listen to him. Now I keep three spares in the glove box and one in my bag. Anyone else got a piece of advice that stuck with you like that?

I had a passenger ask me to 'fix the gravity' in their elevator

Last Tuesday I was doing a routine maint check on an old Otis at a 12 story office building downtown. This older lady gets in while I'm testing the levelling, and she looks dead serious at me and goes 'can you fix the gravity in this car, it feels heavier going up than down'. I had to bite my lip so hard to not laugh, then I spent 5 minutes explaining how elevators actually work. She just nodded and walked off like I was the crazy one. Anyone else get weird requests from passengers that make no sense?

Spent $600 on a laser alignment tool and it was worth every penny

I dropped $600 on a Bosch GLL 3-80 laser level for aligning tracks on a job in Chicago last month. It saved me from a major headache where the cab door was rubbing against the hoistway. Has anyone else shelled out for a pricier tool that actually paid off?

Heard a building manager say hydraulic elevators are 'obsolete' and should all be replaced with traction. Had to bite my tongue.

Always thought those laser alignment tools were a gimmick till I used one on a 12-stop hydraulic install

My buddy Dan has been bugging me for years to try his laser rail tool. I figured a good straight edge and a level was all you needed. Finally borrowed it last week on a job downtown and wow, I was way off. Saved me like 2 hours of shimming and re-doing brackets. Any of you guys use these regularly or still stick to the old school way?

Noticed a huge difference in motor room temps after switching to VRF

We swapped out the old rooftop AC unit for a variable refrigerant flow system on a 12-floor building in Austin last month and the motor room dropped from 95 degrees to a steady 72 in just two weeks. The old unit couldn't keep up with the heat from the controllers and drives in there. Has anyone else seen this kind of improvement or is it just a newer building thing?