c/elevator-mechanics

Overheard a building manager say something about 'the lift just needs a reboot' and I had to bite my tongue

I was working on an old Otis unit in a 12 story office building over in Oakland last Tuesday, and this building manager comes up while I'm checking the controller. He says real casual like, 'you know, I think the lift just needs a reboot, my IT guy does that with our server all the time.' I just kind of nodded and smiled, but inside I was cracking up. Like yeah sure, let me just hit ctrl-alt-delete on a 1979 MCS 220 and see if the car comes back to life. I ended up finding a busted door lock contact on the 8th floor that was causing the intermittent shutdowns, which is way more common than people think. Has anyone else had a customer or building staff try to give you dumb IT-style advice for elevator troubleshooting?

Had a door zone lock fail on a hospital install last Tuesday

I was at County General setting up a new MRL and someone hit the fire recall while I was still testing the door logic. Three floors of doors just gave up and went full manual on me. Has anyone else had an emergency circuit override mess up their sequence like this?

Had a controller board fry on a third-floor landing last Tuesday during rush hour

I was stuck in a 1980s Otis in a downtown office building when the main drive board started smoking, and I had to manually lower the cab using the brake release while two suits banged on the doors, has anyone else had to do an emergency manual descent with people inside?

Just realized modern elevator cabs weigh almost 40% less than the ones from the 1970s after looking up old building specs

I was digging through some original blueprints for a retrofit in a 1968 office tower here in Columbus and the old cab weight listed was like 3,400 pounds versus the new MRL cabs we install now that come in around 2,100, has anyone else seen that kind of difference on their jobs?

Hot take: I chose the old Otis hydro over the new MCE controller on a mod job in Cleveland last month and it paid off big time.

Everyone said I was crazy for keeping the ancient valve instead of swapping to the MCE, but after 3 weeks of solid running, the customer's downtime cost was $0 compared to the $1,200 I saved them on parts, so who's the real genius now?

A building manager in Chicago told me I was wasting time by greasing guide rails every 3 months

This week at the Hyatt downtown was a disaster with the hydraulic line

I got called in on Monday for a routine check on the freight elevator at the Hyatt downtown, and by Tuesday I was elbow deep in hydraulic oil. The main line had a pinhole leak that sprayed all over the machine room floor... took me three hours just to clean up the mess. Then the parts guy told me the replacement hose would take two days to ship from their Dallas warehouse. So I had to rig a temporary patch just to keep the kitchen running for the lunch rush, and the hotel manager kept asking why it wasn't fixed in an hour. Anyone else deal with hotel staff breathing down your neck while you're trying to do a proper repair?

That $600 OTIS controller board I swapped in last week was a complete dud out of the box

Bought a rebuilt OTIS CH400 controller board from a supplier in Newark for $600 and it was dead on arrival. No power to the motor drive, no error codes, just nothing. Wasted a whole Saturday troubleshooting before I gave up and sent it back. Anyone else had bad luck with rebuilt boards from certain places?

I finally realized why that old Otis mechanic kept squinting at my work

Had a retired union guy from the 70s watch me swap a door lock controller last Tuesday and he said I was moving too fast with my meter, and it hit me that I've been skipping the basic step of reading voltage under load instead of just checking continuity, the way he showed me saved me 30 minutes on the next call - has anyone else had an old timer change how they troubleshoot?

Three hours on a door switch that took five minutes to find

I spent half a day Tuesday chasing an intermittent fault on a MCE controller in an old office building downtown. Turned out to be a loose connection on the door limit switch that I had checked twice already. Has anyone else had a gremlin like that where you overthink it and miss something dead simple?

Old-timer told me to always grease the rails on a new install, I skipped it.

My partner said it was a waste of time on a 6-stop job in Phoenix last summer, so I just let it ride. A month later the car was jerky and we had to pull the whole guide shoe assembly. So who's right here, is rail grease actually necessary or does it depend on the building?

Had an MRL controller lock up on a 10th floor landing in Seattle last Tuesday

I was doing a routine maintenance call on an Otis Gen2 at the Pacific Tower building. The controller just froze mid cycle with the car stuck between floors and no error codes showing on the LCD. Had to pull the main disconnect and cycle the whole board before it came back to life. Anyone else run into ghost lockups on these Gen2 controllers?

Dropped $400 on a digital level that beeps at me like a smoke detector

Bought a fancy Hilti digital level thinking it would save time on rail installs, but the thing keeps beeping every time I breathe near it. Anyone else ditch the high-tech stuff and just go back to a basic torpedo level?

