c/elevator-mechanics

Got schooled by an old timer about how I 'treat' elevator cables

So I'm doing a full cable replacement on a Miconic 10 in a 12-story building downtown, and this retired mechanic stops by to chat. He watches me for a minute then says 'you're killing that cable with kindness.' Turns out I was using too much lube on the guide rails, built up gunk that actually made the cables wear faster. Been doing it for 7 years this way. He showed me his trick - just a light wipe down with a dry rag once a month, no fancy products. Hit me different because I always thought more maintenance was better. Now I got a whole new routine. Anyone else get humbled by a random elevator vet?

Flatlanding door tracks wrong for 8 years until a fire alarm went off

I used to always run a flat file straight across the door track headers thinking it was the best way to level them. Then last October during a fire drill at the Metropolitan building on 3rd Street, the doors jammed and I had to crawl up to see what happened. Turns out I was creating a slight concave dip at the center every time, which threw off the hanger alignment. A senior mechanic named Gary pulled me aside and showed me how he uses a straightedge and a mill file at an angle to keep the contact points true. Has anyone else found out their go-to method was actually making things worse down the line?

Spent 4 hours on a simple relay swap, then found the E-stop was wired backwards

It was a routine MRL job downtown, supposed to be a 45 minute door lock relay swap. Got everything labeled, swapped it, and the car just sat there dead. Spent 3 hours chasing continuity, checking safeties, pulling prints. Finally my apprentice asked why the E-stop was wired to normally open. Someone had put a new plate in and wired it backwards. 4 hours for a 45 minute job.

That day the hydraulic jack blew a seal on the 14th floor

We were doing a routine oil change on a old Otis at the Pine Street Medical Center and everything was going smooth until about 2pm. Suddenly this geyser of hydraulic fluid shoots up from the pit and coats the whole bottom of the cab. Took me and my partner till 8pm just to clean up and we had to come back Saturday to rebuild the jack. Has anyone else dealt with a sudden seal failure on a 20+ year old unit like that?

That fancy door operator I laughed at actually saved my back

I spent 12 years swearing by the old hydraulic swing door operators, thought the new linear motor ones were just a gimmick. Then I had to replace one in a busy office lobby downtown, and the whole job took me half the time since I didn't have to wrestle with a heavy solenoid pack. Any of you guys made the switch or still sticking with the old stuff?

I was wrong about greasing guide rails every month

Old timer named Mike at the supply house told me I was over-greasing my rails and to cut it back to every 3 months. I thought he was nuts until I saw a buildup of grime on a job last week that was actually causing the car to jerk. Now I'm on his schedule. Any of you guys running a different interval?

Stepping out of a cab at the top floor and hearing cable slapping on the sheave is a sound I hear way too often

Was doing a service on a Hydro 2000 VVVF yesterday, third floor landing. Another company had replaced the governor cable a month ago. I heard it on my ride up and knew right away. Pulled the car up slow and saw their slack cable guide was bolted on crooked, letting the cable eat into the PVC pipe on the overspeed gov. That's just lazy finishing work. Takes five minutes to center that guide. Has anyone else started leaving sticky notes on the controller panel when you find stuff like this, or is it just me?

Took me 15 years to try synthetic rope on a drum winch

I've always been a wire rope guy on traction elevators. Old habits die hard, you know? Last Tuesday we had to swap the governor rope on a 40-year-old Otis in downtown Portland and I figured I'd grab the spare wire they had. But the senior guy on my crew pointed out the synthetic they stock now and said it's way easier on the sheaves long term. I watched him do it, no kinking, no rusty strands poking out, and the whole job took maybe 90 minutes less than my usual wire route. Now I'm thinking about switching on my next service contract - has anyone else seen better sheave life with the poly rope?

Spent $150 on a fancy leveling tool that made my rails worse

Bought a digital SmartLevel last month for a big job at a medical office in Delaware and the readings were off by nearly a degree on the 10th floor. Has anyone else had issues with these battery powered levels or did I just get a lemon?

That old Otis 211 in a Philly row home taught me something

I was swapping out a controller in a 5-stop residential building near Rittenhouse Square last winter. The building manager, this older guy named Frank, kept telling me to watch the cables because they were original from 1962. I didn't think much of it until a snapped governor rope almost took out my flashlight - he was right, and now I check the sheave grooves on any old machine first thing. Any of you guys run into old timers who saved you from a dumb mistake?

Hit my 1000th weld joint last week and it felt different than I expected

Just realized my helper knew more about leveling than I did

I was showing a new kid from the local union how to set a door frame in a busy office tower in Chicago. He stopped me and said, 'Why not just use a laser level instead of the old string method?' I brushed it off at first but after thinking about it, it actually saves a lot of time on these tight installations. Has anyone else picked up a simpler trick from a younger mechanic?

