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Hit 500 service calls on the same Otis Gen2 system in the same building | Elevator Mechanics - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals

the_rose•5mo ago

Hit 500 service calls on the same Otis Gen2 system in the same building

I always thought those units were bulletproof, but the sheer number of door zone faults I've logged on that one system in the Phoenix Financial Center changed my mind. The building manager showed me the maintenance log, and seeing that exact number made me realize it's a design quirk with the guide rollers in that specific setup, not just bad luck. Anyone else run into a specific model that just eats up calls in one particular spot?

4 comments

4 Comments

oliviajenkins5mo ago

Tell me about it, feels like I'm on a first-name basis with the door zone faults on the old Dover I-Controls at the mall on my route. Swear I could rebuild that logic board in my sleep by now. Makes you look real smart explaining the same fault for the hundredth time. At least you found the root cause, that's a win even if it took 500 calls to see the pattern.

margaretr765mo ago

Yeah that "first name basis with the door zone faults" line is too real. I read this article once about how those old systems were built to just run forever, but the parts they used back then are basically impossible to find now. So you end up doing these weird patch jobs forever because replacing the whole thing costs a fortune nobody wants to pay. It's like keeping a 50 year old car on the road with duct tape and hope. Finding the root cause must feel good though, like finally solving a puzzle that's been driving you nuts.

lisas784mo ago

Oh man, you hit the nail on the head with that 50 year old car analogy! It's exactly like that, especially with the old elevator logic boards where you're literally soldering in replacement capacitors from eBay (found a stash from some guy in Ohio once). Did the article mention anything about how those old systems used proprietary coding that nobody bothered to document? Because I swear half the battle is just trying to figure out what the original engineers were thinking when they wired it up.

garcia.mila5mo ago

Ugh, been there. I finally got them to let me swap the whole guide rail assembly on a stubborn Schindler and the calls just stopped.