c/elevator-mechanics

Overheard a building manager say modern elevators are too complicated

I was at a supply house in Portland last week and this building manager was complaining to the counter guy that newer elevators have too many circuit boards. He said he misses the old relay systems because he could fix them with a screwdriver and a multimeter. Got me thinking, are we overcomplicating things with all this digital stuff or is it actually more reliable in the long run? Anyone else run into building managers who hate working with modern controllers?

Rolled up to a 20-story building in Austin and found the controller board fried

I got a call about an elevator stuck between floors, and when I opened the panel, there was this burnt smell and a crack right across the main relay. Had to bypass it with a spare I keep in my truck, got them moving again in 45 minutes. Has anyone else dealt with sudden controller failures in newer models?

Stopped by a hospital job site and the machine room was a disaster

Went to check on an old Otis at St. Mary's last week, and the mechanic before me left tools all over the controller cabinet. There was a half-empty soda can sitting right on top of the drive. I get that we're all busy, but how hard is it to grab a trash bag and clear the area? Makes me wonder what other corners they cut. Anyone else run into machine rooms that look like someone just walked off?

Why does nobody talk about MRL controller overheating in summer?

Last August at the old Mercy Hospital in Akron, I had to pull three MRL controllers offline because the room temp hit 95 degrees. The building's AC unit was shot and nobody thought about backup ventilation for the machine room. Anyone else run into this and find a cheap fix that works?

That fancy laser alignment tool I was dead set against...

I was at a shop in Dallas about 8 years ago and this younger guy swore by his laser alignment setup for guide rails. I told him straight up it was a gimmick and my string and level method worked fine for 20 years. He let me borrow it for a 20-stop job in an old office building and I'll be darned if it didn't catch a 3mm bow I'd have missed until the cab started binding. Now I keep one in my truck but I still use the string as a backup... anyone else ever get converted by a tool they hated on principle?

Swapped out roller guides for slide guides on a Miconic 10 last month

I always fought with vibration adjustments on the old roller guides, but the slide guides cut my alignment time in half and the ride is way smoother. Anyone else made the switch on a older unit and noticed the same?

That week in 2008 when the old Otis in the Polk County courthouse chewed me up and spit me out

I was doing a 3-day service contract on a 1950s Otis at the Polk County courthouse in Des Moines. Day one, the main brake shoe snapped on the machine room floor, stuck the car between 2 and 3. I had to hand-crank it down with the overspeed governor tripping twice. Day two, the selector tape snapped while I was testing the releveling, so I spent 4 hours splicing it on a ladder. By day three, the door lock on the 6th floor failed and I had to crawl out of the car through the hatch because the hoistway was so tight. My foreman called it a hat trick of failures. Anyone else have a job where everything seemed to break at once?

Can we talk about those 'permanent' magnet brake adjustments everyone swears by?

I was dead set against messing with the factory gap settings on those newer Kone magnetic brakes after a bad experience 3 years ago at a hospital job in Nashville, but a senior mechanic I trust finally walked me through his method on a stuck car and it rode smooth for 6 months now. Has anyone else had a different outcome after trying it on a 1990s Otis with the old drum brakes?

That job in St. Louis made me realize I was wiring door locks backwards for 6 years

I was on a 12 floor install for a hotel last month and the journeyman watched me hook up a lock. He walked over real slow, looked at the wires, and said 'you got the common and the NO swapped buddy.' I had been doing it that way since my first year because a guy told me 'brown goes to common.' Turns out that was for a different brand. Had to go back and fix 40 doors across 3 other buildings I did that year. Has anyone else got a sticky habit they picked up from a bad teacher?

Switched from grease to oil on guide rails last year and never looked back

For like 8 years I was just slapping bearing grease on the guide rails every time I did a PM. Figured that's what the old guys did so it must be fine lol. Then I took a class through the union hall in Chicago last spring and the instructor basically said grease attracts way more dust and gunk over time. Switched to a lithium-based oil on all my newer installs and the cars run way smoother even between 6-month checkups. That drag difference is night and day when you're adjusting the governor tension too. Anyone else make the swap and notice less callbacks for door issues?