Spent 6 hours chasing a ghost short on an MRL yesterday

Turned out to be a worn door lock contact that was only intermittent when the car was level with the 3rd floor, how many of you guys just replace all the contacts on a full mod instead of testing each one?

That moment when a building manager tries to tell you how to fix the elevator

Was doing a routine modernization job downtown last Wednesday and the building manager comes up telling me the controller needs a firmware reset because he read it on some forum. I just nodded and went back to checking the door lock circuits. Took me maybe 10 minutes to find the real issue which was a worn out roller guide shoe throwing the car out of level by a quarter inch. He kept hovering and second guessing everything until I showed him the wear pattern on the shoe. My takeaway is that a lot of us probably deal with this kind of thing weekly where someone who never touched a machine thinks they know more. Has anyone else had a customer or manager try to override your professional call on a job? How do you handle it without being rude?

Hit my 500th escalator step chain repair last month and it hit me different

I've been doing elevator work for about 12 years now, mostly in older buildings downtown. Last month I realized I had just finished my 500th escalator step chain repair. That number surprised me because I never kept count before, I just did the job. It made me think about how many times I've crawled into those pits and the wear patterns I've seen. Have any of you guys kept track of a specific repair number that caught you off guard?

Found a trick for fixing sticky car doors on old Otis units

I had a 1980s Otis that kept getting stuck on the landing zone at a 6 story building in Portland. Tried cleaning the rails, swapped out the rollers, even replaced the door operator belt. Nothing worked for more than a week. Then I remembered an old timer talking about the track alignment shims getting loose over time. I went back, checked every bracket on the header, and found three were barely finger tight. Tightened them up with some blue loctite, and it's been smooth for 3 months now. Has anyone else dealt with those shims shifting on older hydro setups?

Vent: Stop using WD-40 on elevator door tracks

I keep seeing guys at my shop spraying WD-40 on sticky door tracks. That stuff is a dust magnet. Did three callbacks last month on the same Otis unit at a mall in Phoenix because the track was gummed up with WD-40 residue. Use a silicone based lubricant or just clean the track with a rag first. How long till people learn this?

Swapped out my old hydraulic oil for synthetic last month

Used to change hydraulic fluid every 6 months on those old Otis units, but after switching to synthetic I'm pushing a year with cleaner oil samples. Has anyone else seen better wear on their pumps after making the switch?

TIL that old timer was right about greasing guide rails in the summer

Guy named Frank who worked Otis for 30 years told me to switch to summer weight oil on the rails after May 1st. I figured it didn't matter that much and left the standard stuff in until July when I got a call about a car jerking on floor 4. Six hours of chipping out gummed up oil later, anyone else stick to a seasonal lube schedule or just roll with one formula year round?

Tried swapping out an old door interlock relay on a Dover and it backfired

I had a 1990 Dover at a mid-rise in St. Louis that was giving me intermittent door close faults, so I figured I'd swap the relay just to be safe. Popped in the new one from the supply house and suddenly the doors wouldn't budge at all, even with the car in the zone. Anybody else run into a replacement relay that has different timing than the original?

The old relay rooms used to have a certain smell...

I was working on a modern MRL machine yesterday and it hit me how much the sound changed. The old gearless rooms, even after hours, you could feel the hum through the floor... its all inverter driven now, quiet as a mouse. I bet the new guys don't know what a DC drive sounds like when the brushes start to chatter. Has anyone else noticed the gear room air just feels different now, not the same ozone smell at all?

Had a service call turn into a full day project on a MRL elevator downtown

I showed up thinking it was just a door lock issue at a 12 story office building. Turned out the encoder on the motor was throwing bad readings too. Spent 4 hours chasing wires and adjusting the brake gap before it finally ran smooth. The tenant on the 8th floor brought me a sandwich around 2 PM which saved the day honestly. Has anyone else had a simple call blow up into something way bigger than expected?

Appreciation post: the building super who told me to slow down

Had a job at a 12-floor building downtown and this old super named Frank pulled me aside, said 'you're moving too fast for a problem that ain't running away.' Made me realize I was skipping the basic leveling checks just to get done quicker. Any of you ever had a random person on site give you advice that actually stuck?

Just found out my controller board was giving false faults from a bad ground wire

Spent 3 hours swapping parts on a Miconic 10 in a Denver office tower last Tuesday only to realize a loose screw on the ground terminal was the whole problem, has anyone else been burned by a simple ground issue like that?

Remember when we used to have to carry that 50-pound tool bag everywhere?

Last week I was swapping out a controller in a 30 year old Otis elevator over on Main Street. Got me thinking about when I started in this trade back in 2006, everything was mechanical relays and you needed a separate bag just for screwdrivers and meters. Three years ago they sent us to a training on these new digital drives and it hit me how much lighter my kit got. Now I carry a tablet and a laptop and maybe five tools total for most calls. Anyone else feel like the job got easier on the back but harder on the brain?