That old timer on the 35th Street elevator mod back in 2012 showed me to put a dab of soap on the rail clips before bolting them down

I was fighting with squeaky guide rails for two days on a passenger elevator at a 12-story office building and after trying grease, shims, and even swapping out the shoes he just walked over and said try this trick and the noise disappeared instantly, has anyone else run into rail chatter on older Otis setups where nothing seems to seat right?

Split second call on a stuck door - leveling off vs forcing it open?

I was working a Miconic 10 controller in a 12 floor office tower in Denver last Thursday. Door got stuck halfway on floor 7 and I had maybe 30 seconds to decide: do I try to level off and risk the rollers binding worse, or hit the door limit bypass and force it? I went with the bypass and got a nasty arc from the drive relay before it freed up. Has anyone else had a call like that where the wrong move could have fried the controller?

That one day last month when three elevators went down in the same building

I was working a routine maintenance call at a 12-story office building downtown and suddenly got calls for three separate cars stuck in the same hour. Turned out the controller board on the main line had a cracked solder joint that was causing intermittent faults. Managed to patch two of them back online with a quick swap from my truck, but the third needed a whole new board that took two days to ship. Has anyone else had a domino failure like that where one bad part took out multiple cars?

Question about the worst day you ever had on a job

Last Tuesday I was swapping a controller in a 20 story building downtown and the main brake relay shorted out on me. Sparks flew, fire alarm went off, and I spent 4 hours cleaning up soot with the building manager yelling at me. Anyone else have a day that went completely sideways like that?

That $600 multimeter I bought 10 years ago still works like new

Honestly, I spent $600 on a Fluke 87V back in 2014 when I was working on a big job in a hospital in Nashville. Some of the guys laughed at me for spending that much on a meter, but it's been dropped down shafts, soaked in rain, and read thousands of circuits without skipping a beat. I had to replace a $40 clamp meter twice in three years because the leads fell apart and the screen went fuzzy. Has anyone else found a tool that seemed pricey upfront but ended up being the best money they ever spent?

That $200 door edge protection tape I cheaped out on

I replaced a set of elevator doors last month and thought I'd save a few bucks by using regular packing tape instead of the edge protection stuff. The packing tape left a sticky residue on the stainless steel that took me like 4 hours with goo gone to clean off. Anyone got a brand of edge tape that actually stays put without leaving a mess?

Picked the older traction machine over the new MRL for a modernization last month

We had a job at a 12-story building downtown and the owner gave me the choice between keeping the old traction setup or swapping to a machine-room-less. I went with the traction because I know those old Dover units inside and out, plus the building had plenty of machine room space anyway. The MRL would have saved some floor area but the retrofit cost was about $8,000 more for the rails and guides. Took us 4 days to pull the old motor and controller, install the new microprocessor drive, and get the car running smooth again. The leveling is actually within an eighth of an inch now which is better than the old relay logic ever did. My helper asked why I didn't push for the MRL and I told him sometimes simpler is just smarter in the long run. Anyone else run into this choice and regret going one way or the other?

That one old timer in the freight elevator who showed me a better trick for leveling

That time I laughed at a guy for using a laser level on escalator rails

I was doing a mod job on an Otis escalator in a mall near Portland last fall. Older mechanic pulls out this cheap green laser level and starts lining up the step chain guides. I thought it was a joke, I always just use a tape and my eyeballs. He let me check his work after. The rail spacing was within 1/16 over 40 feet. I bought my own laser that weekend. Anyone else ditched the old school way for something you thought was a gimmick?

Took me 8 months of daily calls to realize I was holding my phone wrong on the job site

I kept dropping audio on our service calls until a guy from Schindler pointed out my phone's bottom mic was covered by my pinky, and now I actually hear what the controller is saying during tests, has anyone else accidentally muffled their own ear piece without noticing?

Debate: How long should a simple relay swap really take?

I spent 6 hours last Tuesday replacing a K10 relay in an Otis elevator that should have taken maybe 45 minutes tops. The wiring diagram was wrong and I kept chasing a ghost short that turned out to be a corroded terminal block on the back of the panel. Has anyone else run into hidden issues that made a routine job drag out way longer than expected?

Just hit 1,000 successful emergency stops on my personal log and nobody cares but me

I finally reached a thousand documented emergency stops this morning on a stuck car at a 12-story building downtown, and it made me realize how many close calls I have caught over the years, has anyone else tracked a specific number like this or am I just a weird nerd?