I don't buy the hype on those automatic rope tensioners for freight elevators

I was on a job at a warehouse in Cleveland last fall and the lead mechanic swore by them. Said they cut his callbacks in half. But after three months of using one on their main freight car, I had to go back and adjust it twice because it kept overcompensating for normal wear. My old manual method with a torque wrench and a buddy spotting me took longer but gave me way fewer headaches. That concrete experience made me realize I trust my hands more than a sensor. Has anyone else seen those things drift off spec after a few weeks?

Just realized how important a good landing zone is after a shaft job in a 1920s building downtown

Blew $200 on a 'magic' hoist cable lubricant

Saw an ad for this high-tech dry film lubricant for hoist cables. Promised zero dust buildup and longer rope life. Two weeks later my cables are gummed up with this weird sticky residue and the building manager is yelling at me about noise. Anyone else fall for a snake oil product like that?

I'm begging you, stop using that old rope lubrication trick on new machines

I used to swear by putting a little WD40 on the guide rails during installs, same as my dad taught me back in the 90s. Then last spring I got a call about a Otis Gen2 that was acting jerky after three months of service. Tore it apart and found the rubber guide shoe had swollen up real bad because the silicone in the spray ate right into it. Now I only use the factory recommended dry lube or nothing at all, just clean rails with a rag. The material science on those polyurethane shoes is totally different from the old steel ones and they get ruined fast. How many of you guys have seen weird failures from using the wrong spray on newer equipment?

Door lock adjustment took me 3 hours longer than it should have

Was setting up a new Otis install downtown and the door locks kept faulting on the top floor every time. Spent 5 hours chasing a half millimeter gap in the roller track before a guy from Otis told me it was a factory burr on the bracket. Has anyone else burned a full day on something this simple?

Found a trick for aligning guide rails on tight jobs

Overheard a guy at a supply house in Charlotte say to use a laser level on the rail back instead of a straightedge. Tried it on a 10-stop install last week and it cut my setup time by almost half. Has anyone else tried this on curves or just straight runs?

Rode an elevator from 1962 last week and the mechanic who maintained it for 30 years showed me something wild

Got a 30 year old Otis running smooth again just by cleaning the door tracks

A master mechanic told me my door hanger adjustment was backwards

Been doing elevator doors for about 8 years now. A senior guy from Otis watched me set a new hanger on a Gen2 in that new office building on 5th Street. He just said 'you're chasing the gap with the wrong roller first.' I always adjusted the top roller before the bottom one. He told me to do it the opposite way and suddenly my door closed within 1/16th every time instead of 1/8th. Took me a week to test it on 3 different jobs and he was right every single time. Anyone else been doing something basic wrong for years without realizing it?

Heard a guy at the supply house say door hangers are overrated

I was grabbing some rail lubricant at the local supply house near Akron last Tuesday and overheard this older mechanic telling a trainee that door hanger adjustments are basically a waste of time if you haven't checked the sill first. He said he's seen 3 out of 4 service calls where someone fiddled with hangers for an hour when the real problem was a warped threshold or a piece of debris. I've always gone straight to the hangers myself, so now I'm wondering if I've been chasing the wrong thing. Anyone else been taught to check the sill before touching the hangers?

Hit 1,000 door lock replacements yesterday without even noticing till I logged it

That one Tuesday where every door kept reversing on me

I was working on a four-stop hydraulic in an old building near downtown, and every single door kept reversing like it had a mind of its own. Turns out the door edge sensors were coated in this weird sticky dust from a nearby bakery (maybe flour?), and it took me three hours just to clean them all. Has anyone else run into random environmental gunk causing false reversals on older safety edges?

Picked Otis over Schindler on a big retrofit job. Regretted it for two weeks.

Had to choose between Otis and Schindler for a 6-stop passenger elevator modernization in an office building downtown. Went with Otis because the parts availability was better in my area. But the controller wiring diagram was a mess compared to Schindler's layout. Took me an extra 8 hours just to trace out the safety chain. Has anyone else had a brand choice bite them like that on a retrofit?

Wasted $150 on a fancy door level tool I barely use now

I bought this digital door level laser gadget about 6 months ago, thought it would make my life easier on every install. Paid $150 for it from a supply house in Phoenix. After about 5 jobs I realized my old 4-foot spirit level does the same job just as fast and never needs batteries. The laser tool is sitting in my truck gathering dust now. It does give a fancy readout on your phone but honestly that slows me down compared to just eyeballing the bubble. I should have spent that money on a good set of chisels instead. Anyone else bought a tool that sounded great but ended up being a waste?

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?